A Teaching Experience with Adolescents

Carmen Brocklehurst, Albuquerque, NM

Recently I was invited to share a T’ai Chi Chih demonstration with a group of young “At Risk” teenagers who have gotten themselves in trouble with the law, school or their parents. The boys and girls did not look like a rough bunch. All were dressed well, and I would have thought they were a regular bunch of teenagers, getting together for a community social, yet they were at this gathering by judicial mandate. I was warned that they might possibly be rude or use foul language or not participate. Only one young girl with a broken arm did not try the movements. It was a simple 30 minutes, if you don’t mind seeming lack of interest. Some of their comments while we were doing the movements were “Are we going to do anything else?”: “My drama teacher says some of the same things you do about balance.” “I’m getting tired, do I have to keep doing this?” “How do I stay in my feet?” “My what…(tan t’ien)?” One girl didn’t make any comments at all, she just giggled all the way through and kept trying to get others attention with her imbalance. But they did keep doing the movements and I did continue to talk about balance and how the movements tell us a lot about life. There were three adult leaders as part of the group and they were doing the movements along with the group and made comments whenever one of the group was less than courteous. At the end, one of the students had to leave right away, his father had come to pick him up. He hadn’t made any comments, but after saying his good-byes to the group as he turned to go he said, “This has been really good. This is the most calm I have been in a long time.” Then he got a far away look in his eye. The comments from the other students were that they felt calm, quiet, and one even said, “in my feet, it really feels different, I can’t explain it.” At the end of my presentation I told them that I would very much like to be invited back to share a full T’ai Chi Chih class with them. I told the leaders that there would be no charge as this is a non-profit group.

A couple of days later I got a call from one of the directors who was very interested in taking a full T’ai Chi Chih class. He apologized for the students that had been rude. I knew that it was not really their intention so I told him not to worry. He told me how long the students had talked about T’ai Chi Chih after I left and then he said that one of the mothers had called to inquire about the activity that they had because her son was finally excited about something and she wanted to know where he could take this class. Again I offered to share a T’ai Chi Chih class with them. He told me that we would probably set it up in the summer for the fall. Hopefully this will be so.

At home I again got the feeling–we (all the T’ai Chi Chih Teachers) have something so very special to share, something that can make a difference in the world, we are so lucky. Thank you Justin. Sharing with our communities is one way that we can put back something into the river. Check with your United Way office for organizations who need what we offer in T’ai Chi Chih. I look forward to your accounts in VFJ articles.