Latest USTCC Newsletter
The USTCC Newsletter is published quarterly and emailed to members. Members may access all current and past issuesafter logging in.
We welcome ideas for and submissions of newsletter articles from our members. Email our News Editor, Eric Borreson, at editor@tchc.infowith your articles or suggestions!
United States Tai Chi Community News
Volume 13, Issue #1
Spring 2015
United States Tai Chi Community NewsIn this issue:
- Letter from the Editor— by Eric Borreson
- Letter from the USTCC President— by Christine Killeen
- Letter from the Incoming President— by Ernie Hall
- Senior Trainer 101— by Anne Plyler
- Teacher’s Corner— by Maureen Miller
- Poetry Corner— John O’Donohue
- Scholarship Fundraising News— by Betty Scanlon
- Special Thanks from the Scholarship Committee
- Help Wanted — Volunteers at Summer Workshop
- Traveling to the Summer Workshop
- Upcoming Events
Letter from the Editor
by Eric Borreson
Welcome to the Spring issue of the United States Tai Chi Community newsletter. In this issue, Christine reflects on her time as President and about our transition to a new leadership team. Christine, we all thank you for a job well done. Our new President, Ernie Hall, has a new column called Community Matters.
Anne Plyler recently hosted Dr. Lam in Asheville for a workshop. While there, Dr. Lam also made a presentation to the local medical community. She also shares a poem by John O’Donahue that she gave to Dr. Lam. Maureen Miller tells us about a new feature for teachers – printable tai chi book marks. It’s a great idea for teachers to give these as gifts.
An important function of USTCC is providing scholarships to the summer workshop. This allows more people to attend that might not have been available otherwise. Betty Scanlon tells about a fundraising event in Jekyll Island, GA and Christine shared a list of recent donors to the Scholarship Committee. The USTCC board is asking for volunteers to help at the summer workshop and has advice on traveling to the workshop.
The newsletter’s purpose is to keep members up to date with what is happening with the USTCC, to provide a forum for exchange of ideas among members, and to provide education to members. Remember, this newsletter is a two-way link. Don’t just read it. Contribute to it. Tell me what you would like to see. Do you want to write an article but don’t know where to begin? Do you want to see more poetry? Send me an email. I can help develop your idea into an article that can help everyone.
Eric Borreson
editor@tchc.info
Letter from the Outgoing President
Change
by Christine Killeen
Nature’s seasonal shifting is a reminder of the only constant in life: Change. Though sometimes exciting, sometimes challenging, change is a necessary process that keeps things fresh, bringing in new energies that may allow for the birth of unique ideas and possibilities.
Our Community as a whole is in the midst of some very exciting changes and the USTCC Board is a wonderful reflection of that. Our Board’s membership has expanded to include representatives from the East, Mid-West, and West (even into Alaska) of our wonderful country.
They give unselfishly of themselves on top of what are generally full schedules of life and work commitments to take care of the business of Community and continue the creation of our professional organization. However, none of what we do as a Board could be accomplished without the invaluable work of our Newsletter Editor Eric Borreson and our Facebook Chief Ron Pfeiffer, together with the skills and talents of those volunteers who serve on our Scholarship, Marketing, and Scholarship Fundraising Committees. In addition, it is your participation as a member of this organization that is helping to continue to create the new ground for our Community.
Perhaps the most important change in the life of any organization comes when it is time for the passing on of position and responsibilities in leadership. Such a time is at hand and it is my deepest pleasure to announce to the Community that Vice President Ernie Hall became President on January 1, 2015 when I retired. Ernie Hall is one of the most capable and hardworking leaders it has ever been my privilege to work with and she will be, in my opinion, an outstanding President. At the same time I know that she is well aware that good leadership never comes from just one individual but arises from the collaboration of a group of dedicated people working together and helping each other with the common goal of creating more for everyone.
It has been an honor to have served on the USTCC Board over the years and an even greater privilege to have been its President. I would like to thank you the Community for your generosity and support of the Community and its scholarship program. I see many wonderful possibilities for our professional organization and for those of you who choose to come forward to serve with us in taking the TCH Community into the future.
Christine Killeen
ckilleen@tchc.info
Letter from the Incoming President
Community Matters
by Ernie Hall
Now that 2015 is well underway, I hope you are enjoying a wonderful spring season and fresh start on projects and plans. Your United States Tai Chi Community officers and committee members are already hard at work on numerous projects and initiatives.
