The Physical and the Spiritual in TCC

Tuesday, August 7, 2012:

I spent the day getting ready for visitors (my cousin and her husband whom I've not seen for years) and working at the library. T'ai Chi Chih practice came last, right before bedtime. Still, it was a wondrous treat.

I watched myself in the dark bedroom window as I moved, felt a huge amount of energy in my fingers (believe me, I needed it), and then--after 20 minutes--tumbled into bed. I discovered that even a 20 minute practice is a huge relief after a long, overfull day....

Wednesday, August 8, 2012:

Today, like yesterday, was crammed with work and activities, and I didn't make it to my TCC practice until after my cousin and her husband left about 8:30 p.m. Very soon I found myself falling asleep in my chair and headed for bed. I couldn't actually climb into bed, though, until I did at least a short TCC practice

Tonight's practice was only 15 minutes, but I felt the Chi tingling in my fingertips. And, again, like last night, I felt the busyness and overactivity of the day simply slip out my muscles and away from my mind....

Thursday, August 9, 2012:

Today, finally, I did a full T'ai Chi Chih practice with my students in Cornucopia. And, as one of the participants pointed out, it's a different, wonderful experience to practice TCC with a group as compared to a solo at-home practice (the feelings of energy and unity are remarkable).

After our practice we discussed Justin Stone's article from Spiritual Odyssey, "The Physical and the Spiritual in T'ai Chi Chih." We spoke a lot about habit energies as well as about how hard it is to break old habits that get in the way of our committing ourselves to a daily TCC practice.

I hope that our continuing conversations will inspire students to think more about how to bring this wonderful, healing, good-feeling practice into their daily lives.

Whoops. Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go....