Letters from Teachers and Friends

From New Mexico:

The Vital Force is expanding in quantity and quality. Congratulations for the creation of this vital link among teachers.

– Barbara Roberts
Albuquerque, NM

Thanks for sending the Spring Vital Force. I especially liked Richard Brier’s “Journey to Chi Lanka.” It is beautiful out here in the desert. I love to play T’ai Chi Chih at sunset, standing on an earth meridian between two 12,000 foot snow-capped peaks. I may be at the second teacher’s conference. I’m sending a few poems for the Vital Force.

Love,

– Lee Muller
Rancho de Taos, NM

From Guadalajara, Mexico:

I’ll be here at Rancho Rio Caliente until August 1, 1986, and plan to see everyone at the 2nd International T’ai Chi Chih Teachers’ Conference.

I’ve sold all my books and tapes and have been teaching T’ai Chi Chih every day for the past three weeks. It’s a lot of fun and I enjoy it very much and have been invited to give a demonstration at a school in Guadalajara on May 18, which I will do.

With Love and T’ai Chi Chih Joy,

– Joe Wythe
c/o Rancho Rio Caliente
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

From California:

I started my first class April 26. It is small, but everyone’s enthusiasm made up for quantity. On my way home from the teacher training in Santa Clara, I suddenly felt like a new mom left alone for the first time with a new baby! Whew. What a responsibility to pass along this art with as much skill and enthusiasm as I was bringing home. It was hard to hand on to the flow, but it came back when I started to teach. It really is better when more than one does it. My husband, Doug, says it has helped his golf and softball–he’s going to try it in a tennis tournament this weekend. As he got up to bat last Friday night I could see him doing the rocking motion as he stood in the box! He will be better than any ad I can come up with.

Always,

– Jane Klingensmith
Santa Barbara, CA

P.S. If anyone needs a ride north in August please let me know, as I am driving alone.

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Keep up the good work. I look forward to receiving the Vital Force. It keeps me in touch. I feel the energy flow as I do my TCC each morning. It keeps me going and I thank you many times for your sharing and caring.

Love,

– Gene Dunkin
Hollister, CA
(Student of Corinn Scott)

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I just finished my May class and begin another here in Carmel on June 10th. Looking forward to August in Menlo Park!

Sincerely,

– Jean Graham
Carmel, CA

From Washington:

I taught several weekend intensives at the Unity church. One group was a challenge due to the diversity of ages and backgrounds. Another group was “slower” than has been my general experience with weekend intensives–that is, they didn’t immediately flow from movement to movement and had a hard time with the taffies. Out of 10 students, at least one-third were left-right disordered. I myself have a left-right brain disorder, and I found myself breaking the movements down and teaching them in a slightly different way. This came intuitively to me since I had had to do something similar to overcome my own learning problems when I first studied TCC. The students successfully learned the movements.

The Unity groups also enjoyed long sitting meditations. In fact, I had to learn how to bring them down and send them home without seeming abrupt.

A last bit of good news is that one of my students has offered to help organize my sad (until now) marketing efforts. I can hardly believe it. See you in August.

Affectionately,

– Lillian Susumi
Seattle, WA

From North Dakota:

I continue to personally be grateful for TCC. It’s interesting. I learned TCC eight years ago from Jean Katus. It was powerful. Somehow it was almost TOO powerful for me at that time, as I would touch it, then let it go…touch it…then let it go again. After Jean so kindly supported my getting certified and helped to arrange a time when I could go, I incorporated TCC again into my life. This time I did not let it go. Yesterday I was having an evaluation with one of my nursing students. She discussed her response to TCC (I offer classes at the School at a discount). She had attended one class then done TCC with me here on the clinical site (lost a headache one day doing it…so she has experienced the power). We were discussing exercise forms and taking care of self. She reported that when I had inquired as to feeling the energy in the fingertips that she had almost been flabbergasted because she did not expect such INSTANT results with this form. You don’t have to beat yourself to experience results! It’s almost TOO easy for us here in the West to truly believe something this easy could be beneficial! Then it all came together for me in my head…I too have avoided keeping things simple, letting the gentle power flow through my life. I had actually bought the program that our culture pushes: if it doesn’t hurt it must not be helpful. Paradoxical!

That was such an “A-ha” experience for me. It also helped me to recognize why some people are ready for TCC and others are not. I see TCC as a process. It is a program of attraction more than promotion. Many students say this too. One man who came to my first class (a massage therapist here in Fargo) said he’d seen TCC done by Jean in Bismarck many years ago and thought it was kind of strange–certainly not something he was interested in. Now he was ready and truly enjoyed the movements. It is a process!

– Christeen McLain-Curran
Fargo, ND