My Relationship with the Landscape Arboretum

When asked if I’d be willing to teach T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in September 2020 (during COVID), knowing the class would be outside, I said yes without having any idea how I would teach this class. 

Fifty people came and spread out across the grass, and the class was also streamed online. I shared introductory information, taught six movements, and then we put everything together in a full practice. Afterwards, several students shared that they really liked what we had done and what they learned, but they wanted to know all of the movements. 

The next time I taught TCC I asked the students if they wanted to learn all the movements. Everyone said yes. I told them that typically I teach the 19 movements and one pose over eight weeks. I demonstrated the front and back weight shift and invited them to mimic me. I told them not to think but to just follow what I said. They did. 

I have taught this way for two years. I am confident that the students can learn because they have the experience learning Yoga and other forms of T’ai Chi by following the instructor. I tell them, “I will not leave you. We can do this together.” Then I walk them through each movement step by step for 30 minutes. Once we have learned all of the movements, we put everything together in a practice moving from one movement to the next. We do the practice together. Sometimes there are 30 students; sometimes there are 50 or more. Many of the same people come back each time; some have signed up for classes with me. 

I credit the power of the Chi and Justin’s originated movements. I have been asked to teach again this coming year and to teach once a month. I said yes again. It is a beautiful place with a wonderful and supportive community of Yoga teachers.