A spontaneous joy of creation is shifting in by bits and pieces. When my son, Rob, taught me Tai Chi, he had me follow him silently as his teacher taught him. After the first five minutes of practice, I felt better. We practiced every day then twice a day in short sessions. I gradually gained enough strength to follow for twenty minutes at a time.
"Mom, you think too much!"
"Just Be!"
"There is no right or wrong in Tai Chi, it just is."
"Mom, you're not leaving the house without practicing Tai Chi!"
I was in my head, analyzing, fretting...my hands and feet were in unbalanced positions. I have to let go and relax into the experience of this silent joy of increasing health and strength.
Eight months later, I asked Rob to take me to Tai Chi class and meet his teacher, Jiong Gu, originally from Shanghai. Dr. Gu, a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, led a group outdoors. The air was crisp and bright. I positioned myself behind the back row, not in it! Soft strains of music from China floated upward. The group circled and turned like a flock of cranes. When the class stepped backward to face me, I already knew the "hit the tiger" move without looking back at the group. Dr. Gu later said, "Rob, good teacher."
Several years later, Dr. Gu promoted me to teacher of Tai Chi...and my entire life began to shift and turn into a higher ways of thinking, seeing, living, and being. Rob adds, "Tai Chi enters the entire arena of your life, taking you beyond limits of what you already know."
*"Practicing good virtue...the energy of love, joy, kindness, gentleness, respect and honesty....," Mantak Chia, Healing Love Through the Tao. Inner peace appears.
The leader in traditional Chinese Tai Chi teaching is not always in the front row! The leader may shift around, watching energy of the students and admiring their progress. Who is the leader? Where is the leader? The leader is within. A true leader does not have to lead, he or she is content to point the way.
Good Walking Leaves No Track Behind It, Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching
Yang Family, Creators of Yang Style Tai Chi, history, workshops and more
Terry Dunn, Yang Style Long and Short forms, Flying Phoenix Qigong
Masters He, Weiqi; Lin, Hou Seng; Wing Cheung 18 Form Tai Chi Qigong (Shibashi) can be done as a warm up for Tai Chi or by itself.
Paul Lam, M.D. worldwide Tai Chi for Health Programs, beginning DVDs and all levels of practice, workshop, newsletters, forum
Sunrise: Mountain, painting by Dahlis Roy, vision of Rob practicing Tai Chi
