Latest USTCC Newsletter
The USTCC Newsletter is published regularly and emailed to members. Members may access all current and past issuesafter logging in.
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In this issue:
After an eighteen month absence, the USTCC newsletter returns! This edition is devoted to USTCC scholars, past and future. 2009 scholarship recipient and outgoing USTCC President Ernie Hall reflects on the value of the United States Tai Chi Community and describes her latest adventures. New President Johnny Packard was a 2014 scholar, and reports on the state of USTCC. Finally four 2018 scholars describe their experience of applying for and enjoying a scholarship to attend the June workshop.
Each fall the United States Tai Chi Community offers scholarships to attend Dr. Lam’s annual United States workshop in June of the following year. The 2019 workshop returns June 10th-15th to lovely Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati Ohio. The 2018 deadline to apply for a scholarship is October 19th, three short weeks away! To learn more about applying for a scholarship, follow this link 2019 Scholarship Application Info.
This edition of the newsletter is my first as interim newsletter editor. I have a MA in professional writing, andwelcome the opportunity to assist my husband, Board President Johnny Packard, in reviving the much loved and very missed USTCC newsletter. Nevertheless, the Board is seeking a permanent,independent, deadline-abiding newsletter editor. Contact Johnny at jpackard@tchc.infofor details.
May thisnewsletter inspire you to plan for an exciting workshop with your United States Tai Chi Community in June 2019!
Community Does Matter
by Ernie Hall, outgoing USTCC President (Kansas City, MO)
Congratulations to newly elected officers and board members. Great things are about to happen under new leadership. While my term as board member ended in 2017, the connection with United States Tai Chi Community continues. It was my pleasure interacting with a great team over the past five years, and witnessing amazing membership growth in a relatively short period of time to USTCC now having nearly 600 members!
United States Tai Chi Community. Connection with members is the most important function of USTCC. Your volunteer officers strive to be in touch throughout the year, and they encourage your participation. One of the best ways to interconnect, members-to-members, is through the newsletter. There must be a wealth of stories to tell, experiences to share and opportunities to announce. I look forward to reading all about it in future issues.
Other ways to become involved in this Community are committee participation and serving a term on the USTCC Board of Directors. I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities that benefit all members.
Tai Chi for Health Workshops. Being part of the broader international community is amazing. I’m realizing this more each day in my new role on the Service Team for Dr. Lam’s Tai Chi Workshops USA. Customer service to a broader community means getting to greet past friends and meeting new Tai Chi friends almost daily by email, phone and in person at workshop assignments.
Global Community. Connecting and keeping on top of the latest Tai Chi news and research from around the world has come about this past year through the latest technology. Instructors and Tai Chi practitioners can learn and practice through any internet connected device like smart phones or computers. Dr. Lam’s cutting-edge innovation is bringing all of us together through shared information utilizing this platform.
My hope is to see you all again soon, and often, at the June USA Conference & Workshops, Dr. Lam’s weekend workshops, master trainer workshops, skills builders sessions, World Tai Chi and Qigong Day, and other events. Wishing you much happiness that comes from doing the things you love with the people you love. That’s a pretty good description of what United States Tai Chi Community is all about. Full speed ahead. Stay well. Keep connected. Community does matter!
At the April 2018 USTCC Board of Directors meeting, I was honored to be elected the new president. USTCC’s By-laws state that the president shall “direct charge of all USTCC activities,” and that includes addressing the many challenges which currently confront our organization.
Our board has experienced a wholesale turnover of officers and directors since 2016. Many invaluable USTCC veterans have left leadership roles for other endeavors. This change presents an opportunity for new energy and ideas. My top priority will be restoring stability to the board; I will work closely with our new directors, and our more experienced board members to facilitate a smooth, productive transition.
The passage of time isn’t kind to technology. Refreshing our website and social media presence is vital. The board’s wish list includes making the USTCC website mobile-friendly, easier to navigate, and rich in valuable content. Likewise, platforms like Facebook offer the opportunity to provide up-to-the-minute information on workshops and research, a lively exchange of teaching and marketing ideas, and a pleasant panorama of our diverse community. Our communications committee is seeking motivated volunteers to make this happen.
