Joy & Healing
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.
Bliss is an inner thing. – Justin F. Stone, TCC Originator
From a recent issue of The Vital Force:
Ebb & flow: “I stood on the edge watching waves swell in and out, seeing gushes of water overflow the rocks and waves burst with joy over the rocks, then release and flow out, changing again. I experienced the same feeling after a Daughter in the Valley correction during a recent TCC workshop. When I made the shift, a flood of energy flowed through my body. While watching the waves at sunset and feeling the ocean’s energy, I felt the same burst of energy. I saw a small part of the ocean but was aware of how much bigger it really was. I experience the same with the Chi. The joy and strength of energy flowing in my body is a small glimpse into the much larger force of Chi present everywhere and within everything.” – RR, Kansas City MO
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Body & soul: “TCC is an opportunity to integrate body, brain and soul, letting go of physical discomfort and leaving intellectual thoughts behind. Starting with our warm-ups, I glide through Rocking Motion and Bird Flaps Its Wings. My body needs the gentle rhythmic movements that follow. My initial fear in the class was stiffness but the ‘Taffies’ loosen me up and help my body regain its energy. My friends in the group were concerned in the beginning about following the movements, but they have integrated all 19 movements into their lifestyle smoothly. We all look forward to discovering the movements’ nuances each Saturday morning.” – TO, Beaverton, OR
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Friends & Chi: “Two years ago my neighbor Jerry, now 99 years old, moved to a long-term-care facility. I’ve been going once a week to teach and practice TCC with him. Two other residents have joined us: Jackie, 86 and blind, can see only dark shadows. Marie is recovering from a stroke and also blind. I’m 70, the youngest…. When Jackie had pneumonia, after she was released from the hospital and it was safe for us to visit in her room, we all did TCC around her bed.… I’ll never forget how inspiring it was when Jackie did the whole practice flat on her back in bed. At one point she was doing the arm and wrist movements while wearing an oxygen mask. Her legs kept releasing energy and we couldn’t stop laughing as her feet continued to dance under the sheets, all on their own. What joy!” – KJ, Asbury Park, NJ
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Silence & healing: “To those who walk or drive through deserted sections of the desert, the intense silence – certainly more than the mere absence of sound – can be very healing. […] The vast silence and the broad, restful vistas of Nature (there are few displeasing sights in nature) can be healing to us all.” – Justin F. Stone
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