Teaching On A Zen Hospice Floor

I’ve been working at City College for seven years, teaching T’ai Chi Chih to many people from diverse backgrounds and at various places throughout the city. At Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, a therapeutic community providing skilled nursing and rehabilitation services to 780 seniors and adults, I teach three different TCC classes. One population has Aids/HIV, another has chronic pain; and people in the last group are close to the end of their lives.

Doing TCC on the Zen Hospice Floor has been quite an experience. When I come into the room, I ring my small singing bowl invoking presence. Then I put on music – perhaps Gentle Landscapes, Hein Braat, a German monk chanting words written by the Dalai Lama; a Mbira CD, which is the thumb piano from Zimbabwe; and Acupuncture for the Mind, a Chinese music CD calibrated to the various acupuncture points.

I begin with Rocking Motion and proceed through the whole practice, while assistants bring patients in wheel chairs to the class. One very old and frail Asian lady sits in front of me, and very softly and gracefully, moves her hands and arms as if she had been doing TCC for years. Another stern looking woman with grey hair pulled tightly back, and a lovely quilt on her lap, visibly softens as she watches me and gently moves her hands to follow mine. One of the Zen hospice volunteers comes and sits with a patient, and holds her hand while moving in harmony. Staff, nurses, and activity therapists oftentimes join in for a movement or two or three.

Charge Nurse Donna reports, “Thank you for helping Mrs. Marcus today. She was anxious but began to relax when we brought her to class. And when your class was over she continued to remain calm. The energy in the room changes during class and becomes more tranquil.” TCC creates peace for those most vulnerable. Through class, we touch each other in a profound and indelible way, deep into the unknown and the ineffable, our bodies and souls present with the Practice. Is this not the Chi and the Shen?