Experiential Energy, better known as fast magic

It is kind of funny. Every now and then I have to ask if I am really still alive. It seems that after years of metaphysical reading, there has developed this belief that there may be a place beyond this life that I describe as fast magic. It is kind of a personal joke. This life is considered slow magic. This simply means that we, through our thoughts habits and activities, create the life we live. For instance, if we want a new car, we start by looking for just the right model, color and accessories. Once these specific categories are found, it seems every time we turn around, we start to see this model of car. After pricing at many dealerships and other car sources we buy the desired car. It is slow magic; the car appears in your driveway. Slow magic is created by our thinking processes.

Fast magic on the other hand is not an illusion but rather the ability to create reality and material items instantly. It works something like this. We have a thought or desire, and within a short period of time this thought or reality materializes before us. Perhaps we want a new kitchen item to further our ability to cook in just a certain way. The very next day a friend stops by wondering if we could use the exact kitchen item we needed. This type of activity, by many, is considered fast magic. Of course, most would think fast magic is not possible. In many written materials this fast magic activity is attributed to a place and time beyond this life. Some cultures name this place a type of heaven. The reason I have to ask if I am really still alive is because, very often, it seems that fast magic is happening in my life.

While in the belly of the beast, or as many would call it, Old Folsom Prison, there was much time to read and meditate on these things. One thing convicts are known for is their grasp on reality. If an item or life circumstance is not in front of them within their grasp, it does not exist. One of the things I used to tell my inmate students with regards to T’ai Chi Chih was that it sometimes causes men to see things from a different point of view. Not in some spectacular way as in cognitive reality restructuring courses, or new life experiences felt in some religious activities, but rather without them really noticing that something about their lives was changing. Life is just better. After teaching thousands of men in such a contained environment this was fairly obvious to me and those who worked with me. It is one of the reasons so many worked so hard to bring T’ai Chi Chih into the prison system. To those who would ask; “What is your scientific authority or what study do you have to prove this thinking?”, I would say that often studies are done on things that are first realized as a part of our reality, then science goes about proving why it is part of our reality. If we waited for scientific studies to realize everything in life, life would certainly lose its savor.

After ten years of observing thousands of inmates, I tagged low energy activities as destructive and high energy activities as constructive. It appeared to me that the more high energy activities an individual took part in the better life was for them. Likewise, it seemed that the more low energy activities an individual took part in, the worse life was for them. Usually it appeared that first a person’s energy would be lowered, then they would take part in low energy activities. When a person raised their energy through activities such as TCC and meditation, they seemed to naturally take part in higher energy activities. T’ai Chi Chih in my mind is an extremely high level energy activity.

“Prove it,” my fellow convicts said. “Prove that life is better when you do T’ai Chi Chih.” So I started doing a lot of T’ai Chi Chih and meditation. Prison life was transformed. A T’ai Chi Chih program was very quickly established in a most unusual way. We must understand that things generally take years to happen in prison. Justin Stone actually came to Folsom Prison, and to my great surprise, he asked Ed Altman to stay and work with me. In a matter of a month, I was an accredited T’ai Chi Chih teacher. This is something that has never happened in prison before. Prison programs are purposely kept small. There are usually around 25 men in a program like T’ai Chi Chih. T’ai Chi Chih was however soon being taught to men by the hundreds. It seemed that the whole face of Folsom Prison was changing.

Over the years that TCC was being taught, the amount of violence and number murders in Folsom Prison went down dramatically. Then there are of course the statistics that came out of the prison pre-release program. Men who spent eight hours or more in the T’ai Chi Chih program showed a marked change in prison and parole activities. Just over 94 percent were released and completed a successful parole, becoming normal productive citizens. On the other hand, those who took part in all of the other prison programs continued to return to prison at the astonishing rate of 80 percent, having committed new crimes or violated parole.

It is my observation that T’ai Chi Chih can have an immense effect on the lives of those who practice it regularly. It matters not if they are the one percent of society in a maximum security prison or a normal citizen who works at a nine-to-five job. In either case it seems to raise the energy and bring good into one’s life that I laughingly call fast magic. What could it hurt to bring a little pleasant magic into anyone’s life?

If you would like more information regarding the work inside the U.S. prison system, please contact me at my e-mail address