Honoring Great Teachers: A Memory of Jef Morris

"Don't Drop Your Chi!"

By 7 am it was already hot on the basketball court at Washington University. The June sun had crested the dormitories, and the green asphalt shimmered from the dew burning off. But for forty or so intrepid Master and Senior Trainers, as well as a couple of Sun 73 “practice-crashers” like myself, this morning was special and neither heat nor rank would deter us. Jef Morris was the MT leading the practice, and we were all eager to hear what this legendary teacher had to say about the form and our versions of it.

After the warmups, we went through the Sun 73 a few times. Perhaps Jef led. I don’t remember, but for sure at some point Jef watched, and then gathered us around him, all now sweltering in the St. Louis sun, and beseeched, “Don’t drop your Chi!”

The movement in question is right in the heart of the Sun 73 “Kick Section”. After the first two toe-kicks, and the 180 degree turn into a spinning backfist, and the modified jump-kick, and a resounding slap of feet and thighs, we found ourselves in the empty stance between, “Subdue the Tiger” & “Toe Kick Left”, all the weight in the left leg, the ball of the right foot lightly touching down, two soft Tai Chi fists facing each other just below Dantian, palms up and thumbs facing out. Squatting down here, left knee behind right, the fists dissolve and form “Close Hands” , the Laogongs facing, growing our internal energy, before separating with the flashing kick of the left leg, the hands radiating the energy out in two directions, before reuniting again in “Close Hands’ while the rest of our bodies navigated a 360 degree turn that the basketball court resisted with sticky grit.

Jef Morris practices the Sun 73. The movement described above occurs from 3:55 to 4:12.

It was this moment in the Sun 73 about which Jef had much to say. "Don't drop your Chi! You’ve worked too hard for it. Feel it between the hands every time they face. Grow it every time they open. Let it radiate out into the universe every time they separate. And then feel the Chi again when your hands come back together. Hold on to that Chi. Cherish and preserve it. It’s precious! While you turn, make sure your hands face from the beginning to the end of the turn. And whatever you do, don’t drop your Chi!”.

I paraphrase because I surely don’t remember Jef’s exact words, yet that imperfect memory of what he said has permeated my practice ever since. Among the points he made, worthy of aspiration:

1. Make sure your hands face each other every time that they are supposed to face.

2. Your chi energy is precious, so grow it whenever you can.

3. Your chi energy can heal, so share it with whomever needs it.

4. And most importantly, don’t drop your Chi, or squander it carelessly. You’ve worked too hard to nurture it. Your Chi is valuable and powerful. Cherish it.

Jef wasn’t well that week and left the 2014 workshop early, on the morning of the last day, in the back of an ambulance. I was on my way to breakfast when I happened upon Jef on a stretcher being loaded into his ride to the hospital. I was shocked that this passionate earnest man who had literally poured sweat to help us improve our Tai Chi and our health a few hours before, was stricken suddenly with illness.

I'm told by people who knew him well that Jef was a Buddhist and I like to think of his death from that perspective. Jef’s body has left us, but he’s still here, both in spirit and as a life-force that’s simply moved back to the Bardo and awaits its return as some other miracle of creation. In our sorrow and sadness at his passing, Jef’s exhortation that we don’t drop our Chi resonates even more.

Our Chi is a precious life force that connects us to all that came before and will come after. We neglect its divinity at our peril, for never have we and the world needed it more. Don’t drop your Chi. Cultivate and share this precious life force and heal yourself and others with it.

RIP Jef.