Graduation Day

It was Saturday, the last day of T’ai Chi Chih teacher training, graduation day. I woke up at 3:40 a.m., far ahead from 5:30 where I had set my alarm. I got up, sat at the side of the bed and observed myself. I have been coughing the night before as I have been since Tuesday and last night. I found my chest wheezing while I lulled myself to sleep. I started with itchy, watery eyes and sniffles the first day of training while we were getting up the footpath beyond Alexander Hall to go to the Training Room in Geneva Hall. It was a magnificent view, with trees and flowers. Allergies, I then thought. I haven’t had them for quite a while.

I sleepily went to the shower room and had a warm shower. I felt light, I felt healthy. My chest was clear. No coughing. No asthma. Did I just go through “cleansing”? I wondered. My husband came at 8:00 to load my things in the car after which we went to breakfast. It was great to see him for the first time after almost a week. It was a warm morning and the light breeze touching my face was so refreshing. It was a brand new day, a brand new feeling. Everybody was joyous. All the stress and the uncertainty of the previous days were all gone. Inner peace dwelt in my heart from the experience I shared with my fellow candidates. We all felt equal, so supportive with each other, and we have gotten closer as the days go by. The teacher, the host, and the auditors were so patiently leading us the way from the very start. After a short class, we received our certificates and we hugged each other, knowing this is not the last time our paths cross. We are finally accredited teachers, and we are beginning again, back to step one. After saying our goodbyes and sharing tears of joy after our last practice together, I was ready to head home. I felt like I was floating while I was going down the steps of Geneva Hall, as if the clouds were passing by and they carried me along. The sky was crystal clear, the sun was shining brightly, and the birds were chirping joyous tunes while probably resting within the trees and flowers that were all around me. I could even hear church bells ringing within. We were in the freeway and I just sat back while my husband drove. Cars cutting in front of us here and there, on freeway entrances and freeway exits, reminded me I was back to the busy world again, the world I live in. Calmly, I sat back and thought: Would it be nice if everybody learned and practiced T’ai Chi Chih? You would see smiling faces everywhere. There would be peace and harmony all over the world and people wouldn’t be cutting in front of each other in the freeway. Wow!

We stopped at Vallejo for lunch and everybody in the diner was very pleasant. After a very filling lunch, we walked to the Value Center nearby and we found in the boutique a pair of beautiful, heavy, solid brass unicorns gracefully prancing on their deeply rooted hind legs as if proudly showing off the single horn in the center of their foreheads, often symbolic of purity or chastity. “What an alignment!” I said to myself. The two unicorns were very similar but one is $10 more expensive than the other. My husband asked the salesperson why, and he was told to wait for the manager who should have been coming back shortly from her lunch break. My husband waited while I wandered to the back of the store. I was getting back to the front area when my husband found me passing by the clothes rack. He said the manager lowered the price of the more expensive piece and he got them both at the same price. “Aren’t they quite expensive?” I asked. He said that they symbolize purity, and they bring good luck, and that I was happy, and he was happy. A voice came from behind me saying she was happy, too. I looked back and here was this very dignified-looking lady, all smiling, highly-spirited, looking at us right by the clothes rack and we all laughed together. What a lovely day! This joy and inner peace within me must be contagious. Thanks to T’ai Chi Chih. Thank you, Justin.