The tai chi marketplace grows more crowded. We know that Tai Chi for Health is the gold standard for safe, effective, and accessible tai chi instruction, but most prospective participants do not. We need to develop marketing strategies and materials that speak to prospective participants, and not just the tai chi community. Our marketing committee would love to involve you in this project.
Fostering the professional development of instructors is integral to the USTCC mission and good for everyone associated with the Tai Chi for Health brand, from seasoned master trainers, to newly minted instructors and first time participants. The challenge is how. How do we insure that new instructors get their classes off to a great start, and retain their participants? How do we cultivate the skills of experienced instructors to make Tai Chi for Health safer, more effective and more accessible? How do we involve participants directly in improving our instruction? During my tenure as board president, I will seek to create systems within USTCC to address these needs.
There are other challenges for USTCC to confront, and I would welcome learning which are most important to you. To share your ideas and get involved with our committees, please contact me via email at jpackard@tchc.info.
Deepening My Tai Chi
I applied for a United States Tai Chi Community Scholarship because I wanted to deepen my knowledge of tai chi, and I had heard that attending the week-long training in Portland, Oregon, was one way to do that. I wanted exposure to the different tai chi forms and also to meet Dr. Lam. Several people who attended the conference in previous years raved about the workshop and how much they had grown from the experience. I also felt the price to be rather prohibitive, so I applied for a scholarship.My experience during the week-long workshop in Forest Grove, Oregon, was wonderful. I did not expect the hours to be so long, but I was delighted to be immersed in tai chi instruction. I met friendly people from different parts of the United States as well as abroad who were committed to improving their tai chi instruction.Each day, my activities pretty much followed the same routine. I would leave my dorm room around 7:30am to go to breakfast. One morning I was feeling really ambitious before breakfast, so I joined in for early morning qigong exercises behind the dining hall with Dan Jones who taught the silk reeling classes. After breakfast, everyone would go to assembly to hear announcements for the day or watch tai chi presentations. Then we would go separate ways for classes. We did tai chi from morning to evening. I was exhausted after class, so I looked forward to taking my daily nap before dinner.The dormitory housing was very comfortable. We had our own rooms within a 4-room pod, and a bathroom for every two bedrooms. My roommates were friendly and fun to be with. One was from Iran, now living in California, and the other was from New York. The dorm was in close proximity to our tai chi classes and dining hall, so we did not have to do a lot of walking. By the way, the food was excellent and plentiful. We had different food stations that included hot meals, a salad bar, grill, and vegan selections.A few months before the trip to Oregon, one of my tai chi students gave me a Zimbabwean poster that reads: “If you can talk, you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance.” So, I decided to volunteer to be in the talent show just for the heck of it. I know I cannot sing well, but love to dance. I did neither on stage though. Instead, I did a fitness routine with the assistance of four willing volunteers. The audience cheered us on. We had great fun!
My focus for the workshop was learning the 24 Forms which was totally different from the Sun style for Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention. I wanted to show my students some different tai chi movements when I returned to St. Louis, and I was able to do that with the 24 Forms.
I was delighted to find out that my instructor for the workshop would be Master Trainer Jim Starshak. I did training with Jim several times before in St. Louis and knew he was a great instructor, so I felt pretty lucky to have him again. He’s got a great sense of humor, does an excellent job demonstrating and explaining the movements, and really breaks down each step. I was able to easily comprehend the movements which also allowed for plenty of time to review.
The highlight of the workshop for me came on the last day when I performed the 24 Forms with my class and watched all other classes show what they had learned. I was truly impressed by the variety of tai chi styles and how everyone had mastered their routines over the course of a week.
