Chaos In The Midst Of Serenity

I left the house for my new T’ai Chi Chih class 30 minutes early, to set up the room and be ready to greet my new students. When I arrived, there wasn’t a soul around in the activity room. So I went ahead and pushed tables out of the way, set up chairs in a circle, got the display table and folders of TCC materials ready, and put on some soothing music. Then I decided to do some T’ai Chi Chih.

A few minutes before 10 a.m., a woman rushed in and was surprised I had already arranged the room for class. She informed me she would go “rustle up some students” in the living room of the Assisted Living Residence. In she came minutes later with a troop of people in walkers and wheel chairs.

It was an unlikely crew of beginners. Some of them informed me that they could only stay for 15 minutes. One fell asleep in her chair almost immediately. Others sat down and waited quietly. After introducing myself, I explained what T’ai Chi Chih was all about and did some soft movements for them. They watched intently. I talked about the benefits of regular practice and encouraged them to try out some of the movements while seated. None of them wanted to stand and try it at first… but I was not deterred.

Then things got a little chaotic. A resident came in and ran right over my foot with her walker while I was demonstrating. She made a beeline to the scales to weigh herself, not to join the class. Several other residents came and went, talking in loud voices. Then I noticed a large puddle on the floor nearby, and stopped to see if we could get some towels so that no one would slip and fall.

It turned out to be a significant leak from the upper floors… and the next thing I knew, the HAZ-MAT team in protective suits and boots came in, bringing the large noisy machine used to suck up fluids. It was turned on, making so much of a racket that I could no longer talk to my students. In fact, we couldn’t even hear the music! So I did what was my only option….more TCC movements for them to view, as the team mopped up the whole area.

After the team left, I continued to move, encouraging the residents’ participation while seated. Then a man came in with his wife in a wheel chair. He announced that he and his wife had done some Tai Chi in the past…”you know…the one created by Justin Stone.” I was pleasantly surprised and asked who his teacher had been. The name he gave was someone who was not ever accredited. I smiled and said how pleased I was that he knew TCC. He informed me that the reason he was late was that he plays pinochle with his friends…and that he would be late for class in the future as well.

We ended with a few more seated TCC moves, then closed with a bow of gratitude for our life. Within the hour, ten people had come to class and stayed. They were drawn in by the soft flowing movements of T’ai Chi Chih … and captivated by the knowledge that Justin is about the same age as they are, and he is still doing this form of movement every day. One never knows when chaos will erupt in a serene setting and bring joy through movement!

PS. The following week, the man who plays pinochle was on time! Another participant told the Director after class that he adores this class in T’ai Chi Chih! The Director said: “Who would ever believe that W___ would be attracted to T’ai Chi Chih! One never knows.”