TCC On The Mekong

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Cambodia and Vietnam as part of an organized cruise on the Mekong River. Two friends also on the cruise were students from my first T’ai Chi Chih class, taught right after the New Year. (I received my teacher’s accreditation in November of last year.) These countries are fascinating, and the people, largely Buddhist, are beautiful. My friends and I looked forward to doing daily TCC together in this ambience.

Our tour was educational and busy. Excursions in 90-plus degree weather were offered twice daily. Finding time for 45 minutes of TCC together was not easy; usually we had to cut it short, but we did some TCC almost every day. Before we boarded the ship, we spent several days on land and enjoyed practicing in the cool mornings on our hotel room patio, surrounded by trees, birds and flowers. 

Once onboard, I met the ship’s vibrant and delightful Vietnamese wellness coach, who had learned her favorite discipline of yoga in India. I told her about TCC, and she was very interested and wanted me to show it to her. Alas, our schedules did not mesh. Hers was packed with classes, and mine with excursions to temples and villages. I did manage to attend two early-morning Qigong sessions, but we never had leisure to get together for TCC.

One day, my friends and I met on the top deck in the afternoon to do TCC in the fresh air. As we began TCC, two other passengers, who’d done some work in T’ai Chi Ch’uan, joined us. They followed us fairly seamlessly. As we parted, a voice behind me offered thanks. Two women in the swimming pool behind us had been following right along.

That was the only time the top deck was available as the cruise ship was a very busy place. But my partner and I managed to do TCC onboard daily, if only in our stateroom, big enough to accommodate our portable practice.

Even though I didn’t get to practice TCC with our wellness coach, I piqued her curiosity, gave her my card with the TCC websites and shared how to access Carmen’s YouTube demonstration. And I happily showed several other passengers the beauty and joy that is TCC.