Last week I taught two Tai Chi workshops for the Health Science Rotation students at Evanston Township High School. These juniors and seniors have indicated interest in learning about various health care modalities — they have both classes and site visits to expand their knowledge on everything from hospitals and medical clinics to complementary medicines and healing practices, such as Chinese Medicine, imagery, Yoga and Tai Chi.

I spent the first few minutes on the rich history of Tai Chi and how it is influenced by and related to Taoism, Yin/Yang theory, the IChing and the principles of Chinese Medicine. We spent most of our time experiencing Tai Chi, paying attention to where we were standing in the room, shifting our weight and breathing.  About 25 minutes of moving, the energy of the class started to settle, be centered. Ah, a sense of calmness started to fill the room.

“What’s our energy like?” one girl asked. “Is it positive? Is it negative?”

“You have such positive and big energy, as a group”, I responded. “When you came into the room, some of you had your energy bouncing off the walls, very scattered. Some of you had low energy, and sat or laid down on the floor before class started. You didn’t want to get up.”

“Now you’re smiling, you’re moving in a very deliberate way. Do you feel it?,” I added.

Many nodded. Some said yes out loud.

What a nice moment for them. We took time to focus, on our energy, on lessening stress and pressure, which most were feeling. My hope is for those young, energetic students to have some more moments like that. They deserve it. We all do.