T’ai Chi Chih Exploration
This series of videos, contemplative in nature, attempts to express the wordless dimensions of T’ai Chi Chih, impossible from one perspective, but delightful to try nonetheless! Justin Stone commented, “Eventually, you will see T’ai Chi Chih everywhere. Your whole life will be identified with the ‘chi.’” These videos explore the principles of T’ai Chi Chih and Justin’s teachings and Life.
Videos by Amy Tyksinski
T’ai Chi Chih - Sunrise in the Sandias
Featuring the movement “Rocking Motion” (36 repetitions)
Come stroll with me in the high desert at sunrise.
T’ai Chi Chih - Birds, Balloons & the Bosque
Featuring the movement “Bird Flaps its Wings” (3 sets)
A visit to the Bosque…can you spot what animal surprisingly showed up?
T’ai Chi Chih - Being HERE! – Helpful encouragement for just prior to starting a T’ai Chi Chih Practice
Featuring the movement “Around the Platter”
So what have I learned are the ingredients in the “attitude” Justin sought to foster in us when starting our T’ai Chi Chih practice? Faith in the Self, inner sincerity, receptivity, not needing to strive externally towards that which is already within, letting go into a graced wholeness which needs only to be uncovered, with a dollop of patience thrown in for good measure.
T’ai Chi Chih – Circularity
Featuring the movement “Around the Platter – Variation”
When I delve into one of the T’ai Chi Chih principles, “Circularity,” I begin to experience more richly the curved patterns of our T’ai Chi Chih movements when directly aided by the felt sensation in the wrists and waist via the hip swivel as these curves are traced with ever-more exquisite and refined attention.
T’ai Chi Chih - Sounds of Winter Light and Dark
Featuring the movement “Bass Drum”
In Spiritual Odyssey Justin Stone says, “Properly seen, every incident in life points to the unseen Essence. Right in the midst of the turmoil one must rest in the Essence, making the effortless effort while shouting, crying, and feeling biter and joyous in alternate periods. In our freedom there are rules we follow, and in our anguish we are still aware of the empty desireless state. To not know, and to know we don’t know – that is real Knowing.”
Dyeing the Cloth – The Experiential Heart of T’ai Chi Chih Featuring the movements “Daughter on the Mountaintop & Daughter in the Valley” (A 45-minute mini-retreat which invites the practitioner into the heart.)
Justin used to talk about Dyeing the Cloth as a metaphor to illustrate the process of how we come to join this human Cosmic heart. He explained that the first time the cloth is dipped into the dye, much of it runs off. But with patience and faith in knowing what we ARE, eventually, “Mind takes on the aspects of Reality like a cloth gradually being dyed.”
T’ai Chi Chih – The Large and the Tiny – Featuring the T’ai Chi Chih Principle ‘Continuity
T’ai Chi Chih’s gentleness unwinds us. Separating tendencies and patterns come up for sweet (and not always so sweet) release. We persist. The Cosmic Rhythm holds us all along in her tender embrace even when we do not believe it to be so.
Reflection – A short film dedicated to my school
Oftentimes when we enter into a community, we have no idea what gifts we will receive. We are blanketed by a mysterious call. The sun beckons to us as it peaks shyly above the horizon. Suddenly we are carried along, swept into something larger, not knowing how we might be seasoned.
The Reynolds’ Regatta – A short film highlighting a boat race at my school.
Students design and build boats created from only cardboard and duct tape and then race them in the pool – pure JOY!