How am I using what I learned? Since returning from the workshop, I have improved my instruction in my classes. I told my students about the experience and encouraged them to go to the workshop next year in Cincinnati. I have a greater appreciation for the different styles of tai chi, greater confidence in my tai chi instruction, and more enthusiasm about spreading the knowledge of tai chi’s benefits to others in my community and to my students. I have met with other instructors in the park to practice the movements. I wear the tai chi shirt to classes, when I’m walking my dog in my neighborhood, and to my full-time job for the City of St. Louis. It sparks conversations from strangers who want to know more about tai chi. I believe attending the workshop has, without a doubt, deepened my tai chi, and I am a better instructor.
by Guy Finley, USTCC Scholar (Elkhorn, WI)
I was honored to be awarded a scholarship from USTCC to attend the 2018 Annual Workshop in Forest Grove, Oregon. I had not been playing tai chi for long, so I was pretty nervous about going to the workshop. Once I was there, everyone made me feel right at home.
Deciding to Apply
Initially, I hadn’t even considered applying. I attained my first certification in June 2017 and I assumed that scholarships were for “all-stars” who had been teaching for a while. I found out that is definitely not the case.
After I learned that I was getting a scholarship and going to the workshop, it was time to determine what I was looking for from the experience. Many of my students are interested in addressing chronic conditions, and the tai chi community really serves these people well, but as someone who was morbidly obese before losing a lot of weight, I came to tai chi for reasons of building good health.
I feel this aspect of tai chi has been somewhat under served. How many times have you talked to someone about tai chi and been asked, “Isn’t tai chi just for old people?” I decided that I wanted to go to the workshop to develop tai chi that would be more attractive to a younger and more athletic audience.
Picking a Course of Study
There is so much available at the annual workshop that choosing a course could be very difficult! However, after I determined my reasons for attending, I easily found the right course: Tai Chi for Energy, with its blend of Sun and Chen, was the obvious choice. This was confirmed when, fresh off of learning both parts of the set before the workshop, I demonstrated it to a class with some millennials in it. Their eyes lit up when they saw the Chen movements! Tai Chi for Energy is a fun and challenging set and it’s perfect for the students I wanted to target.
The Experience
Master Trainer Betty Scanlon’s Tai Chi for Energy 1 & 2 Class in Forest Grove, Oregon – June 2018
I have to admit, doing a full week of tai chi was challenging but so rewarding. The best part for me was building a bond with the other students in my class. They came from all areas of the country (and the world!) and were there for all different reasons. We had a great blend of young and old, men and women, highly experienced and relative newcomers. I couldn’t have hand-picked a better group of people to spend a week playing tai chi with. Nor could I have picked a better instructor, as Betty Scanlon brings a funny and practical approach to playing and teaching tai chi.
I left having seen how a lot of others teach classes, with a new arsenal of tips and tricks, a great plan to teach a new and complicated set and, most of all, inspiration to bring what I learned to my students in southeast Wisconsin.
Not long after the workshop, one of my students broke the “no touch” policy and gave me a huge hug after her first class Tai Chi for Energy class. “I can’t tell you how energized I feel from doing this for the first time! You are amazing!” she said. While I’d love to take the credit for it, it’s the fine folks at USTCC who sponsored me and helped me to reach more people to share the wonderful benefits of tai chi. Thanks to everyone at USTCC and to those who raised money and gave to help me attend. It was an amazing experience.
by Tom Fletcher and Barbara LaRowe, USTCC Scholars (Arvada, CO)
Winning a scholarship was really a once in a lifetime opportunity. We could not have afforded the trip to Oregon without the financial scholarship help. I had taken Instructor Training for Tai Chi for Arthritis and Diabetes so I could substitute for my instructor. My wife and I studied and worked on Moving Stillness Fan Form DVD daily for a year to become proficient and we were excited beyond belief to see a fan class offered at the Oregon Workshop. Our thoughts were that maybe we could somehow work the Oregon trip into seeing grandkids in northern California on the way back home to Colorado.
