The Letter

During the course of the past year, I have received many cards, notes and letters from the members of the T’ai Chi Chih Community, mostly from Teachers who have just passed the one week Teacher Training Course. This course is most often given by the Community’s Head, Ed Altman, sometimes with the assistance of his wife, Noel, Teacher and Editor of the Vital Force Magazine. During the course of the training, the new teachers are shown a video presentation of Justin Stone speaking to the inmates of Old Folsom Prison. Some of the new teachers ask for my address, and Ed has from time to time provided them with the requested information.

The cards, notes and letters are very encouraging and wonderful to receive, a rarity in this environment. Last week I received a most interesting letter. In the letter, the new teacher expressed clearly, that in the past, when she had read the Vital Force articles mentioning my name, she had experienced the feelings of fear and anger. However, immediately after the training, she had reread one of the older articles, and understood that I was a person, just like she was a person, and although not relieving me of my responsibility for the crime committed, she now felt a sense of caring and freedom.

Reading the letter many times, I wondered at this woman’s honesty and courage. I also wondered at the power of the “Vital Force” to do so much more than most consider early in the T’ai Chi Chih experience.

During the training, we hear much about the “Chi.” The training includes clear instructions on the movement of the chi, the way it may affect the body, and how to manage the effects of the “Chi” within ourselves and our students. This is vital information for any teacher. However, from the very beginning, I suspected that there may be much more than initially apparent in the simple movements. During presentations, we are taught that positive changes in study, work, exercise, spiritual endeavors, love life, relationships may take place. In addition, T’ai Chi Chih often helps with stress relief, medical problems and weight control. In my case there was immediate focus in teaching on the physical benefits of T’ai Chi Chih.

Since my accreditation, I have had the privilege of teaching hundreds of students. Of course the men are prisoners of Old Folsom Prison. During the classes, the old saying has again been proven to be true, “We teach best what we most need to learn.” My first concern was of course to see to the students doing the movements correctly, then the control of the “Chi” flow. Next comes graduation, then organization for the next class to begin. Oftentimes, because of the popularity, there will be 400 students at various levels of training. I am so thankful for Tara [Stiles], Judy [Tretheway] and Steve [Wornoff], T’ai Chi Chih Teachers, along with the five senior inmate student assistants that assist with the classes.

After reading the letter mentioned above, another level of T’ai Chi Chih became apparent to me. As Ed Altman taught me during the training, it was “a moment of clarity.” I understood better the true meaning of the words T’ai Chi Chih, “Knowledge of Reality” or “Knowing the Supreme Ultimate.” The movement of the chi and its effects on the human body are ever present. However, there is a very real part of T’ai Chi Chih that has taken me some time to realize—the deep cleansing effect of the chi on our ideas, thoughts and perceptions.

Those practicing T’ai Chi Chih in the prison setting are all so close together, it has been easy to form levels of T’ai Chi Chih study. Currently, there are three levels. Those learning only a few of the movements, those learning all of the movements and those who are working on their advanced practice of the movements. This last level, the advanced students, those who have been practicing T’ai Chi Chih for six months or more are the ones the changes are most apparent in. Men who have been very afraid, (it is a given that fear is the base cause of violent behavior), men who have failed in all aspects of their lives are having those lives changed—not just changes in the body, but changes in the most basic way they think. Men who have lived a life of violence in every facet are becoming calm. Their very demeanor is changing. This change is natural and involuntary. Relationships with family and friends are healed. Addictive behavior (drugs, alcohol, violence) patterns are in a gradual manor being removed from their lives.

I am not the only one who has noticed this happening. So often, a student will bring a letter or tell me how their family has written that there is something different about them. They tell me about the peace of mind they feel when doing T’ai Chi Chih. Now, I am not a custody officer or the board of prison terms— I have no influence on these men, because like them, I am incarcerated. They profit nothing by telling me these things. Yet, there is a steady stream of men who are experiencing these life-changing effects.

I will admit that after being in prison for so long, working with various programs, there is the tendency to just accept as fact that it is possible for those who have great problems in their lives to have great effects from even a small effort. However, when I received the letter from the new T’ai Chi Chih Teacher, I realized that the great changes in the men in this place are also taking place among the non-incarcerated members of the T’ai Chi Chih community. Is it possible to imagine yourself overcoming the type of fear that is fostered by thousands of “cops” T.V. shows, the news, movies and videos, depicting mad dog criminals being apprehended and behind prison walls? Overcoming this fear in a single realization, as happened to the new T’ai Chi Chih Teacher mentioned above? As Justin Stone has said: “We are all living the same life.” This is the “Knowledge of Reality” or “Knowing the Supreme Ultimate”. Our most sincere congratulations to that new T’ai Chi Chih Teacher for her successful accreditation— however, so much more for sharing the “Knowledge of Reality” or “Knowing the Supreme Ultimate” in our life.