Teacher News (September 1998)

T’ai Chi Chih With Children

Shirley Hall and Cheryl Hall, Portland, OR

We start them young in Oregon! We gave a T’ai Chi Chih demonstration at the Cannon Beach Children’s Center in Cannon Beach, Oregon. This presentation was requested as part of their unit on China. Children, unlike most adults, couldn’t get close enough to us as presenters. They enjoyed every movement and performed them with great enthusiasm.

We are both active instructors who have been teaching ever since we became accredited.

From Sister Marie-Ann Main, O.P.

It’s been a long and awaited wish and constant sending Chi across the ocean. I would like to send flowing gratitude to the whole T’ai Chi Chih family for their contribution in bringing me back to the States.

The whole time of my being in Albuquerque, after breaking through the tension and stress and being in the presence of those moving the Chi around and sharing it with me really brought an inner connected feeling within me. The course began and the Chi no doubt grew. The course was strenuous as the Chi in my body once again had to become connected to those around me. I needed to become more relaxed and had to let go and Ed and Carmen really helped me to do a lot of that. I firmly believe and know that the Chi was always flowing but that there were a few blockages that it had to break through. It was because I was able to accept this challenge that the time was ripe for those blockages to lessen.

I cannot let this not go by without mentioning a few very special names of those who started to make this whole thing happen and who had a lot of confidence in who I was. Thank you Sister Francis-A Kay, Justin Stone, and Sister Phyllis Ann Ries. You had the foresight of what lay across the ocean. I hope that I will always do gratitude and use that which I have received.

So once again, the whole T’ai Chi Chih family, may this special gift of love and Chi continue to grow and spread as it now is opened in another country, that of South Africa. Be assured that in the future you will be hearing from me, as the seed will be planted in this new land and knowing that the soil will be fertile and may it grow.

More Teacher News…

A note forwarded by Justin Stone:

You were my teacher–I learned from your video and with encouragement from Jean Katus, and I think you taught me well. I have presentations lined up and classes starting in July and I’m working with a dear friend who has Alzheimer’s. I also work full time as a nurse so I do have to watch myself–there are just so many hours in a day–too bad we have to sleep–thanks again, Justin,

– Carol Houtkooper
Yankton, SD

I am teaching five TCC classes a week–still doing Wellness Retreats & utilizing TCC with my healing work.

– Elizabeth Tyler
Oswego, OR

Oakland, CA

On Friday, June 12, some Bay Area teachers met with Barbara Riley’s class to hear a presentation on posture and alignment by physiologist and T’ai Chi Chih instructor Paul Ciske. Paul provided many good tips and clues for watching and teaching about posture. Paul included this image of “ideal segmental alignment” in his materials, reminding us that the ear, shoulder, hips and middle of the feet should be aligned. This can be carried into “yinning and yanging” by checking the alignment when fully forward and fully back. One memorable image that Paul shared was to imagine the rib cage as a bell–we want the clapper of that bell to hang straight down the center. Thanks, Barbara and Paul for this enlightening presentation!

San Francisco, CA

Noël Altman has just contracted with Kaiser Permanente of San Francisco to teach three classes per week. This marks the sixth Kaiser facility in the San Francisco Bay Area to include T’ai Chi Chih in their Health Education program.

Nepal

On a trip to Nepal in April/May, Sandy McAlister led some of her fellow travelers and Nepalese porters in morning T’ai Chi Chih. The movements were especially beneficial after days and miles of trekking to this lodge at about 11,000 feet in the Himalayas. The women hikers appreciated the calming and peaceful effects so appropriate in that rarified atmosphere steeped in spiritual traditions. The porters were enthusiastic and ready to try anything new. They adapted quickly to the movements and were ready for more!

– Linda Meyer
Oakland, CA

Ocean Grove, NJ

Dan Pienciak is busily preparing for what may be the only Seijaku accreditation on the East Coast for a while. Check for details on the TCC Events Calendar, page 19.