Exploring
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.
“‘Practice must be done softly and continuously.”– Justin F. Stone, TCC Originator
From a recent issue of The Vital Force:
Beginning: “Four years ago, my husband and I spent three months in Minnesota so he could receive cancer treatment at the Mayo Clinic. I’ve never embraced suffering and the thought of having to face it frightened me. Surprisingly, that time changed my life in a way I never expected…. (Among classes for families,) one was TCC. After the first session I experienced such peace and relaxation that I knew something special had entered my life. As I attended twice-weekly sessions for three months, the practice and meditations helped me deal with the ups and downs of my husband’s treatment, teaching me to accept suffering and deeply experience the joys of our time at Mayo.” – MAB, Kansas City, MO
Editor’s Note: Three years later, MAB is still practicing, now with a local teacher and through Zoom classes. Read her full story in the November 2020 issue of the TCC journal, The Vital Force.
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Discovering: “There’s something graceful in opportunities that come with new demands and unexpected challenges. We gain nothing in wishing that the now we have been given, with all of its turmoil and pandemic uncertainties, could be somehow different than it is…. Discover graceful opportunity in TCC practice by embracing the now in which we live, breathe and have our being. With each step, position, shift and settling we move through this moment with purposeful intention. Mark the little changes … as you feel your weight shift to the left as you carry the ball; as the sun’s light shifts gradually across the lawn; as the curtains flutter in an afternoon breeze.” – RD, Tulsa, OK
Editor’s Note: RD reflects further on the nature of time in the November issue.
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Relaxing: “At a last TCC class, I play Show and Tell, where students discuss the best thing they’ve received from class, bring in an item that demonstrates it, and tell how it relates to TCC. Howard brought in a jigsaw puzzle, opened the box, picked up several pieces and dropped them back in the box. He said those pieces were like his thoughts, scattered and stressful. He then put the lid back on the box to reveal the beautiful puzzle picture, and said that after TCC practice, he sees the big picture: ‘I relax more and see how things fit together.” – SS, Columbia, MD
Editor’s Note: SS offers more playful student stories in the November issue.
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Swimming: The student must not think of TCC as ‘exercise.’ In truth it is the best exercise I know, since it exercises the internal organs and does not tire one but tends to increase energy. However, it is all-important that TCC be done softly, without effort — what we call ‘the effort of no effort.’ If you will remember to think of yourself as moving slow motion in a dream or slowly swimming through heavy air, yet without exertion, you will have the idea of how to move. – Justin F. Stone
Find more of Justin’s writings about moving correctly in the November issue.
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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 connection with the global TCC community? Want tips for a 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.
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