Balance & Becoming
T’ai Chi Chih is a mindfulness moving meditation practice that’s easy to learn. The series of 19 movements and one pose helps circulate the Vital Energy, the Chi. Practitioners experience peace, improved health and many more benefits. Our free monthly e-newsletter offers inspiration between issues of the TCC quarterly journal, The Vital Force, in which teachers and students tell stories about ways they’ve benefited from the practice.
“Everything is in a state of Becoming.” – Justin F. Stone, TCC Originator
From the February issue of The Vital Force:
Being: “What a collective and individual journey we’ve been on this past year, with so many ups and downs, because of COVID-19. Life/Death, Sickness/Health, Alone/Together, Joy/Sadness…. In the ancient yin-yang philosophy TCC is based on, we learn to embrace polarities. They’re not opposing sides to either identify with or reject. If we do, the flow of energy within us gets blocked or becomes stagnant…. There’s a third force that we cultivate: the reconciling or balancing force. We can think of it as the unmoving, silent, still point at the center of our Being. In TCC we know it as the tan t’ien. This center is the ground of our Being and can hold the tension of the seemingly opposing forces. It’s a greater, loving, holding energy that can help us birth a new energy – one that so much wants to be born in us and in the collective.” – MD, Loveland, CO
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Editor’s Note: Read more of MD’s experiences of polarity and the greater whole; inspiring stories of new TCC teachers; uplifting comments from TCC students; and more of Justin’s writings about moving correctly and teaching TCC in the February issue of The Vital Force.
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Balance: “Creekside Village residents have faithfully practiced Joy thru Movement for more than two years and have continued to reap benefits during the COVID-19 shutdown. The residents’ responses are varied but the issue of ‘balance’ is omnipresent. MS: ‘These TCC sessions help with balance issues, which lifts my spirits and anchors me. I rarely miss a session; the Chi gathering is locked into my week’s schedule.’ GM: ‘ With TCC practices I’m able to enjoy life to the fullest. My balance gets a lift.’ RS: ‘A certain calm settles over me after practicing the early movements. In the beginning, I was stiff and awkward but now I’m in the flow, especially with Passing Clouds; every little bit of soft movement helps.” – JS, Beaverton, OR
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Becoming: “As we studied so intensely for so many hours each day to deepen our understanding of what it means to practice and become a TCC teacher, a big piece of our journey was to deepen our body knowledge of grounding, the effort of no effort, and flow. It’s a struggle to simultaneously learn so much and relax into grounding. This is a lifelong journey. But as I’ve been letting go since teacher training, my body soaks up what we learned, something about the bubbling springs bubbled up in me, and I felt a lovely shift in my relationship to grounding.” – RC, Wallingford, PA
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Identify with the Real: “One time some students from out-of-town came to visit me. After doing some TCC together, the conversation became more general. As is usual, someone asked about reincarnation (a bad term). I pointed at the trees in the courtyard. ‘It’s autumn now, so the leaves are falling from the trees,’ I explained, ‘but they will be back in the Spring. Is that what you mean by reincarnation?’ ‘Oh, those will be different leaves!’ they rushed to point out. ‘Why identify with the leaves?’ I asked. ‘Why not identify with the tree?’” – Justin F. Stone
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