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Heart to Heart

Posted on by USA Blog Editor

When I started my Taoist Tai Chi® practice in 1998, I was just like every other beginner. I was eager to learn this shiny new thing. I knew nothing. With every class I attended, my confidence grew. Before I knew it, I was doing the whole set with everyone else. When the next beginner class started, I realized I actually knew more than the beginners! I felt excited and honored to be able to demonstrate the set for the newbies.

When I began instructing beginners, I still didn’t think I knew as much as other instructors, but I did know more than someone who had never done a Taoist Tai Chi® set before. I trusted the form, and the Society. I gained the confidence to stand up in front of a group of strangers – and sometimes family and friends – and help them learn how to become healthier. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know exactly how it worked, or how every single move affected the body, or what would happen if you did it this way or that way.  I became comfortable admitting that I didn’t have the answer to a question and would be happy to ask someone else who did.

From our Saturday morning Zoom discussions, I’ve come to realize that I am an expert. And that I have always been an expert… on me. I am an expert on how my Taoist Tai Chi® practice affects me, my body and my mind. That unique knowledge is my way of helping others.

It makes me feel good to know that my experience can help others enrich their own experience. I feel privileged to be able to help Master Moy pass on this amazing art to the next generation – to keep it alive for the next thousand years, moving it forward through time, from heart to heart.

~Jennifer Spencer

San Francisco, CA, USA

Aging with my Taoist Tai Chi® practice

Posted on by USA Blog Editor

I believe that my Taoist Tai Chi® practice has helped to hold off the brittleness of aging. I think that it has restored my sense of balance that was beginning to decline some, and improved my peripheral vision. The awareness of others around me doing the same moves enhances the energy field. I feel like a murmuration. I believe it has also enhanced my feeling of well-being and may have even improved my immune system. I appreciate the social aspects of it as well. We have fun!

-Carol

 

A Long Life with Parkinson’s Disease

Posted on by USA Blog Editor

“My name is Assunta and I’ve had Parkinson’s disease for almost 40 years. I have been practicing Taoist Tai Chi® arts for almost as long. I knew after my first class that the Taoist Tai Chi® arts were helping me. I first became stronger emotionally and then physically. Everything improved and I was better able to tolerate medications. I am taller and more flexible. The benefits of Taoist Tai Chi® practice are so good. I feel normal!”

Assunta was taking part in a longitudinal international study – ‘The Parkinson’s Outcomes Project’ – which at the time of her enrollment followed 5500 people with Parkinson’s disease to determine best treatments. Remarkably, Assunta lived longer than almost all of that group.

Sadly, Assunta passed away in 2021, having survived with Parkinson’s disease for an extraordinarily long time. Throughout her life, she never missed an opportunity to tell the story of how Taoist Tai Chi® arts helped her live so fully.

What have the Taoist Tai Chi® arts meant to me in the last year?

Posted on by USA Blog Editor

The news of the Pandemic, like it did for most people, came to me like a bucket of cold water. I am a very stressed and worried person and since my daughters are living in a country where the number of infections was overwhelming from the beginning, I was filled with anguish and concern. Faced with this eventuality, and having to cancel a planned trip to visit them, the only thing that has managed to give me peace and comfort are the chants that we practice every week. The opportunity given to us during these chants to ask for the health of people we love is also important. Those are moments that I look forward to and that help me to have peace of mind and expectation that everything will be fine. I am deeply grateful to the Organization for providing us with this opportunity both nationally and internationally.

On the other hand, I really miss the group and an instructor in front of me, to guide me in the movements, however, since I get up, I take advantage of every moment of the day and every place in the house, and in the middle of daily chores, I practice my donyus and the foundations, this definitely helps me to keep well physically. The philosophy of the Taoist Tai Chi® arts with the teachings of Master Moy comes into our lives to make us better people and give us a better quality of life. This is something that we must treasure and cultivate for the good of humanity. I look forward to the time when we can meet again and continue to learn more of these wonderful arts. My perennial thanks to my instructors and colleagues in Costa Rica, always ready to guide and help us on this wonderful path.

~Clarissa

We Are All Our Own Instructors

Posted on by USA Blog Editor

When it was announced a year ago that we would be canceling Taoist Tai Chi® classes for the indefinite future I assumed I would continue to practice the 3 or 4 times a week I had been practicing when I went to classes. But where would the instruction come from? I had never thought about practicing without instruction. Even when I did practice on my own, I would focus on the most recent corrections I had received. Was I doing the move the way it was shown? 

