Just Imagine

Imagine a large room, dim and beautiful in the glow of many candles. Imagine that the room is utterly silent until the silence gives way to gentle melodies. See now that the room is filled with women and men moving and flowing in unison in a circle within another circle within yet another circle. Ah, yes. Now you really do see. Rocking Motion, Bird Flaps Its Wings, Around the Platter… it is a silent candlelit T’ai Chi Chih practice. And how lovely it is.

It’s the annual TCC holiday practice and party in Ventura, California. It is a special evening that is both serene and festive. It brings TCC practitioners from throughout the county to the Unitarian Univeralist Church of Ventura where there has been a TCC class for many years. The teacher of that class is Lisa Otero, and it is she who began and sustains this event. It is her gift to the local TCC community.

This practice and party has achieved the status of a tradition. Thirty-eight students and seven teachers gathered for the 2015 holiday practice. They represent several ongoing classes, taught by Lisa or our other local teachers, Corine Reeber (Lisa’s mother), Jeneth Rundle, Dixie Adeniran, Denise Emanuel Clemen and Tish Jaramillo, who co-hosted the event. Also, in attendance was the newest addition to our local TCC teacher community – long-time teacher Pete Gregory, who has relocated from Northwest Indiana and has started teaching locally.

Some people attending have been practicing for years, some for just months or weeks. Some are young and some are seniors, and all are serious TCC students. It is a peacful time, a meditative respite, and the tradition will continue for years to come. When lost in the joy of it, one might wish the evening could go on and on, but too soon the nineteen movements and one pose have been done.

Then … party time. Food and beverages are abundant (and delicious, of course). There is conversation, laughter, warmth. The bonds of these TCC practictioners are strong, and strangers from different classes are strangers no more. It is a joyful time of sharing enthusiasm for and commitment to TCC and our local community.