Gift From TCC

The greatest gift is T’ai Chi Chih itself because on a daily basis it offers grace, help (without having to ask for it) and gentleness. Without TCC, these gifts fade away, and life can become mundane instead of marvelous. Without TCC, we have a tendency to believe that our lives are static and situations seemingly impossible.

All may seem yin and yang, but there is another level beyond those confines. With each practice a wondrous part of life unfolds and reveals itself as intuition, grace, flow and compassion (especially towards ourselves). Because intuition has opened and flowered within us, the possibilities of a harmonious, amazing life are endless.

My sister, Corine, had been going through a particularly rough stretch with her husband, hospitalized with shingles. (He passed away a few months later.) I mentioned that I was so sorry she was going through this, working all day and being with him at the hospital each evening. A gentle voice came through the phone as she said clearly, “I am so grateful for having T’ai Chi Chih to help me through this. I wonder what other people do? How do they get through this without going crazy, feeling frantic and despairing?” I answered, “You’re right; they often feel helpless and alone.”

TCC helps our bodies, minds and feelings come into harmony with each other, working together instead of fueling discord and anxiety about a future difficult to bear at such a precarious time. To call on the power of vision, one that we experience during our TCC practice, is a real gift. I don’t mean that we manipulate the situation to experience vision. I mean that we harmonize with the flow of life. One great master said it this way, when asked if he prayed for a different outcome in a hard situation: “To be in tune with life is a great gift. It is all about according with life.” What is the vision that allows us to harmonize with life? It is our ability to see the good. TCC opens the pathways within us so that we can know Truth. In seeing this we are able to love and share the Chi.