Being Grateful

There are many aspects about T’ai Chi Chih that have deeply impressed me over the years, especially in Justin’s teachings. He seemed especially found of quoting his good friend Paul Reps: “How grateful I am with no thing to be grateful for.” Note he didn’t say, “nothing to be grateful for.” This is only one quotation on gratitude that can be found in Spiritual Odyssey, and it can be found under the title of “The Idea of Impermanence.”I’d invite you to read the entire page. Isn’t it amazing how Justin brings in so many thoughts and images into this piece of “Impermanence.” Among others, he writes about a talk he gave on “The Spiritual Life,” choosing to be the big hermit even on 42nd Street and Broadway. Then to the real meat of the matter, “The Growth of Certainty,” which flows into a sense of Essence at all times, whatever the situation. This leads to a feeling of profound gratitude.

There it is: Gratitude cannot be taught; it must be experienced. Gratitude is a profound feeling of wonder, amazement, fullness, of an experience with the total realization that it is beyond me. All I can do is open myself to it – heart, mind, soul. All I need to do is simply receive, and isn’t that what we are invited to do as Justin invites us to sit quietly for 10 minutes and simply receive. I do believe this time will raise our awareness to realize just how much we have received. Take a moment to think about the gift to see – your ability to read this printed page, to comprehend letters, words, sentences. Whenever do we realize our gift of sight and become grateful for it? Very often the only time we appreciate our ability to see is when we can’t for whatever reason. If sight is taken from us for a while, such as for surgery of the eye, then we are deeply grateful for the ability to see when we once again gain our clear vision.

It seems to me that TCC practice enables us to be keenly aware of things, events, people, situations because we have taken 30 to 50 minutes to slow down, feel, experience, move, flow in the TCC form. As our awareness heightens in the movements, so will our experience be heightened in an ever new awareness of life, in each moment, and come to be grateful “with no thing to be grateful for,” because we embrace all of life. Our TCC practice therefore opens the door to such experiences. As our awareness is raised and fine tuned, our world of gratitude widens and we discover just how much is pure gift. Our five senses, ability to stand, move and walk, our health, family, friends, home… and the list goes on. It is literally endless. And it all began with 19 simple movements and one pose. How simple, yet how profound.

How interesting that gratitude is the theme for this issue, because it is also the theme of our upcoming conference. We will gather with grateful hearts on August 12 in very familiar surroundings at Lied Lodge, Nebraska City.

The central reason for our gratitude is simply knowing and practicing the TCC form – and this leads us to a profound gratitude for Justin. I’m sure that more people than one have wondered: how could someone be so generous as to give this away to anyone who wants to lean it, without some type of on going payment. “What’s the angle?” as someone once said to him about his so fully sharing this form. Very simply put by Justin: The purpose of the T’ai Chi Chih movements is to circulate and balance the Vital Force. Justin relates this in Spiritual Odyssey under the heading “Comments on Newspaper Articles” and ends this very interesting article with one sentence: “The great secret in T’ai Chi Chih is what happens to the Vital Force. We should be grateful for it.”

We will not have Justin’s presence with us forever. We will, however, have his words, his teachings, his legacy of generosity. May we be just as generous in our service to others through TCC teaching and practice. This is the best way in which we can be grateful to Justin for giving us the TCC form. Speaking of gratitude, be grateful to your TCC teacher for introducing TCC to you. If you are an accredited teacher, be grateful for the teachers who encouraged you onto and through your teacher training. If you have taught TCC classes, I don’t have to invite you to be grateful for your students. Sharing TCC through teaching it and experiencing the look on your students’ faces when they begin to get into the flow, allows your heart to swell with pure gratitude. What gifts we have, and we are grateful.