The most pressing assignments this spring involve gearing up for Dr. Lam’s annual USA conference and workshops to be held in Oregon, June 6 – 14. If you will be attending this summer’s event you have the unique opportunity to mingle with other members and tai chi friends in various volunteer roles. You’ll want to check out another article in this newsletter listing at least four activities where you can get involved.
While the June event is an exceptional opportunity for many of us to network in person with tai chi friends from across this country and from around the world, the majority of Community members may not have that opportunity. This is one of many reasons TCH Community was established over 12 years ago by a small group of Tai Chi for Health teachers and trainers in this country. The vision they shared became a collaborative effort in creating this nonprofit organization to support all instructors and practitioners in the USA throughout the year.
Membership has grown to over 500 current members, and so has the need to supply instructors, trainers and workshop leaders with materials to promote the many Community benefits to current and prospective members. Keep an eye on the Community website home page for a reminder of the most current upcoming workshops and events. Members can open links for complete listings and detailed information. Open various tabs on the home page to find tai studies, navigate teaching tools and resources, and locate other members. You’ll soon be hearing about an exciting opportunity for professional development. Save the dates for an event January 23-26, 2016. An announcement and further information will appear in Community newsletters this year.
At the beginning of this year, the Community Scholarship Fund received a very generous donation from TCA students at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, Orlando. Their instructor Katherine Vaccaro tells us they decided to dedicate part of last year’s class fees to support other instructors in the USA who apply for tuition scholarships to Dr. Lam’s June weeklong conference next year. Marion Farmer also made a generous donation to the scholarship fund. Marion is a previous scholarship recipient who teaches tai chi in the Atlanta area. You’ll also want to read Betty Scanlon’s article in this newsletter in appreciation of many other individuals, classes and instructors whose contributions in 2014 make this mission possible.
There’s always more to say than can fit in print yet the conversation must continue. I encourage you to volunteer for any one of several committees. Your officers and committee chairs are always looking for help with many tasks that keep the Community responsive to members’ needs. If you have any special interest in a particular committee, or if you have skills or experience in communications, graphics, marketing, fund raising or member – customer service, we want to hear from you. Contact information for your board members is listed on the website under “About Us.” Also consider LinkedIn and Facebook as other ways to keep in touch. What are your plans for this year and next? Share these things with your wider circle of United States Tai Chi Community friends. Celebrate spring with the enthusiasm it brings. All best wishes, and remember Community Matters.
Ernie Hall
ehall@tchc.info
SENIOR TRAINER 101:
By Anne Plyler
Dr. Paul Lam visited Asheville the first of October 2014, for two exciting events. One was the weekend Depth of Tai Chi Workshop, Oct 4-5, which, according to Dr. Lam, proved the largest Depth workshop in the USA to date, with 80 registrants. The other event on Oct 3, an evening social and educational program, drew over 150 of Asheville’s medical community with the title: Tai Chi for Arthritis – Implications for Pain Management and Falls Prevention.
We spotlighted the benefits of Tai Chi for Arthritis with demonstrations of the TCA Forms, a slide show & lecture by Dr. Lam and a very moving panel which included 3 non-instructor TCA participants (Mary Ann Poli, Susan L Hammer & Bev Sgro), TCA instructors Bob & Anne Plyler, the local facilitators for the workshop and co-sponsors for the Oct. 3 event, and Dr. Lam. Dr. Kim Heiselman a local family physician and TCA Instructor, moderated the discussion.
In the days preceding these activities, the Asheville TCA Community rallied with WNC Tai Chi Arthritis to host Dr. Lam and accompany him on his first visit to Asheville as a tourist. We visited the Biltmore Estate, the Grove Park Inn & Spa, and the Historic Highland Hospital Homewood building where the local TV station interviewed Dr. Lam. Dr. Lam enjoyed a Grayline tour of the city which showed off the birthplace of Thomas Wolfe, the Asheville Arts District, and the historic medical community which originally brought folks here for treatment of TB.
We showcased the good dining that Asheville is famous for. The workshop facilitators lunched with Dr. Lam at the Corner Kitchen in Biltmore Village, where President Obama and Michelle chose to dine when they visit. Dr. Lam enjoyed driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, eating fresh mountain trout at Pisgah Inn with a beautiful sunset view of the mountains and hiking in popular Graveyard Fields with Dr. Heiselman, who then took him to her home for dinner and some real down home southern hospitality. The week ended Sunday evening with a group dinner on the Sunset Terrace of the Grove Park Inn, overlooking the city of Asheville and its surrounding mountains, which were just beginning their Fall transformation for Leaf Season.
