T’ai Chi Chih — Practice Is the Best of All Instructors

I have found, practiced and taught T’ai Chi Chih for over four years. It is, by far, the simplest moving meditation I’ve found anywhere. The key is to relax and practice. One can only taste food by eating it. This form is based on the principle of letting go while learning and performing. Therein lies the secret. We find in T’ai Chi Chih that learning is experiencing, not intellectualizing. We learn by doing the form. We use the mind to attend to the movements, releasing all other concerns, thoughts, worries, moment by moment. We are in a state of relaxed yet alert attention, ready for the next gift.

The joy of T’ai Chi Chih is the realization of total balance of body-mind-spirit in the stillness of our inexhaustible Being. In this freedom and sense of inner and outer space lies our joy. Suddenly the noise of the mind and the world matter not at all for we are free. To me the main purposes of T’ai Chi Chih are the sense of incredible space, and the joy and love which radiate spontaneously from our central core as we evolve more deeply in the mysteriously simple movements.

First, find a good teacher, someone you respect. Then practice sincerely, daily, good times and bad. After a few months the movements themselves become your living teacher, the practice itself the mirror in which to see yourself. There is no end to the depth of realization possible, as life itself is endless.

Generally the first month is the most difficult. Be vigilant—you are creating a new pattern in your life and the old self will resist. Stay alert to your intention and after the first month onward it will become a valued friend. May you never stop doing it. It will become as significant as your daily meals and daily sleep. It will refresh you, rejuvenate your cells, and remind you of simplicity in our complex and confused world.

You are balancing your life-energy, the Chi, and this is the key to wholistic health. By practicing with determination and spirit you create a conscious connection to your High Self becoming one with the Universal. Notice the beauty, notice your still center.

Learn T’ai Chi Chih and it will teach you gently and eloquently many things, different for each person. Your life is a hidden treasure. So few of us remember as we hurry and worry through our lives. T’ai Chi Chih is the pause that refreshes. I’ve taught many people who simply wanted to slow down and just be. They have not been disappointed.

I’ve done the form a few thousand times and it is always different, as I am always in a different place inwardly. No two practices have ever been the same. And that is why I love it. It has soul. It gives me the moment newly born. If we miss the moment we miss everything, don’t you think?

T’ai Chi Chih is a precious jewel unadorned by esoteric mumbo-jumbo. The only secret is to practice and the treasure is yours.

Originally published in The Vital Force, Fall 1984