T’ai Chi Chih in the California Redwoods

This past summer I taught T’ai Chi Chih at “Art and the Spirit” week at Quaker Center in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. Each morning we gathered in Casa de Luz, House of Light, where 20 foot high windows allowed us to look deep into rolling mountains and valleys covered with redwoods. The forest grounded us, the light lifted our spirits. In this setting, teaching and learning the movements of T’ai Chi Chih was truly a job.

After an hour of instruction, I shared words of inspiration focusing on the beauty of bringing balance to one’s life. I shared my own poetry and selections from my favorite authors. The poem “Being” was one.

Participants then took time to reflect, writing journal entries, mindfulness verses, and poetry. They shared their reflections in small groups. The poem “T’ai Chi Chih” by Selfa Robin Boyd was one of a number of beautiful poems written by students. The morning ended with an uninterrupted practice of T’ai Chi Chih.

I found myself waking in the morning delighted to greet another day. I witnessed changes in each student and received daily feedback on the beauty of T’ai Chi Chih and its impact on their physical and spiritual well being. After a week of teaching, I felt more calm and centered than I often feel on a week’s vacation. The deep connection made with myself and with my students allowed the difference.

“T’ai Chi Chih” was one of 4 offerings at “Art and the Spirit”. Other workshops included “Touching the Earth, Listening to Clay”, “Celebrating Creativity, Exploring Diversity: A Journey in Sound”, “Music and Movement”, and Painting and “Writing as Meditation: Embracing the Sacred Connection”. At the end of the week each class shared its gifts: raku vessels, paintings of life stories, songs of the heart, and joy through movement. As the 12 of us from class did T’ai Chi Chih together by firelight, candlelight, and moonlight; those who watched were deeply moved. The entire group then learned a few of the easier movements so that everyone was pulling in the night’s magical energy.

I left the Quaker Center knowing I had shared deeply from within and had received deeply from the redwoods and lives I had touched.

(See poetry from this article on next page)