Joy in teaching

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. 

I congratulate you on being a TCC teacher! – Justin F. Stone, TCC Originator

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From the recent issue of The Vital Force:

Treasures: “Justin used to remind all teachers, ‘Let TCC teach TCC.’ It’s marvelous to witness the unique way each person initially takes in TCC. Some people absorb it easily and naturally as if they were born doing it. Others are rigid and unnatural, awkward and stiff (that was me as a beginner). Some can relax into it immediately or at least after a few lessons. Others continue to overthink it and create complexity where none exists (me again). No matter how they start, every person who sticks with TCC discovers an immense and endlessly regenerating treasure deep inside themselves. Watching each person’s practice evolve in its own way, in its own time, is a privilege and a joy.” – LO, Port Hueneme, CA

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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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Thrills: “Why do I keep teaching TCC? The thrill for me is seeing the happy faces of returning students. Seventeen people each Monday morning want to learn, improve and flow together. What a delightful crew: The dancer, the sculptor, the writer and travel agent, the scientist, the retired military, the CPA, the nurse, the healer, several teachers, and retirees from the business world. They’re all looking across our circle, sending healing and love to each other and the rest of the world. We smile, feeling the serenity in the midst of activity.” – TGP, San Antonio, TX

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Sweetness: “There’s such sweetness in finding and entering the Cosmic Rhythm in our TCC practice. It’s the rhythm of the universe. We know we’re one with it all, connected in this fundamental rhythm. The comfort of rocking soothes infants. That rocking – weight changing, yinning, and yanging – in the rhythm of our practice profoundly comforts us. We enter a natural rhythm that doesn’t require thinking, like a child’s swing that goes up, momentum turns, and the swing comes down…. At first my TCC practice was mechanical. What a joy to finally find and feel the Cosmic Rhythm. So delicious. So comforting.” – DA, Santa Barbara, CA

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Joy: From the beginning I have felt that the future of TCC lay not in Madison Avenue or Hollywood, but in the quality and dedication of the teachers. Early on, teachers found how rewarding it is to teach TCC, to see the joyous, energetic look of students’ faces, and to feel the excitement of the group energy. My trust has not been misplaced. The quality of people who have been led to become TCC teachers is very high.… Please never stop trying to improve your practice; this is part of the responsibility of being a teacher. – 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.

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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.