Colorado really lacks the steadying hand of any resident Master Trainers. Some instructors are teaching “Tai Chi for Arthritis” with vocal music or Zumba tunes. The classes consist of massive stretches and aerobic tempo workouts, nothing to do with slow and continuous or posture. Thankfully other instructors teach strictly the Dr. Lam program, but unfortunately there are no exchanges of information of types of forms being taught to participants, or between instructors in recreation facilities. We have become involved with the International Tai Chi Day annual program and have introduced Dr. Lam and the Tai Chi for Health program into the event bringing “real” Tai Chi to others, many unaware of the differences. I now have three of my own classes using the USTCC programs and sub for 2 others. I have opened Tai Chi classes to 3 new recreation centers and my wife subs for me when needed and she has opened “Tai Chi in the Water” in a new therapy pool and is working on classes at another facility.
The energy and enthusiasm of meetings, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, warm-ups and classes at the workshop was overwhelming. We met and talked with so many people from all over about their experiences, about how to promote classes in our state, and about how to solve some of the problems of being so remote and under supported.
We also got to experience the week long training from some of the finest instructors in the world. Our greatest joy was to actually meet Dan Jones and Dr. Lam, seen by us as gods and heroes. To watch either of them work in person was amazing. The individual instructors that we worked with, Ileina Ferrier and Linda Arksey, were highly skilled, talented, and inspirational. The immersion into the United States Tai Chi Community for one week was an experience we will cherish for the rest of our lives. I doubt if we can ever go back to another workshop. (We take care of my mother who is 96, and it’s hard to get caretakers organized). This experience has inspired us to not only do more and better, but to promote Dr. Lam and the USTCC to everyone and touch as many people as we can. Your support with the scholarship made this all possible. We will be eternally grateful.
Laugh, Move and Grow Stronger Together
by Anita Carter, USTCC Scholar (Bessemer, MI)
Thank you, thank you, thank you to the United States Tai Chi Community for granting me the opportunity to participate in the 2018 Tai Chi for Health Week Long in Forest Grove, Oregon. The scholarship helped me to seek a deeper understanding of the Sun Style 73 forms, to connect with others who are focused on a similar trajectory, and to translate that experience with those who join me each week in my small communities in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
As a program instructor for Michigan State University Extension, I have had the opportunity to share tai chi across the western end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My work is in a rural area of Michigan, so I am able to bring Tai Chi for Arthritis to several communities that would not otherwise have had the opportunity. I have had several students who went on to become instructors, others who bought videos to take with them as they went south for the winter, and still others who have encouraged family and friends to try this soft, gentle approach to health and fitness. It has been a joy to incorporate some of the new elements I’ve learned through this amazing experience, building on positive relationships, safe healthy movement, and mindful meditation for our aging population. Their comments constantly support my work and keep me going as I travel the 100 plus miles to and from my sites. As one client (Sherill, age 73) put it, “Tai Chi has given me a positive, all-over body experience and workout with my balance, posture and deep breathing……If anyone is looking for a set of exercises that would challenge/strengthen their muscles, minds, and memories, then I would recommend T. C.”
We laugh, move, and grow stronger, together…
Newsletter Editor
The USTCC Board is seeking a permanent,independent, deadline-abiding newsletter editor.
The editor will plan, coordinate, review and edit content. The editor will be able to decide which ideas should be pursued in order to meet USTCC’s content goals. The goal is to provide exceptional, informative and engaging content.
Duties include the following:
- Set dates for submissions and quarterly publishing. Proofread, edit as needed
- Recruit members to submit articles
- Collaborate with USTCC board to brainstorm content topics
- Check all pieces for accuracy and cohesiveness
- Crop or resize images as possible.
- Set up a folder on the USTCC Google drive or other file storage for the completed articles and team review.
- Publishing will be completed by Webmaster
- Approximate hours – about 10 -15 per issue.
Did you know that our website lists Tai Chi for Health workshops and other special events submitted by our instructor and practitioner members? Any USTCC member may use the Event Submission formon the website to add an event to our database. Once accepted, your event will be listed for viewing by other USTCC members.
You can view the full listing on the website. If you have any questions about event submissions or listings, please contact Julie Oberhaus at events@tchc.info.