Teacher battles ongoing vision problems, does TCC in Peru

Dear Friends,

It’s been almost a year since I received my accreditation as a T’ai Chi Chih instructor. I’ve tried to listen and let my life take me where I belong. I’ve experienced many challenges, yet my memory tells me of the joy, hard work, and rewards T’ai Chi Chih has brought to my life.

During the week I trained in Albuquerque, the sight in my right eye deteriorated to a fuzzy cloudy vision. Not wanting to alert my teacher, I forged on, determined to complete my training. Jublilant, I graduated with my class, tired and worried, but proud and ready to find out what to do for my eye. The day after returning home I had emergency surgery for a detached retina. Six months later I had a second surgery for placement of a hard lens for cataracts in the very same eye. It’s been a year of blurry vision, challenges with balance, and eye strain.

This year I’ve taught a class as well as individuals and found great joy in teaching. The more I teach, the better my skills. I’ve given presentations to four different groups and am starting new classes again.

Teaching creates focus for me as well as developing techniques to help my students with their own practice. I find that a calm center is created and nurtured which is in direct proportion to how much I practice. It’s like a savings account for me, and I’ve made alot of withdrawals this year! I need to keep on making deposits each day. I need to build up my inner Chi so I can continue to face these health challenges. My vision has deteriorated again, so the password for me is continued patience, work on my balance, and the hope that my retina will heal and my vision will improve.

In March I was lucky enough to visit Machu Picchu in Peru, the retreat of the Incan royalty. It is a magnificent place, set high on a mountain top, with stone structures of a culture long ago. After the initial tour was given to our small group, I chose to spend time alone, absorbing the energy and then practicing my T’ai Chi Chih. Later, my husband joined me as well. Here are a few pictures we took during this mystical and powerful time in the stone ruins. And later on the trip I led others in a practice on top of another mountaintop in Peru, so now we’ve taken the energy of our, T’ai Chi Chih practice to Peru!

Sincerely, Jeanne Marlowe