The gift of starting T’ai Chi Chih early in life

During the recent Teacher’s Training Class in Albuquerque, one of our candidates, Alba Cardasco from New Jersey, made a wonderful statement with tears in her eyes, “I feel cheated that I did not learn T’ai Chi Chih sooner.” I agree that T’ai Chi Chih is a wonderful gift. The depth of joy we feel when we do it leaves us wanting to share it with as many people as possible, as soon as possible.

Two young boys recently came to two of my beginning T’ai Chi Chih classes. (I have taught other classes for children only but these were adult classes.) Alex, who came with his mother to class, was 15 and Zak was 13. Alex’s mother warned him that this was not a martial arts class and that it would have more of a spiritual emphasis. His reply was, “That’s good. I want to learn what that means. I don’t want to fight.”

Alex wears long curly hair down to his neck and long tee shirts with interesting statements like, “Don’t let others tell you to shut up on your planet.” He is quiet and respectful. Even if his mother had to leave a little early, he always made it a point to bow from the back of room before leaving. He practiced T’ai Chi Chih every day. He also shared great comments about the words that I assigned each week. These words — such as Balance, Breathe, Harmony, and Clarity — reinforced the movements learned that week. At the end of each class, when I would ask what the students got out of the day’s class, Alex commented, “When I find that I am getting upset at stuff at school, I go do a movement or two and, right away, I get back in balance. It is real neat.” I agree with Alex: it is “real neat” to have a discipline that can keep us in balance.

Zak is looser and smiles more than Alex. He didn’t always keep his body quiet between movements during practice. It was obvious during practice that there was a great deal of chi flowing through him. His body kept moving in serpentine fashion. One of my adult students (who had a tendency to be a bit tight) watched Zak and commented that Zak fit the description that Justin gives for the right attitude for doing T’ai Chi Chih. “Pretend that you have just lost your job, and you don’t have a friend in the world. Then what do you do?” At this point Justin demonstrates “Carry the Ball to the Side” with a totally relaxed body. During the last class Zak commented that “I like to do T’ai Chi Chih because it makes me happy inside.” He said this with a beautiful smile on his face.

It is wonderful that both boys could learn T’ai Chi Chih at such a young age. When we are young, we usually only learn to sleep, eat, play and go to school. And now we can also learn T’ai Chi Chih, so that we can love and share the chi as a life long practice.

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Oakland teacher John Steinmetz sent the following to the VFJ:

I just wanted to let you know that I took a Tai Chi Chih class with instructor Athene at my school (California State University Hayward). At first, I just went through the motions. By the end of the eight week class, I honestly felt a magical surge of energy going through my body. I will continue with this for the rest of my life. Thank you.

– Anne Cunningham

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Have you all got favorite music to practice T’ai Chi Chih by? Mine, hands down, for years now has been “Emblissening Movement,” by harpist Joel Andrews. I learned with Emblissening and now I use it in my own classes. It’s a Pavlov’s dog thing—I hear the music and have to get up and practice. I’ve worn out a couple of the tapes and have purchased it a few times to give to students. Emblissening has been very popular among teachers and students all over, so I’m probably not the only one who is glad that Mr. Andrews has finally produced a CD of it. You can order it on his website www.harpofgold.com.

– Kathy Grassel