New York City Voices

Today, one of my T’ai Chi Chih students who had just returned from a beach vacation to Florida’s Panhandle shared with me that she not only loved her vacation but had been somewhat apprehensive about it. (She usually goes to the beach on Long Island.) She cited America’s homogenization as the reason she had such a good time: Everything they have in New York City they found on their vacation.

I am a New Yorker and a TCC teacher, and when I hear the word homogenization I cringe. I am grateful for TCC because no matter how homogenized the world may seem, I suspect it really isn’t that way. It couldn’t be. Based on all the varied bodies, minds and spirits of the TCC practitioners, there is very little homogenization in the way we all move. Each of us, though certainly dedicated to Justin Stone and his teachings, must realize that we can never be a carbon copy of someone else – let alone replicate the session we had the day before. As Justin always says, “things change.” I am grateful for TCC in New York City because my practice acts like a knife through our outer differences and allows our shared inner sincerity to shine through.