Building Your Local TCC Community

Sharing Knowledge: The Workshops

Led by Athene Mantle, assisted by Meg Scinto, writeup by Meg Scinto

This discussion group was joined by 8 participants, so 10 teachers in total participated. The breakdown was: one teacher, relocating from an established (ABQ) community to a more remote area as sole teacher; one lone teacher in a fairly big city (PHIL); four teachers within areas that ranged from 4 to 8 teachers, some with no current arrangement for meeting to a few who had some sporadic arrangement for meeting; one teacher from a Northeast PA community of a handful of teachers with a recent success story of bringing all teachers together with interested students to a weekend retreat setting facilitated by Sr. Antonia. Finally, a teacher from a well-established community (NJ) looking to formulate better links of communication among the area teachers through the use of internet and bulletin boards as well as the hope of establishing a permanent building site for gathering of TCC.

Hosts Athene and Meg both come from areas with established TCC communities, Bay area, SF and Northern NJ, respectively.

Athene had developed an outline for discussion points which was passed out to the group. She relayed how they were used within her teaching community. Some of the points included:

• Identify your needs; then contact teachers
• Schedule regular teacher potlucks which include a practice & sharing circle
• Establish a local website
• Use email
• Host local retreats
• Issue press releases

As for the issue of encouraging teachers and serious students to recognize the value of meeting in community, these suggestions were given:

• The benefits derived in practicing T’ai Chi Chih in a group

• The benefits of a sharing circle. Students especially can glean much insight into how the chi works in one’s life by listening to others’ stories.

• Teachers can learn of the type of organizations fellow teachers have had success with*; share teaching tips

• Opportunity to refine moves; work on a problem move with other teachers; fix bad habits

• Reading and reflecting on words of Justin Stone

Since a location to meet is a key ingredient in being able to hold meetings, the idea of house sharing was well received as was that of enlisting the use of town libraries or a Police Athletic League building for meetings when a community has no “center”.

Discussion of internet and use of bulletin boards, specifically, for connecting with area teachers included the need for a password to keep the site secure. A few of the participants had input into their experiences with these.

*Community Outreach Coordinator Lorraine Lepine was part of this group and she alluded to the survey she was developing that would compile data gathered at conference for the purpose of providing a breakdown of the different settings and specialized populations being taught by TCC teachers.

A strong suggestion from Athene was for a community to host a conference or weekend retreat. In her experience, she says, it builds relationships within the community.

Random ideas presented which were touched on briefly:
• Free TCC in the park
• Lots of demos at town organizations – senior’s clubs, health fairs, schools, etc.
• Generic flyers and wearing TCC tee shirts

Participants included:

Linda Fellion, Abq., NM (moving 50 miles away)
Sr. Meg Costello, Phil., PA
Lorraine Lepine, Overland Park, KS
Lucky Elliot, San Antonio, TX
Bill Moore, Clifton, NJ
Sr. Mary Frances Reis, Kennett, MO
Nancy Lecraw, Libertyville, IL
Lucia Veteran, Lake Winola, PA