Spring, The Season of Our Year

Spring is the season I feel and notice more than any other. And I love it. Maybe because it is so welcomed after Winter’s discomforts. Watching bare branches begin to green and leaves unfold as trees fill out. Stems of plants gradually bulging with the promise of color to come and then one day there is a riot of flowers smiling at the sunshine. Temperature fluctuations nudging us to prepare our wardrobe and yards, furnace off, air conditioner ready, automobile ready for travel, time for making plans. All winter the earth has been busy preparing for Spring so it should be no surprise when it comes. But sometimes it can stop you in your tracks to marvel at the transformation.

T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) has moved through many seasons. Growing, shrinking, stagnating though always moving. Yet I feel this is the year of beginning our Spring. The focus this year for our teaching community is “Supporting and Strengthening Each Other.”

TCC teachers have had many conversations over the years exploring how we can build classes, make classes more diverse, improve our teaching, and spread TCC beyond the U.S. This year the focus is directed closer to home. The focus is how can we build a more cohesive and vibrant teaching community so that when we move forward or outward we have a solid foundation.

On taichichih.org there are guidelines for preparing to become a teacher. Each teacher candidate works with certified teachers to help prepare them, but there is no curriculum for teachers to follow. Over the years teachers have asked for guidance in how to prepare a student to become a teacher. Teacher candidates must be well prepared to experience their accreditation course with confidence and joy.

There was a discussion at the teacher conference last year around how some teachers felt unsure of their ability to prepare students to become teachers. Out of this discussion three teachers volunteered to work together to prepare suggested guidelines. Their curriculum is well-thought out and thorough. Once finalized, it will be shared with teachers. Teachers may prepare teacher candidates as they have always done in their own way or use this newly developed format. A strong teaching community is built on confident and well-prepared teachers.

Each year a TCC Foundation stipend is now being set aside for a teacher trainer to travel to Europe to support the needs of local teachers — whether it be a workshop, Intensive, or accreditation.

This year we will have a teacher conference on Zoom on July 26. The focus will allow teachers to share their teaching experiences, stories of their own struggles, ways to build, grow, and thrive as a community with one thing in common: the joy of sharing TCC.

These are some ways we are channeling efforts towards the internal growth of the TCC community. As we develop more ways to support TCC teachers, we strengthen our foundation as a community making it more effective when reaching out.

This year can be the beginning of Spring for our community, blooming new tools to support teachers — and changes that nourish and strengthen our foundation, the unfolding of new growth. As the TCC Guide, I appreciate the willingness of teachers to step forward when there has been a need, to volunteer to do the work that allows the community to thrive. Let us keep stepping forward together. Justin often talked about TCC as a great tool for opening our creative side. What talent of yours can support this community to bloom its most beautiful? Let us keep blooming.

SAVE THE DATE:

July 26, 2025

TCC Teacher Conference on Zoom