In the early 1990s I felt drawn to Tai Chi. I obtained a book by Professor Chen Man Ching on his 37 move Yang short form. I tried a couple of the initial stances, and found they brought a feeling of power to me just by holding them for a short period of time. I then proceeded to try to learn this form. First by a book, which proved impossible. I was unable to go to a class, as my time was completely devoted to Dr. King, and I was on call 24 hours a day, every day. However, I was able to find a video that taught this form. So, over the course of about one and a half years I learned the form from the video. I next found the time on a rare day off to visit a Tai Chi instructor from China who was a champion of sorts there. She checked my form, and expressed amazement that I had learned it from only a video. I can still remember her amazed voice “Great power! Great Power! You learned this from video!?” She was quite surprised of my form. She then proceeded to correct several points for which I was most grateful and off I went.

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I continued to practice my new Tai Chi form, which I must say I was very happy to have learned. The whole practice only took around 10 minutes, so I could squeeze it in on a pretty regular basis.

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I do not believe Dr. King knew I was practicing it. However, one day when I had driven Dr. King out to a nice location near the ocean in Santa Barbara, I was in for a surprise. I had parked “The Lady”, his 26-foot Lazy Daze motor home, and set him up for his sherry time prior to making him a simple lunch. I had wanted to give him his space at the back of the motor home, so had gone outside. I thought it an ideal time to do a Tai Chi practice. I was just out of view, but near enough for him to find me if he wanted something. To my great surprise, he came out of the motor home to where I was practicing. He was not in need of anything, but said to me, “If you consider me your spiritual Master, you will practice Tai Chi twice a day into the future.” Then he went back into the motor home without any explanation.

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This was unexpected on many counts; some would be hard to explain in this short essay. But it left me with many questions which remained unanswered.

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Was this for health reasons, future self-defense reasons or something else? Could it be connected to a past life or perhaps a future life?

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Over the years since, I have often pondered his words. I do continue to practice this same Tai Chi form to this day. I have over the years come to realize that I do have past life connections to China. So as I live longer and continue my practice, with this realization and others, the fog is slowly lifting on the whys of his statement.

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One take away I have made from this is that Dr. King, being a true enlightened being, sees behind the scenes and can see the benefit of other practices and modalities. Certainly, it would make sense to make the study and practice of Dr. King’s teachings and practices one’s core, but one should be open to other practices and truths outside of The Aetherius Society. We all have a history of many lives on the Path and have many connections which could prove most helpful and useful.

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Dr. King did not say everyone should practice Tai Chi and nor am I. But always be open to your intuition and feelings. Don’t be rigid, but rather flexible. This will help you follow the advice of the Master Jesus at the end of The Nine Freedoms, “May your journey though experience be a wonderful one.”

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