Great Tahoe Publicity

Tai Chi Chih offers meditation through a variety of exercises

By Matt Miller, Sierra Staff Writer

Among the more conventional activities offered by the Recreation Department – basketball, tap dance, aerobics, etc. – is an intriguing yet mysterious form of excercise.

Tai Chi Chih, for those who partake, is more than mere exercise; it is a form of moving meditation. Instructor Chris Worcester is in his second year of teaching this modern version of an ancient oriental form.

“It helps you to get in touch with the eternal now, the ever present,” he said. “It balances all aspects of the body, the mind comes into play because of it.”

Tai Chi Chih is one man’s simple modification of the ancient form of Tai Chi Ch’uan. Justin Stone of Carmel has a life-long resume that includes time as a musician, artist, stock broker, and tennis enthusiast, but it is during a time of teaching at the University of Kyoto in Japan that he discovered the original form of Tai Chi Ch’uan and its 108 different entailed movements.

Stone saw the same form being taught in the United States and noticed it was to difficult for students. So when he was creating the new form in his book, titled in the same name, he went through heavy meditation and came up with the 20 different forms that make up the modern version.

With simple names like “Bass Drum”, “Carrying the Ball”, and “Daughter in the Valley”, people now enjoy meditation while also engaging in these simple excercise movements that anyone can partake in.

Worcester said it “brings the body into balance and one of the few things that can cleanse the inner body organs.” “You start dropping wasted energy and start focus on positive energy.”

After seeing a chiropractor for many years because of his regular construction job which he has had in the Tahoe Lake area for the last 15 years, Worcester said his body straightened out from the excercise. “It was a healing tool that I used in my own physical advancement,” he said.

When witnessing the form in action, it looks similiar to the more familiar forms of martial arts, a room full of Karate Kids doing “paint the fence” and “wax on-wax off” movements. Participants take a quarter squat with bent knees and shift their weight back and forth passing what the ancients called the Yin (female) and Yang (male) aspects of internal energy circulating throughout the body.

It is a continuous and repetitious movement which eventually ends with a moment of silent meditation, palms down and back straight. They say it is important to keep the back and spine straight for increased energy flow.

“Everything in the universe has both (Yin and Yang, positive and negative),” he said. “It drops blood pressure and reduces stress. For me it is a feeling of youth with age. Everyday is like a rebirth.”