As the lockdown wore on, I found time every day to do some standing jongs and a couple of sets. With more practice came the desire to expand the moves I was working on. That’s when I started to hear the voices of instructors past and applied what they said to my practice in the present. I started participating in the Saturday morning chanting sessions in April. I soon realized the discussions themselves offered instruction for our individual practice “It’s not about the move, it’s about the feeling.” I began to practice with a focus on how everything felt internally. If I my lower back hurts when I do a move, what do I need to change?  If the flow feels good, what am I doing right? So many ideas came out of the Saturday sessions that I had to start a notebook to keep track. I have begun to see how the separate moves contain not just expansion and contraction, but the same expansion and contraction. I found that I genuinely enjoy repeating the same move for long periods to see how I change as I repeat them. I am becoming my own instructor thanks to my personal practice and the instruction made available in the Saturday sessions.

~Richard Y.

Feeling more connected

Posted on by UK Blog Editor

Lockdown arrived so no classes, all usual routine was gone. I felt all at sea. Practicing sets daily as usual, but I found that by the end of a set I had tears streaming down my face, even though I did feel calm. It was troubling. What to do? I decided to stop the sets and go back to the beginning, so foundations only became my new daily focus.

Along came weekly zoom classes & Saturday chanting – these were, I felt, well out of my comfort zone. But I joined some sessions and they felt nervously awkward. But with encouragement to ‘keep doing it’ as part of our training I was, within a month, hosting a weekly zoom session myself and attending the Saturday calls. At first, I did find the chanting challenging, the discussions motivating.

I remember Andrew saying something like ‘we are stronger right?’ I thought ‘actually no’, I do not feel that. But I kept going; adding sets back into my practice. I was practicing tai chi for longer, chanting twice a week and joining various zoom calls. I was starting to feel very connected and phrases, I’d heard mentioned on Saturday, kept popping into my head, giving me comfort.

Although I still had worries, I was feeling more relaxed and the body was quieter, but there were masses of thoughts going on in my head. I figured I needed something else. Quiet sitting had been mentioned in a discussion and I was determined to give it a try. Even though the thought filled me with panic. Surely, I could manage 1 minute? So, I started, 1 minute twice a day every day. It was surprisingly difficult. But I kept going and soon was managing 5 minutes twice a day. My mind felt liberated and I was sleeping better, with no dreams. I have now increased this to 20 minutes once a day and it feels about right for now.

With the practice of all the Taoist Tai ChiTM arts I now feel more balanced, without worry. I am stronger, happier, brighter, calmer, more connected and have better relationships with those around me.

I had not welcomed this lockdown year and at times it has been tough but I have found that it has given me what I needed not necessarily what I wanted. And I can now look positively forward.

From grief to joy in a moment

Posted on by UK Blog Editor

I have found this 3rd lockdown in England very difficult and felt bowed down with grief for our son who died 18 months ago. It’s been a struggle to do my daily practice. However,  I have forced myself to join the chanting on Saturdays and Mondays to bring some structure into my life.

During the last lunar chanting I began to feel de-stressed and at peace with myself, letting go of the negative emotions of guilt (did we do what was best for our son) and sorrow for his untimely death. The focus on chanting and the rhythmic cadences  enabled  me to lose myself in the moment which bought me some comfort. I felt joy and at one with everyone chanting and  supported by my Taoist Tai ChiTM family worldwide.

Chanting for the world worked for my world – thank you!

Reflections on Chanting

Posted on by Ivan Kubica

Chanting has been an important part of my Taoist Tai Chi® practice and so I was glad to join the Saturday sessions as we chant for the world. At first, I was very much aware of hearing my own voice superimposed over the voices of the leaders and this seemed a distraction to me, but as the weeks have progressed something different has been happening.  I no longer hear my own voice in that way.  It has somehow merged with the sound of the chant itself.  It is a very peaceful, yet powerful feeling.  

I have questions about this experience:  Is it the same as the way we can sometimes “lose our own” tai chi during a set which is deeply and peacefully felt by all? Is it because I am now able to hear and follow the pronunciation and tones better? Or, has the quality of my listening changed so that I have begun to “listen with the heart”, and so am more attentive to the feeling inside?

