Change of Life — and — T’ai Chi Chih

Carolyn L. Errie, Columbia, MD

As far back as I can remember, I have been an extremely controlling person. I since have become aware of the stress this caused others, but overlooked the stress it caused me.

T’ai Chi Chih brings balance to my life. Subtly, it makes me aware of the balance of the universe. Interfering in other’s lives, worry about the thousands of tiny incidentals of life, or fretting over the hundred things each day that I cannot control are no longer of importance to me.

There is a peace deep within which is tapped by the T’ai Chi Chih [movements]. These, done early each morning, bring spiritual nourishment and balance to my entire day.

I recently had the experience of taking my mother to the hospital emergency room. Being a diabetic, she was to be given only saline drip. A nurse came in and started to hang a glucose drip. Realizing that this was not the right solution, she did not connect it, but left the bag hanging on the pole. I was very tense and nervous about the bag on this pole. I began to mentally do T’ai Chi Chih with my mind to relax.

Half an hour later another nurse came in and started to connect the glucose. “You do not want to connect that glucose.” I said. When she argued with me that my mother’s fluids were gone, I said, “My mother is a diabetic and should not receive that glucose.” Her face flushed and she smiled. As she started to leave the room, I asked that she also remove the bag so that a mistake would not be made. She did so. Had this been a year ago, before I became a student of T’ai Chi Chih, I would have been screaming and yelling and upsetting my mother very much.

Balance is the key to emotional, spiritual and physical health. T’ai Chi Chih gives me this balance and it carries over into all aspects of my life.

Carolyn L. Errie is a student of Sharon Sirkis.