Volunteering & Abandon Hope

T’ai Chi Chih classes have been ongoing at the Metropolitan Detention Center (M.D.C.) for seven years. The P.A.C. (Psychiatric Acute Care) Units where the once-weekly classes are held are transitional units. The majority of inmates are kept there for a period of 30 days or less. As they progress medically and socially, they are transferred to other units within the M.D.C., to other correctional facilities in New Mexico, or are released into the general population.

It is not mandatory for inmates to participate in TCC classes; sometimes none do. I show up each week and begin practice with Rocking Motion. If no one asks me to teach the movement, I continue the practice. Some inmates watch me. Sometimes an inmate will ask me to teach him the movements. As we begin, I tell him that I volunteer my services; I want to help him understand that TCC has helped me in so many ways, that I share it so it can also help him. From the beginning of the TCC lesson to its completion, there is a noticeable change in the facial expression of the inmate and in his body language.

One inmate I had the opportunity to work with for 18 months learned all the TCC movements. He continued a regular practice and we discussed Justin Stone’s T’ai Chi Chih/Joy Thru Movement textbook. He would ask questions for clarification and eventually mentioned how certain he had become about previously unclear things. Justin Stone’s book, Abandon Hope, talks about “Spiritual Maturity: The Growth of Certainty,” and “The Growth of Certainty Through Devotion/The Way of Devotion.” As a teacher, Abandon Hope was available to me, and I was able to make it available to this student so he could gain insight through Justin’s words. At my suggestion, the inmate read the two relevant chapters and came to understand what he was experiencing because of his regular TCC practice and through the reading. After 18 months, he was transferred to another New Mexico correctional facility.

Prajna (Innate Wisdom): “There is within you That Which Knows and that is your teacher. That is the true teacher,” says Justin Stone. As the TCC class flows, listen to Prajna (Innate Wisdom) and Prajna will be the true teacher.