I Must Admit, I’m Astonished

The course description for T’ai Chi Chih caught my eye – “profound effects on the body and mind.” Although I knew nothing about TCC, it sounded perfect since last year had been one of sorrow. I lost my only sister to breast cancer. The time spent as a caregiver had taken a toll; for months after her death all I did was sleep and chain smoke. Thinking about Rose embracing and clinging to life, I was ashamed I was throwing it away but was almost helpless to do anything about it. I felt paralyzed; my energy was non-existent. Obviously I needed to make some major changes; I needed a “profound effect on body and mind.”

So that’s how I came to take a TCC course. Quite honestly, after the first class, I couldn’t imagine see how this could possibly produce the benefits it claimed. Yoga I could understand. Martial arts I could understand. But TCC? I just couldn’t understand it. How could these simple movements increase my energy level or promote inner peace? I felt awkward and clumsy at first. I couldn’t possibly be doing it right. Nevertheless I practiced faithfully every day and after seven weeks, I must admit, I’m astonished. While I still have so much to learn, the practice calms my mind. I have no problem focusing. It truly is a moving meditation for me.

Practicing daily is no problem. I look forward to it because I know how I’ll feel much afterwards. Before I’m finished with Rocking Motion, all the chattering in my brain has ceased. I’m moving in the moment with no past regrets or future fears. I’m amazed and thrilled every time I feel the energy flowing through my fingers. I know that TCC will be a lifelong practice for me.

I also quit smoking the first day of class. I’ve quit many times before but it never lasted more than a few days. It has been seven weeks now. I know this is the last time I will have to quit. During Cosmic Consciousness Pose, my thoughts of gratitude are always the same: Thank you for another day of not smoking, another day of breath, another day of life.

Double Lung Transplant & TCC Give New Life

By Gary Swanson, Libertyville, IL

My name is Gary Swanson. My T’ai Chi Chih story begins in 1985 when I was 33 years old. I had a wife, a house, three young daughters . . . and I was going to die. I was diagnosed with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. It’s a lung disease. It’s debilitating, hereditary, and fatal. The doctors gave me 10 years to live.

The diagnosis scared me, depressed me, but it did not defeat me. I decided that if I was going to die, I was going to die fighting. I developed this battle plan: exercise daily, eat nutritionally, create, and then maintain a positive frame-of-mind, document my journey in poems, and focus on life, not on death.

My battle plan kept me alive long enough to receive a double lung transplant in December 2000. It was after my double lung transplant that I discovered TCC.

Meditation always interested me so TCC’s moving meditation description piqued my interest. I enrolled in a TCC course at a local high school. Donna McElhose, an accredited Tai Chi Chih teacher, was my teacher. Donna taught me the TCC moves, pose, and principles, but she also inspired in me a desire to learn, a desire that still burns today.

Since beginning TCC my blood pressure is down, my pulse rate is down, my anxiety level is down, and my lung capacity is up. Not a bad combination.

Each morning I do a full TCC practice, and throughout the day, as needed,

I pause to do abbreviated practices. I now study under the guidance of two accredited teachers, Donna and Lisa Jacobs. My hope is become an accredited TCC teacher so I can guide others as my teachers have guided me.

Editor’s Note: Donna McElhose adds: I have known Gary for three years but did not know he was thinking of becoming a teacher until now. His life is an inspiration; he’s always joyful. He used to play the harmonica when he was coming to class, but I only recently learned that he played it to keep his lungs healing. After his lung transplant, his lung capacity actually increased instead of decreased.