Going Within & Moving Outward

At Justin’s birthday celebration in 2007, he said that if everyone in the world practiced T’ai Chi Chih there would be world peace. So it’s up to TCC teachers and students to spread this practice. Daughter in the Valley (DITV) suggests this message of peace. Last month I taught TCC at a week-long retreat in Santa Cruz, California, to about 30 Salvadorian brothers, priests, sisters, and lay people. One of the sisters shared that, while doing DITV, she felt that her life energy (Vital Force) was coming from within and moving outward to be shared.

DITV is a softly flowing, continuous movement – as we shift our weight forward and backward like the ocean waves continually rolling in and out. There is no beginning or ending. It’s important to do our movements with good intentions, keeping our bodies soft and relaxed so that the Chi (both yin and yang) can flow freely without being stopped by tension or tightness. If you feel tightness or tension, let it float away and bring your focus to the soles of your feet or to the center of your being (to the T’an T’ien, about two inches below the navel).

As your weight shifts forward to the front foot, your hands start high to go low. The hands are at shoulder height with the palms facing forward and gradually come down the body facing towards each other as your arms are at the side. The palms continue facing each other as they come to the center and are held about four inches apart to feel a channel of energy as you carry them up past the T’an T’ien and continue up the center of your body. Feel the polarity between the hands as you bring that life energy up to about breast height. As you start shifting your weight back to the back foot (eventually making a complete weight shift), your hands open up and palms face forward as the movement continues in the soft flowing manner it began. Let your arms and hands float through very heavy air – without using any muscular power. Use the effort of no effort. Remember, it’s the shifting of the weight that circulates Chi. That is the most important part; the arm and hand movements are secondary.

When you open your hands and bring them back towards your body with the palms facing outward in front of you, it’s like you’re sharing yourself – your life energy – with the world. This brings a wonderful feeling of peace to me. My wish is that you also experience this peace coming from within and going outward to others.