Chi & Me

Two years of T’ai Chi Chih practice has proven to be a tremendous healing power in my life. Extreme foot pain and insomnia have vanished, my balance improved and my creativity expanded and deepened.

Two months ago, my left knee was replaced and the first three weeks of recovery were wicked. Both hips had already been replaced, along with my right knee. Those surgeries had gone well and I sailed quickly into recovery. This time? No smooth sailing. It was extremely difficult and painful.

Week three, post-surgery I woke up in tears and cried out, “I can’t endure this pain one more day.” I also had food poisoning and was extremely tired as I woke every 10 minutes from the pain. I wondered to whom I could give my pup because I couldn’t care for him. Pain led to negative thinking and drove me into a big pessimistic hole.

I was a mess, lying on the couch, hitting ground zero. Then my inner voice said, “TCC will help.” Sure, I thought, I can barely stand up. Still the voice persisted, “TCC will help.” I finally put on Justin Stone’s DVD. Over and over I played the DVD, in and out of sleep, groggy, awake, asleep, trying to do some arm movements. The DVD continued to play. After a while I was doing the movements in my mind. I saw myself teaching a class in the future. I fell gently asleep.

The next morning after my first good sleep in three weeks, I awoke ravenous as I had not been eating. That afternoon, sitting in the sun, my inner voice said, “Go to the office supply store and get some pens and writing notebooks.” That afternoon I wrote some poems and did some artwork. I am so grateful for this practice, a healing power in my life.