Connections

Where do we start? It always starts with us, with a choice we make. Our T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) or Seijaku practice begins to calm us and to allow us focus on what is important: connections with others. I was not the only one who felt this way at the recent teacher conference in Albuquerque. How beautiful the faces of my fellow teachers, full of joy as we gathered in person over the course of 3-plus days. I missed this very much because of COVID and the 150 teachers who registered felt the same.

So many took the opportunity to be with each other. And I am grateful we did. Everyone had the opportunity to share. So many important ideas — all directed towards one idea —sharing what we have learned from TCC and Seijaku practices. I am looking forward to reading about these in The Vital Force.

Some ideas connect us to our own way of doing or thinking about our practice. Perhaps we have been constricting our practice. When I started, my movements were much bigger. Some of my students copied what I was doing. But I was not feeling the intimacy of the movement; it left me giving away my energy or constricting my energy so that I couldn’t feel the gentle flow that opened me to a different feeling. By letting go of what I was doing, what I thought I had heard, I became calmer, more in tune with the flowing circles of the Chi and with the connections within myself and with others. When Justin experienced such flows, he would ask us, “Did you feel that?” His face was aglow with peace and harmony. I often said to myself, “So that is how you feel the flow, not by trying to make it so.” It helped to connect and begin to love and share the Chi.