A Course of T’ai Chi Chih Miracles

Last night I jumped in my van (Cinnamon) and headed for the hills (Figueroa Mountain in northern Santa Barbara county, to be exact). This morning I was sitting in the sun reading a very heartening article about plants as teachers, and the feeling that the nineties would be beginning of dedicating the next century to the plant world made me happy. As I was sitting there the flies began to bug me. I asked them nicely to go away, then not so nicely. I sent them love. When one of them flew into my eye, it momentarily stopped (the love I was sending). I decided I would build my energy field so they just wouldn’t penetrate–or at least not get so close. That reminded me that a good way to strengthen that field is T’ai Chi, and here I was in a very beautiful spot to do T’ai Chi Chih. As I began the rocking motion the flies disappeared–and left me to practice.

During my practice (one of those moments when my mind slipped off the tan t’ien) I thought about other interesting spots where I had done T’ai Chi Chih. Two came to mind that occurred recently while I was in Peru. There were nine of us and almost all were Yogis and Yoginis. We had planned to do a lot of yoga asana practice on our journey through Peru. As it worked out we were using energy, flexibility, and pranayama while hiking the Inca trail, river rafting, or any of the other of our numerous adventures. Formal asana practice did not lend itself, as everything was yoga practice. Doing T’ai Chi Chih seemed to be the absolutely perfect thing to do on several occasions. One time arose at the Lima airport; we had arrived there early–like about 5 am. By 9:00, still no plane. Rumors of strikes. Without thinking much about it I began to do T’ai Chi Chih. Then one guy from our group joined, then another. We went through the rest of the set, and the positive energy was tremendous. I was told later that every one around tuned in, either staring directly or out of the corner of their eyes, or at least those furtive glances. It was neat to have the atmosphere so mellow in the midst of the possibility of hostility. I really felt we had a direct effect on the harmony of our environment. Shortly after that, through a course of miracles–to coin a phrase–we were on a plane.

Another high experience doing T’ai Chi Chih was at Machu Picchu. It was that dusky time of day when silhouettes stand out. I was on top of the highest temple and decided to do T’ai Chi Chih. It was closing time, and everyone was supposed to be out. I did the entire sequence and was so into it that when I came to the healing sounds I did them without any inhibitions–with great vigor. I heard them echo across the ruins. Shortly after that, while finishing the cosmic consciousness pose, the guides whistled for me to leave. I thought it was fantastic that I got to finish the whole set before being bothered, AND the T’ai Chi Chih itself was the most incredible experience. I could feel such a strong exchange of energy from the Earth to me to the Earth. I truly felt it was acupressure to the Earth, and that I was receiving energy from the Earth in order to give it back. Talk about getting high on mountains…

– Rip Riparetti
Santa Barbara, CA