Dr. Lam hosted his wonderful crew of facilitators, celebrating a weekend that elicited rave reviews from the participants. Thank you to Dr. Lam and all the Senior and Master Trainers who came to visit us. Asheville loved you!
Anne is a physical therapist and TCH instructor from Asheville, NC.
instructor@wnctaichiarthritis.com
TEACHER’S CORNER:
Bookmark That Form: Great Gifts
By Maureen Miller
Are you looking for small, relevant, easy to make and inexpensive gifts for your Tai Chi participants? Then head on over to your Community website (www.tchc.info). Once there, login and click on Member Resources on the green bar and look down the left-hand “Quick links to Member Pages and resources” to find Download teaching tools. Here you’ll see a number of files you can use to make your gifts — Bookmarks.
Some bookmark files are set up to list the six Essential Tai Chi Principles on one side and the movements for a Tai Chi for Health forms on the other. Two of the files will display Part I movements on one side and Part II movements on the other; where the first file on the list shows the six Essential Principles on one side, with descriptions for TCHI (Institute), USTCC (Community), and TCP (Store) on the other.
Each file consists of two 4-column pages, so you can make four bookmarks by printing just one page. All files are in PDF format, so they will print the same no matter what word processor or printer you use.
PAPER: Recommend heavy 8.5×11”card or certificate stock paper; unless you intend on laminating each bookmark, then the quality of the paper is not as important.
TO PRINT:
- Click on the bookmark file you want.
- Printers with two-sided printing: turn that feature on and print as many copies as you want. Printers without two-sided feature: print page 1; then turn the paper over, re-feed it, and print page 2.
- Cut the bookmarks apart, and you have some great gifts!
As you pass out your bookmark gifts and explain the relevance of each side, savor the smiles and positive reactions. These are gifts that keep on giving the more they are used.
Maureen is a Master Trainer from St. Mary’s, GA
milleratlarge@mac.com
POETRY CORNER:
By John O’Donohue, via Anne Plyler
Anne says, “This is a poem I gave to Dr. Lam on his departure from Asheville, by O’Donohue book, To Bless the Space between Us. It seems appropriate to share with our TCA community as the community seems to do a lot of traveling in order to spread the benefits of TCA.”
For the Traveler
Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening a conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To Illuminate
Your way.
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live into your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call to you.
Scholarship Fundraising News
By Betty Scanlon
If you have attended an annual June workshop in recent years, you are familiar with the USTCC fundraising efforts. The success of the raffles and sale of donated items allows USTCC to provide several scholarships to the workshop each year.
In this spirit of giving, Pamela Jay Paralikis donated one of her paintings for a raffle during Dr. Lam’s annual visit to “Florida” in October. This year, we spent four days having fun with TCE and TCE2 on Jekyll Island, GA (near FL). How fitting to raffle a beautiful floral painting at a beautiful location!
Tickets were 
sold over the 4 days with the drawing planned for the afternoon tea break. Tickets were flying off the roll during a last minute dash for tickets. Janet Olson was a last minute buyer saying she wanted her tickets “on top”. Her strategy worked, for when Dr. Lam drew the winning ticket, it matched one that Janet was holding!
Janet lives in Tucson, AZ and had to visit a UPS store to ship it home. It now hangs in the entryway of her home, the first thing you see when you walk through the door. She and her husband agree that it sets a very Zen energy in their home.
Unfortunately, Pamela broke her foot and was in rehab and not able to attend the workshop. But her generous donation netted $200 toward the scholarship fund. Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets or donated money toward the scholarship fund.
Appeal for Raffle Prize Donations
The USTCC Scholarship Fundraising Committee is accepting donations for the weekend and weeklong workshop raffles. We are also seeking volunteers to help sell raffle tickets on the weekend and for the weeklong workshops.
Contact Betty – taichi@comcast.net
Special Thanks from the Scholarship Committee
We would like to reiterate our thanks to those Community Members who have generously given to the TCH Community Scholarship Fund in 2014:
- Betty Scanlon, Ft. Myers Florida
- Richard Link, Cordova Tennessee
- Jim Starshak, Shawnee, Kansas
- Marty Kidder, Connecticut
- Linda Arksey, Nottingham England
- Sherry Jones, Burleson Texas
- Anne Bower, South Pomfret Vermont
- Jef Morris & Bill Pickett & the Members of the Enhanced 73 forms June 2014 class
- Jim Starshak and the Members of 24 forms June 2014 class
- Robin Malby and the Enhanced 24 forms June 2014 class
- Bob McBrien, President of USTCC (retired), Salisbury Maryland
- Mary Pope & the Members of the Open Community Practice in Tennessee
- Pamela Paralikis, Sebring Florida
- Monika Forstner, Glastonbury Connecticut
- Caroline Carpenter, Boulder Colorado
Your generosity in helping us to create funding for our continuing Scholarship program each year is deeply appreciated.
