Don’t Pull the Wings Off My Butterfly

Many years ago, I was visiting my parents in another state, and I noticed a T’ai Chi Chih teacher, whom I did not know, taught a nearby weekly class. Thinking it would be fun to participate in a community practice, I called to ask if I could join. I was cordially invited; and after a pause was told, “I should tell you that my class is a little different: I combine soul travel with TCC.”

I was stunned on so many levels: First, when we went through teaching training, Justin requested that we not combine his Chi form with any other practice, and we took that pledge. Second, by adding anything else, the teacher (no matter how well-intentioned) interrupts the intended Chi flow. (Is a teacher willing to take on that responsibility to the student’s energetic body?) Third, calling something TCC but adding other movements/activities, violates TCC’s copyright. This includes renaming movements.

Years ago, I remember visiting Justin at his home. He was visibly upset when I walked in. He asked, “Have you seen this? They’ve pulled the wings off the butterfly.” He handed me a manual that a very well-intentioned teacher had created to assist teachers preparing their students for TCC accreditation. It consisted of a mechanical checklist: one page per movement, stating how far the step-out should be, how far the hands should be held from the body, etc. It reminded me of a Jiffy-Lube check-up form. The teacher had forgotten that TCC is fundamentally a spiritual, not a mechanical, practice. Needless to say, Justin asked us not to use it when preparing our students for accreditation.

Two of my students graduated in the November 2020 TCC teacher accreditation course. The students they will be teaching will vary drastically, both culturally and religiously. One will be teaching very conservative, Southern, wealthy folks; the other will be teaching mostly Hispanic, not so well off, students. The students’ reasons for joining their classes will be different, but if they learn how to flow with the Chi – the Vital Energy of the body – they will stand on solid ground. The students will experience transformation in whatever dimension they need healing.

Nothing needs to be changed or modified. Just as the oxygen we breathe does not need to be modified from patient to patient, or called by a different name than oxygen, the name of TCC, Justin’s “butterfly,” which circulates and balances the Vital Energy in the body, does not need to be renamed or changed to suit different populations. It’s just that simple… and powerful.

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