Why TCC? (November 2023)

I may not do the T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) movements perfectly as a student. Still, the results I’ve experienced have been striking. For someone like me who tends to overthink things, the practice helps me let go of thinking or analyzing and simply be.

I’ve experienced physical benefits as well: the strengthening of a weak left ankle after tendon surgery in 2018; asthma that’s mostly disappeared; and perhaps most amazing, I don’t fall when I practice regularly. Because my vision is somewhat impaired from glaucoma, I’ve had several bad falls. But TCC makes me more aware of the space around me. I now move a bit more slowly and with better balance.

I prefer doing my practice outdoors except in the heat of summer or the most frigid parts of winter. While moving, I notice clouds in the sky, tree shapes, and the smell of the air. Wildlife seems to feel the calm — as I do. Doves gather on the telephone wire above my backyard to watch. Squirrels peer from branches as though mesmerized. Once, I practiced at dusk under a chinaberry tree. When I finished, I looked up to find an owl watching.

I am grateful to my first teacher Terry Gay Puckett who taught a group of us outside at a local park. We still meet there occasionally when weather allows. I also appreciate the online teachers I’ve learned from, and especially Justin Stone, our amazing founder. This practice blesses me richly whenever I do it.