Linda Myoki Lehrhaupt is an ordained Zen priest who has taught t’ai chi and chi kung since 1982. This exquisitely written book is a paean to this Taoist practice as a path to wisdom. It is structured around the seven classical movements in every style of t’ai chi. Lehrhaupt concludes with an appendix where she provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about this path of personal development.
The author believes that t’ai chi has given her energy, patience, and a sense of timing. At one point, she describes it “as a kind of Taoist surfing, riding the waves and rhythms of the cosmos.” Not a bad analogy given the grace, the flow, and the stillness within movement that is at the heart of both activities.
T’ai chi forms are meditative, according to the author, and nothing can be gained from the practice of them when we make comparisons, have expectations, or race through the process. More than anything else, this art teaches patience: “Practicing t’ai chi is an opportunity to step out of the addiction to getting the most done in the least amount of time. Because learning t’ai chi in a slow, steady manner is such a contrast to the way we normally do things, it can feel at first as if something is wrong. But it is not wrong, just different.”
