Going deeper
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.
A Master of Chi knows where the Chi is flowing most actively. – Justin F. Stone, TCC Originator
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From the recent issue of The Vital Force:
Depth: “Reconnecting with TCC has been full of unexpected turns. I didn’t realize how little I truly understood about the essence of TCC. Even though I had practiced regularly many years ago and had even taught several successful classes, I now see that I hadn’t yet grasped the deeper power and value that proper training offers. Through genuine instruction, diligence, and devotion to practice, I began to experience real results. My daily practice deepened, and TCC started working on me in ways I’d never experienced before.” – BS, Coloma, MI
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Editor’s Note: Learn more from TCC teachers with more than 25 years of experience in the February issue of The Vital Force.
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Awareness: “(At one time), my TCC teaching emphasized form and weight shift, allowing the heel to rise, turning the waist, straightening the back leg, keeping hands at heart level, suspending the head from a string of pearls. All important, but they never allowed my students or me to get to the core of the matter, that wellspring of all movement, the tan t’ien. It was like tackling a large block of stone with a tiny hammer and chisel. Yes, small pieces came loose, but we didn’t get to the deep, unfathomable core. (Later, a retreat leader) had us moving the whole block, starting from the tan t’ien and sinking, allowing all the rest to follow…. Thinking originates in the mind and immediately sets up a duality, opposites, the mind at one end and the tan t’ien at the other. Awareness places us in the tan t’ien and allows us to experience the whole.” – TJ
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Beauty: “A close friend commented that the way I walk and gesture with my hands is different since I’ve been doing TCC. My hands are softer in their movements, and my walk is more fluid and agile. I’m more aware of the beauty that surrounds me, whether it be a sunset, a grandchild’s laugh, or a smile to a stranger. The more fluidly and softly I do the movements, the more beautiful they become and the more beautiful I feel while doing them.” – PR, IL
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Quiet: Though I have been unable to detect a purpose to this life, I have enjoyed the quiet of the trees and the sunlight on the water. Should I be fated to return, I would like to work to still the hatred in people’s hearts. – 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.
