Blossoming

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. 

This is pretty powerful stuff. – Justin F. Stone, TCC Originator

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From the recent issue of The Vital Force:

Inspiration: “I’m walking down the hallway and all of a sudden, the door at the other end opens. It’s an intense environment, with clanking doors and an indescribable vibe. There are five tiers of cells with prisoners on one side, and at the other end of the corridor prisoners just released from dinner are walking towards me on the opposite side. I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t scared in advance. I felt good about going in because I’d be representing TCC, something so powerful and so good. All I’d have to do is do it, and it would work wonders. Right? All I had to do was pay attention to the soles of my feet and keep walking. It was an honor anytime I was in Folsom State Prison representing TCC. The men were hungry for what they were experiencing. It was quite inspirational.” – TS, Sacramento, CA

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Editor’s Note: Learn more from TCC teachers with more than 25 years of experience in the last issue of The Vital Force.

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Humility: “I’ve heard it said that TCC is an inch wide and a mile deep. As mentoring teachers, we must be open to suggestions ourselves as part of our ongoing learning process. Teh (inner sincerity) calls us to regularly revisit Justin’s teachings and how we embody the principles. Thinking we know the exact right answer can get us ‘stuck.’ We aren’t just trying to prepare teacher candidates for the inch but also share a path of continuous exploration of the mile.” – LS, Fort Collins, CO

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Community: “A fitting metaphor: A lotus growing in the mud, reaching for the light, and that light is love (an author writes). Then the lotus blooms. Chi stirs up the muddy bottom so that what needs to be seen is acknowledged and released. The mud settles in the stillness of practice. The love from all the TCC teacher candidates reaching for certification supported the whole process. I am grateful to be part of the community.” – JS, CO

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Joy: To teach well, it is obviously necessary to do TCC; I know what the practice has done for me. One can’t get the benefits without practice. But, whether or not you want to do TCC is entirely up to you. There is nothing wrong in abandoning T’ai Chi Chih practice if you get nothing out of it. / With the coming of the beautiful autumn weather, there is heightening of spirit, a great feeling of “livingness” and, usually, a gratitude for being alive. / As the Zen Master Seigen said as he was dying, ‘Better than Zen doctrine, the Joy of Living.’ – Justin F. Stone

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Where in the World have you been doing T’ai Chi Chih? Share your images for our gallery.

Want more inspiration? Want a connection with the global TCC community? Want tips for better practice? Join us:

Subscribe to The Vital Force. Our quarterly journal offers engaging stories, hints, and insights from TCC teachers and students. We also highlight wisdom by, and photos rarely seen of, originator Justin Stone.