Let Energy Be Your Guide

George Manning, Sacramento, California

Energy. Life Force. Chi. This energy is who you are. It is not separate from you. Like a child exploring its energy by playing with toys, you can play with your energy during a T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) practice.

This energy has been my guide in teaching and sharing TCC. Instead of explaining the energy, I show how it can be felt through the movements of a structured practice like TCC. For example, in teaching circular movements, I often stand side-by-side and move with students. Or I might slow down the movements by focusing on the breath, letting the continuous breath become part of the continuous movement.

This Chi is free and can be shared. People who do this practice together remember the experience and we form lifelong bonds with one another. A practice can balance physical energy and can change emotional energy as well. My teaching brings me to settings where the practice is much needed, where souls are lost or forgotten. I see the power of this practice, this Chi, in such places, and I have experienced it in my own life. These places often have their own challenges. Students have hard lives and many demands that can disrupt a practice. But this is where the Chi is badly needed, and this is where I choose to take it.

I give thanks to my teacher Sue who saw the goodness in me. And I thank my six-year-old daughter who plays with her own energy and invites me to join her. It has been a Chi-full journey, and I continue the path, letting the energy guide me, like a child at play, teaching herself through movement. Namaste.