Relaxing Into Heightened Awareness

I have come to the teahouse, to the Sumo Pavilion overlooking Hilo Bay, every Monday for nearly two years to study T’ai Chi Chih with Hannah and a diverse group of ever-changing students. I learned about the class at the monthly Warriors Against Diabetes educational and support group at Wailoa River State Park, where a then-70-year old woman would introduce a few TCC movements to the group. I was immediately attracted to the movements, so I agreed when Tom Whitney, another member of Warriors Against Diabetes, asked me to work with him, Hannah, the Marshalese interpreter, Bay Clinic staff, and others to develop a program we could extend to more people with diabetes.

Little did I know that when Hannah was late one day, they would ask me to show some TCC movements. Although I am naturally shy, I agreed and actually enjoyed sharing what I knew. With continued practice, I now feel comfortable leading a “peer practice” while Hannah is gone.

Today, as usual, TCC relaxes me, so I hear the birds singing, I see the branches of the trees – limbs dropping earthwards. I see the ripples on the green water in the ponds, and people walking by with their dogs. Feral mongooses and cats skitter about nearby. The huge stones do not move; the gigantic tree trunks do not move. The group doing TCC moves, 9 of them in unison, all seeming to flow softly and continuously from the center, the tan t’ien.

Herman and Shirley and Ruth, Gail and Wynne and Nory, Pearl and Mitzi and Hannah – the two first-time participants “move with the flow.” All face the big trees, with the bamboo to the left. “Relax the mind; face, neck, throat and shoulders absolutely relaxed. This is our last one…”