Minnesota teachers hold T’ai Chi Chih Workshop

The Minnesota T’ai Chi Chih community held a one-day workshop on Saturday, February 21, 2004, for both students and teachers. We wanted to address the areas of their practice that the attendees wanted to work on.

The workshop was held at a local church that could accommodate the group. Judy George and Marie Dotts, two local teachers, led the day and kept us moving. Twelve teachers and 18 students attended. We were excited to have so many students in the group! We also were very lucky that two teachers had just returned from an intensive and a Seijaku class. It all added up to a fun day that gave us an opportunity to deepen our practice.

We started the day with a complete TCC practice. After the practice, Judy used some readings to focus our thoughts. Throughout the day, Judy read or discussed the importance of three words—Willingness—Awareness—Acceptance—in deepening our practice and not just repeating our same old habits.

Judy and Marie developed a form with two questions on it. They passed the form out as we registered and asked us to complete it and give it back to them before we started. The questions were, “What movement would you like to work on?” and “What principle would you like to work on?” A bowl containing the forms was used so that an individual could pick one out. Then a teacher got up and addressed the movement.

Throughout the day, we covered about half of the movements and discussed the principles of TCC. We also had a small presentation about the local and national community events and the Vital Force. One teacher also discussed the books of Justin Stone and how they are a good way to learn more about Justin. The day ended with a practice and smiles all around. I am sorry that we took no pictures, but just imagine 30 faces with big smiles and you got the idea of what we looked like!

We hope to welcome many more of the TCC community to our area when we hold an Intensive this September and a Teacher Training in March of 2005.