Three Stages of a New Student

A turning point is when students are able to do a practice at home by themselves with confidence. I remember the retreat last fall with Teacher Trainer, Pam Towne. Students got to be immersed in the form for a whole weekend. Pam had them repeat the movements over and over. The comment I got the most from the retreat participants was that they had greater confidence in doing their practice.

The second stage for new students seems to be a call to ground and deepen into their weight shifts. The Chi calls them to bring more presence and awareness to their lower body. It is time to explore and play with their weight shifts. Are they shifting their weight fully, softly and gradually from one foot to the other? Are they in alignment moving from the center of their body? Are they allowing the waist to turn in the side-to-side movements? When the first wave of students was in this stage, I knew the teacher for them was Judy George. Her enthusiasm for grounding and alignment helped everyone sink into their bodies a little more. They got to feel and live in their feet in ways they may never have before.

The third stage is all about letting go and allowing the Chi to move you. With the deepening into their weight shifts, students now have a greater capacity to be present and surrender to the loving movement within them. This sounds easy but to the ego it can feel like you are jumping off of a cliff to your death.

The practice is asking us to let go of a lifelong habit of keeping safe by controlling life. The students need to drop out of the false safety of their minds and drop into inner stillness, their true safety. It is only in stillness that we can feel and surrender to the movement of the Chi within us. The Chi is now calling students to trust their bodies and trust what they feel. It is the moment-to-moment presence in their weight shifts that helps give them the inner strength needed to take this next leap.

We know our journey in TCC is unending. The Chi continues to grow and unfold us. The end of stage three is really the beginning of our journey: A journey where the Chi is our true teacher. We now have much greater trust in ourselves, and in the flow of the Chi within us. Outer teachers do not go away. The Chi will use and bring them into our lives to help us receive a particular lesson it wants for us. The gifts of these lessons are always greater love, joy and capacity to receive the fullness and goodness of life.