T’ai Chi Chih Practice in the Time of COVID-19

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. 

There is nothing that does not change . – Justin F. Stone, TCC Originator

From a recent issue of The Vital Force:

Stocking up: “I began preparing my pantry (for the COVID-19 pandemic) when the newspapers began advising us to do so…. (When I arrived the store) there were no canned goods…. No eggs, no bread. A meager supply of nuts. Even the produce bins were empty, except for sweet potatoes and some bags of blood oranges…. What I’m most happy to have in reserve now are my practices. Practicing TCC daily…I feel prepared for the stresses that may present themselves…. Without having already stocked up on that routine, I doubt I could muster my attention away from the crashing stock market and rocketing virus graphs. We have at the ready the things we made ready. You can’t buy a can of beans or a can of peaches when the shelves are empty. TCC – learned, practiced and at the ready – is an endless bounty.” – DEC, Minneapolis, MN

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Calming down: “I met TCC in a park 18 years ago. It called out to me. ‘Hey you, with the brisk stride and tense shoulders, come over here…. What’s that worried look and furrowed brow about?’ I’ve always been a worrier. It must be in my DNA….  (Now, during the COVID-19 pandemic) the daily news breaks our hearts, the stewards of our blighted benighted planet fumble in desperation and we strive to hold ourselves together. For a born worrier like me, this time we are in would be impossible without a powerful grounding daily discipline. TCC has a magical way of calming the mind, soothing the soul and warming the heart. And from TCC comes the delightful community of kindred spirits, which, in its own right, is as magnificent a blessing as the practice itself!” – EE, Sacramento, CA

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Choosing life: “’TCC was a miracle during a very hard time. In 2016 my mother-in-law began suffering from severe depression and anxiety and was institutionalized many times. (She eventually died from suicide.) Without TCC I could never have gotten through that situation. I became an accredited TCC teacher in June 2019 and now speak to many mental health clinics, treatment facilities and halfway homes to share TCC. My hope is to help someone choose life instead of suicide, to know how the joy of TCC can guide, heal, protect and lead to a life of peace and calm.” – NH, Audubon, MN

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Letting go: “Thirty minutes of this meditation – grasping the point of concentration and then letting go – (Chih-kuan) – is a good deal. Thirty minutes a day would be a splendid practice, and if we kept on, results could be expected. This alternate holding and letting go is true of all life, the expansion and contraction that is also day and night as well as life and death. There is deep meaning to this ‘simple meditation, which is powerful enough, when consistently repeated, to lead one to an enlightenment experience.” –  Justin F. Stone

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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.