Connections (October 2004)

Many, many thanks to the St. Louis team who did a great job of providing us with the place, space, and a terrific program to make so many connections. This allowed us to get to know each other better, and to open our minds, bodies, and hearts so that we can be better T’ai Chi Chih teachers. The amount of effort that went into the preparation and execution of the ’04 Conference was truly an act of love and selfless service.

Because Albuquerque is hosting the 2005 Conference, we led the last morning practice. Ann volunteered three of us to accomplish this task. With each movement, the sea of T’ai Chi Chih teachers became more and more intimate. Spatially we were not that close. (After all, there were about 115 T’ai Chi Chih teachers from various parts of the world.) But we quickly began to move as “one sea of energy,” as it says in the Nei Kung (the meditation found in Justin Stone’s Meditation for Healing). To look out and see the sincerity in the teachers’ faces, as each did her or his practice, was a joy to behold. T’ai Chi Chih is so beautiful that it calls us home to experience that which is, that which we truly are. It was as if the walls in the room disappeared and each one of us was connected to everything, everywhere.

Experiencing connections at the T’ai Chi Chih Conference is the just the beginning of becoming aware, daily, that we are constantly finding ways to connect with people of like mind and heart. As we come into contact with people, we quickly sense the Vital Force that is so alive within us during our T’ai Chi Chih practice. The more a person has an inner life, the stronger we sense the Vital Force within them. (It’s usually expressed as peace.) This should be our clue that others can sense the chi or Vital Force in us also. What connection do we make with others? Our T’ai Chi Chih practice helps us make joyous ones. Each connection can be a way of saluting the Highest in each person. It is also a way to love and share the chi.