Letters to Justin (November 2024)

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Editor’s Note: Let’s try a new column encouraging readers to write to Justin. Ask him questions and share with him, talk teachings and Wisdom, reflections on a question asked. Hopefully, other TCC teachers will share their reflections and experiences on the previous questions posed in the letters. Open things up to a lively give-and-take between teachers. 

The question will be open ended, not “this is the way it is” — but rather, “this is my experience; what is your experience?; and, perhaps, what did Justin say about this question?” Justin was “famous” for typing postcards. So, let’s start with three “letters” or postcards.

Where Do You Feel Grounding Energy?

Dear Justin,

I miss you and hope you are doing well. Do you remember how I used to type out questions for you to answer on T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) movements? I’d call, you’d tell me what time to arrive at your house, and I’d come over at that set time and sit next to you as you answered my questions. One of the phrases you often said was, “Why would you doubt your own experience?” I’d like to return to our old tradition of me asking a question and you answering it. But since you are no longer living at your house, I’m writing this “Dear Justin” letter to my colleagues who read The Vital Force to share my experiences with different aspects of the movements and invite them to share their own experiences in the next issue of The Vital Force. I hope you approve.

Recently, I was talking to a TCC teacher about the elements of grounding found in TCC. The teacher told me, “In the closing position, there is only grounding in the soles of the feet, not in the hands.” I was startled by this declaration because in my energetic body’s experience, I feel tremendous grounding energy not only in the soles of my feet, but also in the palms of my hands when they face the Earth in the closing positions. I went back to your 2005 DVD, which contains your instruction to the audience followed by a group practice with four seasoned TCC teachers, all of whom you taught personally. Both you and the four teachers finish each movement with a strong closing position with hands facing the Earth.

TCC colleagues: I invite you to share whether you feel (or don’t feel) grounding energy when your palms face Earth during the closing positions.

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Do You Begin the Next Movement from the Grounded Position?

Dear Justin,

Recently, I watched a teacher-created video and noticed that after each movement, they closed, palms facing Earth, but then they stood straight up on their legs and pointed the fingertips to the ground. When I copied their closing method, I felt a “snap” as the Chi was cut from its circulating orbit in my body. Since I don’t recall you performing the closing position by coming up on straight legs and pointing the fingertips down, I carefully reviewed your 2005 DVD: You and the group of four teachers close with palms facing Earth, then flow into the next movement from the grounded feet and hand position, without coming up on a straight leg and without pointing the fingertips down.

TCC colleagues: Please comment on this change in the TCC form. Do you feel any disruption in Chi flow when you stand up and point your fingertips to Earth before flowing into the next movement?

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Do You Feel Chi Flowing Through Your Fingers?

Dear Justin,

I know when we used to go out to lunch, you would sometimes say, “Let’s just eat in silence,” but I do have one more question that I think you will find worthy of comment. Two TCC teachers told me four weeks ago that since my fingers tremble when practicing TCC, it means I am not grounding the Chi. In your text and in the TCC Teacher accreditation booklet, you wrote, “One of the confirming signs of Chi is the shaking of the fingers.” When I reminded these teachers of what you have written, they did not seem convinced. They said that TCC teachers whose hands shook were “faking it.” I told them that my doctor wanted me to take chemotherapy to help with my severe hand arthritis, but I told the doctor that the Chi which I can feel, circulating actively through my hands and fingers during TCC practice, was a much safer and more enjoyable practice than chemo.

Justin, I always tell my students that their fingers may flutter when they practice, or they may not. Either way, it’s no big deal. Watching the 2005 DVD with the four teachers, one out of the four teachers’ fingers fluttered. Your left-hand fingers always fluttered.