The Lighter Side (August 2021)

7:00 am: I’m lying in bed fretting over a business situation, allowing myself to be yanked off center.

7:15 am: I’m getting more irritated, and it bothers me that it still bothers me.

7:30 am: Got up and made tea. Sat back, put my feet up.

7:45 am: Read Justin’s article on the reciprocal character of mind and Prana (Chi).

7:50 am: Had an intuition to check the cable guide for movies. I resist. I don’t want to get up. I rarely watch movies in the morning. The thought was still there: check the TV guide. The more insistent the thought, the more resistant I became.

7:55 am: I succumbed. I got up and looked at 8:00 a.m. movies. It was “Excess Baggage” and I laughed out loud. Then I let it go. Message received.

P.S. I did not watch the movie.

Seijaku Weekend, June 2021, with Daniel Pienciak

Student Experiences

Judy Hubbell – “Resistance to change, or acceptance through letting go? San Francisco is going through enormous changes. As the city changes, I know that as a teacher I have tools to trust myself and move ahead to help others during a time when poverty, isolation, and one-room SROs are the reality for many seniors here.

I have taught (weekdays for a year on Zoom) T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) to a large community of practitioners at senior centers and at City College of San Francisco. My husband and I are exhausted but believe in the power of nature to recover, and we move ahead with our work. Flowers open and bees remind us that life is returning; Spring is here.

Daniel’s parting words at the end of the weekend were a reminder to stay awake. I left Daniel’s weekend with a new appreciation for how to remain awake, alive, and of service to others through TCC and Seijaku. He has an enormous memory for Justin Stone’s personal stories and writings, which I found compelling. Dan is clear, honest, direct, and a masterful and helpful teacher.”

Kelly Laudien – “Daniel explained that repetitive movements can remove the deep grooves within us. Looking back, the Six Healing Sounds not only helped me heal but continue to be part of my healing.”

Christina Serban – “As a practitioner of TCC for several years I’d had no exposure to Seijaku; this opened a whole world of possibilities and endless options to experiment in my practice.”

Lauren Lormel – “As life would have it, I came to this weekend with a heavy heart. But I was again reminded of the healing that this beautiful practice provides. Gone without a trace.”

Benjamin – “Over time, the cumulative practice of T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) erases unwanted habit grooves. We practice and TCC knows how to heal us.”

I

gain strength

by letting

go when I go

through tough times

in my

life