Help Wanted: Volunteers at June Conference
If you have registered for Dr. Lam’s Annual June Conference and Workshops, please consider volunteering some spare time to help with various workshop activities. This is a great opportunity to network with tai chi friends you seldom see and to meet many new ones. Even if you volunteer only one or two hours during the pre-conference TCR weekend or weeklong workshop your help will be greatly appreciated.
At least four volunteer opportunities are available (there may be additional opportunities to volunteer as need arises.) Contact an activity coordinator within the next few weeks prior to June if at all possible. Otherwise, if you decide to volunteer extra time after you’ve arrived at the conference site, please contact TCH Community member Glen Ray or Caroline Carpenter who will direct you to an activity coordinator.
Contacts:Glen Ray – sacredforest.taijiandqigong@gmail.com, or Caroline Carpenter – mathilda65@me.com, 269-903-8180
- Raffle Ticket Sales:Scholarship fund raising depends largely on raffle tickets sold during the pre-conference Tai Chi for Rehabilitation training and throughout the weeklong workshop. Betty Scanlon has new plans for a fun 50:50 raffle during the weekend along with the weeklong, traditional raffle you’ve come to know over the years. A drawing for her beautiful quilt hangings along with wood crafted items and other unique gifts donated by other members and friends will be held during the Friday evening function to benefit another group of deserving scholarship recipients at the USA summer conference next year.
Contact: Betty Scanlon – taichi@comcast.net
- Registration Assistance:Your willingness to smile and help others is all that is needed Friday June 5, and Sunday, the 7th, as people arrive on campus. Many tai chi friends will appreciate help finding their rooms, assistance with luggage, directions and general information.
Contact: Linda Pickett – lpickett@tds.net - Sunday Meet & Greet:Take turns with other TCH Community members as volunteer hosts for a fun event to mingle and socialize. Expand personal contacts, visit with friends and share information about the many benefits of Community membership.
Contact: Maureen Miller –milleratlarge@mac.com - TCH Community Information Table:An information table will be conveniently located where friends can stop by during tea and lunch breaks and before morning assembly. This offers another opportunity to share information about Community benefits and assist with membership renewals and new member applications.
Contact: Caroline Carpenter – mathilda65@me.com
Traveling to the Summer Workshop
There are at least two options for ground transportation between the airport and Pacific University – Forest Grove. Information about public transportation can be found at www.trimet.org. Get details from the trip planner feature or call 503-238-7433.
The TCH Community has offered to arrange small groups of people with similar flight schedules to share the shuttle fare. If you would like the convenience of shuttle service (one or both ways), arrangements must be made in advance.There are no shuttles running on a regular schedule. Please contact Virginia or Ernie as soon as possible, and not later than May the 1st. Provide airline name, airport/city coming from, flight number, Portland arrival and departure flight schedules, travel cell phone number and approval to share your email and phone number with others within your ride-fare-share group. Allow up to 2 hours travel time between airport and campus.
Contact– Ernie Hall, ehall@tchc.info
UPCOMING EVENTS:
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 theEvent Submission formon the website to add an event to our database. Once accepted, your event will be listed for viewing by other USTCC members.
The next few events are shown below. You canview the full listing on the website. If you have any questions about event submissions or listings, please contact Marianne Walch atwebmaster@tchc.info.
| Apr. 10, 2015 | Tai Chi for Arthritis Instructor Update Bill Pickett, MT Knoxville, TN Contact: Bill Pickett, bbpickett@tds.net, 865-567-4837 |
| Apr. 11-12, 2015 | Advanced Tai Chi Depth Training Dan Jones, MT Bradenton, FL Contact: Christine Killeen, cpk12@comcast.net |
| Apr. 12, 2015 | Sun 73 Workshop Cathi Knauf, MT Sault Saint Marie, MI 49783 Contact: Cathi Knauf, cathi@communitytaichi.com, 906-280-1083 |
| Apr. 18-19, 2015 | Tai Chi for Arthritis Part 2 & Update Becky Rahe and Julie Oberhaus, MTs Toledo, OH Contact: Becky Rahe, taichiblr@sbcglobal.org, 419-266-0773 |
| Apr. 24-26, 2015 | Chen 36 Forms Daniel Baranowski Acworth, GA Contact: Jocelyn Simpson, jngsimpson@yahoo.com, 770-912-9229 |