Joy & Accomplishment

I have been teaching T’ai Chi Chih exclusively on Zoom during the pandemic. My student Angela has been quite the inspiration as she prepared for and recovered from knee surgery. Her situation offered me a great opportunity to teach my other students chair TCC and to have Angela present as an experienced practitioner who shares her insights and sensitivities openly.

I, too, experienced a knee problem earlier this year that caused me to return to my chair practice for a month or so. I taught from the chair even to those that were standing. After we had done a couple of sessions seated, for the learning experience, I let them choose how they wanted to participate in class. Chair participation was mixed. It went well. It was mentioned that they appreciated having the option to stand as some of them have “earned” standing. As a teacher I felt the example I set was in the interests of everyone and could encourage all to care for themselves and know that practice can come in different ways.

A little history about Angela: She was the one who suggested I take TCC to begin with! At that time, she was one of my long-time yoga students and was taking TCC with Lisa Otero who, in turn, eventually became my first TCC teacher. I am very grateful to her.

As Angela says about her experience with Chair TCC: “I have been using seated TCC for the last three months recovering from knee replacement surgery. I am gradually getting stronger and standing for some of the movements. The seated practice is a great alternative and definitely makes me feel more centered and leaves me with sense of joy and accomplishment.”