Teaching a Seated TCC Class

Patricia Bough, Alameda, CA

One of the things I want to share is the outcome of my experience teaching with so little foot bearing/shifting ability of my own due to tendinitis. My first class session with “advanced beginners” at the senior center was done mostly sitting down (first 45 minutes were warm ups plus 8 to 10 TCC moves done seated and then 30 or so minutes of the same TCC moves done standing). These students, when asked afterward, preferred doing their TCC standing: movement was more joyful and interesting when it was full body. They did, however, appreciate the emphasis on the hand patterns that sitting practice gives and it was a good way to review at the first class session. (It so happened that one of the ladies had injured both knees and so sitting TCC was perfect for her.)

The second class session I did everything standing–warm ups included and had a volunteer stand in front with her back to the group and acted as model to set the rhythm during various movements while I went around to give suggestions and corrections. I could model the move for a minute or two with an individual student. This was easier for my foot but I found that most students were intimidated still to act as model for a particular move due to uncertainty of all or part of a movement.

By the third class I had just previewed Justin’s new video. I scheduled the complete class session for watching the video tape and made arrangements with the class the week before to start a half hour early. I told them of the format and passed out paper and pencils for note taking if wanted and how the whole class would join in on the practice session during the last half hour. To make a long story short, we all agreed to use the practice session of the video as part of every class during the rest of the session. They really liked it.

What this means is I have found a way for the students to feel very comfortable and attentive while reviewing all 20 moves and I can go around and make corrections, and rest my foot as needed. This was somewhat of a problem for me even before my foot gave out–how to model, keep the class going, and get around to certain individuals. I had tried paring off students but found the group felt more confused and intimidated in pairs. Most importantly, my students really want individual corrections and now I think we are all getting what we need in this class, thanks to the well-paced practice session on the video.

As far as TCC movements done seated, my personal experience and evaluation is this: (take into consideration I do not have a significantly long period of sitting TCC practice as compared to standing) I found that my greatest satisfaction came as my feet, though resting in place, felt the shifting, the alternations as my hands made their patterns. Whether visible or not, my whole body felt involved. The point is, I had had the few years of standing practice, the whole body feeling, which made sitting practice satisfying. Without it, at my level of experience, I feel less movement, less “chi,” perhaps more boredom, doing TCC movements sitting. I personally find the mind more active and intrusive in seated format. I think the meditative aspects are not as easily realized by doing TCC seated, but by moving in the regular standing/shifting form followed by complete rest or stillness. Of course we all know that any format–whether a moving one, or partial moving or non-moving–is the right format to practice meditation in that moment. I would guess that after years of sitting practice, the chi would accumulate and balance and the movement of chi could be felt very powerfully, while done completely seated. And last, but not least, whether I feel satisfaction or dissatisfaction during or after a practice is never the point; the point is to keep on attending with the mind and body.