Saving The Best For Last

Workshop with Carmen Brocklehurst in Tupelo, MS; April 16-18, 2010

By Ron Richardson & Stephen Thompson, Tupelo, MS

Here’s the back-story to Tupelo’s success of advancing T’ai Chi Chih in our community. Over the past five years we’ve hosted Pam Towne (twice) and Sandy McAlister and Antonia (once each) to lead workshops and retreats. And each has made significant contributions toward expanding TCC in our area. All of the three highly acclaimed instructors received many compliments from our community.

So we thought to ourselves, “Whom should we get to come to Mississippi next?” and we decided to ask 30-year veteran teacher Carmen Brocklehurst. Thankfully Carmen was willing to fly the 1,100 miles from Albuquerque to Tupelo to lead this year’s weekend workshop. And the accoladesfor Carmen have been no less than for those that were given to Pam, Sandy and Antonia.

The following comments were unique to Carmen’s visit – “Carmen brought TCC to me” … “Carmen explained the whys of TCC in words that were easy to understand” … “Community was built with total strangers in a matter of two days” … “Her insight helped me to more fully experience the flow of Chi and her refinements of my movements were spot on.” Her energy is contagious. Carmen is a consummate and committed teacher. One participant left during the day and when she didn’t return, Carmen took the time to call her that night to make sure she’d come the next day – and she did!

Everyone, both new and old to TCC, felt at ease and comfortable with Carmen and all of our participants, but especially our out-of-town participants, felt Mississippi hospitality flowing in abundance. We wanted to have an even larger number of people participate – but the 25 beautiful people who did make it made it feel like 100 were there. One of the purposes of holding this year’s weekend workshop was to further market TCC to our local community. We have since received numerous calls from people interested in learning TCC, and we’ve been invited to participate in a conference with physical therapists later this Fall. So for us here in Tupelo, it’s mission accomplished!