The Beautiful T’ai Chi Chih Children

It’s a beautiful fall day at Los Duranes Park in Albuquerque. All I can hear is the breeze rustling the leaves, which is amazing since there are 155 children standing in front of me. The children are totally quiet. We begin with Rocking Motion. All the children begin to move, the children remain quiet. Some of the parents begin to move also. There are six other Tai Chi Chih teachers here helping to lead these beautiful children. Justin Stone is sitting under a tree watching us. There are smiles on the children’s faces.

After finishing the Six Healing Sounds and Cosmic Conscious Pose, the children run over to Justin and surround him. They have lots of questions for him. Some of the children want to tell him how they practice TCC every day. This was the principle’s idea to go to the park and have the whole school practice TCC together for their International Day. It was an unforgettable experience.

This all began when the principle of my daughter’s public charter Montessori mentioned she was thinking of having the kids do yoga for the physical fitness class. I introduced myself to her and explained how I teach kids T’ai Chi Chih. I gave her a packet of information including Blooming the Flower, the TCC brochure, my resume and the Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Have TCC in Your School. I followed up with the principle a week later and she hired me to teach TCC to all 150 kids in the school, kindergarten through 5th grade. I taught seven classes on Tuesdays (9 am to 2:45 pm). Teaching the 30–40 minute classes with 20–24 kids was a lot different than teaching my small Child/Parent classes. I would like to share my experience with the rest of the community.

Lessons Learned

I taught the classes outside since the school has no gym. I use the Tao symbols (laminated cardboard cake rounds) so the kids would know where to stand. Some kids have a tendency to wander around. This also helps to keep the kids grounded. I continually ask them to feel the ground with their feet.

Due to the large class size, I learned I needed to have the kids sit down while I demonstrated the movement, otherwise the kids could not see the movements well. After I demonstrated the movement, the kids would stand up and we would move together. Their overwhelming favorite movement was the Six Healing Sounds which I taught them on the second week.

I learned to ask about what disabilities the children might have before the first class. I also learned for those with moderate disabilities that it was very helpful to have the Special Education teacher present along with the other teachers. One little boy would take off running during my class, and it was instrumental to have his Special Education teacher there with him. I knew the teachers would greatly benefit from the classes so I encouraged the teachers and assistants to attend the class. Having the teachers there also helped me with behavioral issues.

It was important to keep the kids attention. I would have the kids moving as much as possible in class. I gave them lots of positive feedback. I began each class with the kids introducing themselves. Their homework was to practice TCC everyday for 10-15 minutes and to do something nice for themselves each day they did practice. It was amazing to see the changes in the children; they were really beginning to feel things and to flow.

The kids tell me that when they are sad, they do TCC and they feel better. Another student said TCC takes her fears away. This is what our children need to learn. I am so grateful to Justin for giving us TCC.

Feel free to contact me for more information about how to get TCC into schools or about teaching kids. It is a wonderful experience; I learn so much from the children.