I do know that our chanting has a special poignancy at this time.  As my own voice has merged into the chant, I have become more aware of the one thousand others who are also chanting, even though I cannot hear them.  I can feel them, feel together and at one with them, and feel the power for good that we are together directing outward into the universe.    I hear and feel the beat of the fish, and as I lose my voice in the chant with all of the other voices, I feel that we all have become part of the beating heart itself of an organization that is very much alive and well, and is guiding us safely through. 

A Sense of Wellbeing, Gratitude and Calm

Posted on by New Zealand Blog Editor

For me, on an uneven lawn I laboured to keep balance and to utilise the area available but persisted because I felt I HAD to do it each day. Then for health reasons it was decided for me to let go and rest up a while.  Then recently one afternoon I found the porch area to try using the flat floor.  I did the set very slowly, deliberately, being more conscious of the moves and the benefits my body was getting from being aware of the benefits I was receiving, both physically and especially mentally. At the end of the set there was sense of relief, satisfaction and pleasure that I had not  experienced earlier.  Slow is wonderful. Thank you Master Moy.

I wondered at the beginning whether I would have the motivation or the discipline to do daily practice, but as it has turned out, I rarely miss doing the foundations, tor-yus, dan-yus, and a set – usually outside in the garden. Aside from a very pesky fantail bird, there are no distractions which makes it so much easier to let my mind drift, even to the point of utterly losing where I am going and having to repeat whole sections of the set. It all feels softer, and less effortful, leaving me with a lovely feeling of stillness and contentment – even when I have messed up! There is no pressure to pay attention to anyone else, just to enjoy being alone in my body and feeling whatever is going on without any judgement.

Jess my dog always chews her bone when I do tai chi outside. Recently when I was standing at the end of a set she came and pushed her head up into my hand. She stood there quite still for a long time.  This is unusual because she usually fusses and pushes with her nose when she wants attention.  She has done this quiet thing a few times now.  I don’t know what she is feeling but for me it feels good just to stand together.

 

 

 

 

 

When the country went into lockdown, I joined a Zoom chat which advised us to go deeper with our Tai Chi as we practised in isolation. I thought to myself that it might work for instructors and some others, but it wouldn’t work for most of us. How wrong I was, and how pleased I am that I decided to attempt a set on the deck every day.  I have enjoyed working on a very, very slow set and feel that after five weeks my balance has improved, and I can actually hold a move for a second or two without wobbling or falling into the next move.

Leaves rustling, birds chirping, phone propped on rubbish bin, MULTIPLE TAKES – that photo shows me sometimes I do Tai Chi with my eyes closed, that photo shows me sometimes I hunch, that photo shows me sometimes I don’t finish the move, that photo shows me sometimes I don’t smile … more things to ponder as I do my Tai Chi in lockdown.  And on another note I have discovered a real enjoyment of chanting twice a week since I’ve been in lockdown – and my asthma has significantly reduced.

Although I’ve missed the class experience I’m also fascinated about the daily reflective practice that my tai chi has become. After a walk around my local park I settle to foundations then a set and sometimes a little Lok Hup Ba Fa. My set feels more fluid and less ‘thought’, definitely softer. I’m enjoying the sense of release and opening.  I’ve gained a new daily habit that I never would have attempted before, being public.

 

 

 

 

Solo Tai-Chi. I do it on the sloping driveway facing away from the setting sun. I do it in sections on the tile floor after moving table and chairs. I do it on the grass in the back garden and in the local park. I do it on the patio facing the fiery black and red clouds of dawn. I do it slowly. Or fast, to fit it in before the day has fled into night again. I just do it. I miss out chunks. I get caught in a repeating loop. I can feel relaxed, invigorated, challenged, meditative, distracted, wobbly, stable, curious …. all in one set. So I just do it every day and I am never bored. NEVER BORED!

When we started our country-wide lockdown, it was a case of “tai chi cold turkey” for me. I really miss the communal and social aspects of gathering together. However after a day or two I got going with outdoor sessions. Fascinating that the external quietness and slowing down has helped foster the internal stillness and clarity that we so often strive for – if we just slow down and stop striving so hard, it just comes! Enjoying repeating moves and finding out more and more. I think the sense of wellbeing, gratitude and calm has been my most interesting find. But I still miss everybody!!