Opportunity Knocks

Justin says things like, “I don’t know if anyone is interested in this,” (while he is sharing the wealth of his wisdom). “You don’t have to do these movements, (then in a lower voice), “they might help, but you don’t have to do them.” These are words that I have often heard Justin use when he is talking to various audiences or to individual people. Justin says such things, because the person or audience he is talking to would benefit greatly if they would just do what he is talking about, instead of arguing with him, or asking the mountains of questions that are, more often than not, irrelevant to the subject.

Each time that I am with Justin, it becomes more and more apparent why he says, “You can’t appease the hunger by reading the menu.” “T’ai Chi Chih doesn’t need a lot of talking, Don’t talk, just do it.” What we want, and what T’ai Chi Chih offers us is found in the profound silence that we experience when we do T’ai Chi Chih and Seijaku. We are moving, we are active, we are alive to life, there may even be a mountain of thoughts appearing in our minds. Yet, there is this wonderful sea of energy that is underneath it all, pervading it all. When we experience this, there is no longer a need for talking. The hunger is appeased, for the lover and the beloved have come together.

Now comes the part that is of greatest benefit. The experience doesn’t stop because we have finished our practice. We see it in small and big ways. The edge we had to our voice is usually gone; the idea that we needed to have, comes to us. The car accident we were in was not fatal. We just happened to be out of town when the earthquake hit, and so on. This is our story, although it is not the end of the story, only one part of it. But it is an important story, because as one student said, “Many disciplines offer great things, but never deliver. T’ai Chi Chih and Seijaku deliver.”

We have the opportunity to be with Justin: Seijaku Teachers’ Training, T’ai Chi Chih Conference, using his video to experience his presence (even though we may know the movements perfectly) and during workshops or lectures that he may give. These are times to renew and deepen the experience of our discipline, T’ai Chi Chih. It is an important time and one we must take advantage of it often.

Love and Share the Chi!