The Vital Force Archive

The 2017 Teacher Conference Committee announce the June 15-18 gathering at Boulder's Millennium Harvest House Hotel, with coordinator Marie Dotts describing community as a tapestry of interdependent threads.

April Leffler, who has taught at Widener University since 2008, reports what her PE Director said would persuade a college to hire a TCC teacher, plus class formats and credit arrangements elsewhere.

Margery Erickson's poem, echoing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," pictures teachers caring for parents and grandchildren, teaching when they can, and saving coins in a jar for next year's conference.

Lucinda Kutsko recounts teaching an after-school TCC enrichment class to eight first and second graders, from snack-time chaos and taped Xs on the floor to their surprisingly poised family performance.

Tamara Zujewskyj writes for the four Canadians who attended the Seattle conference, describing the daily group practices, the shared Chi, and presentations by Sandy, Pam, and Daniel on teaching teachers and the evolution of the form.

Tom Rothenberger recounts leaving Dan Pienciak's Seijaku course in Seattle, then applying no anticipation and letting go on a crowded light rail and a delayed flight home.

Hannah Hedrick describes the slippage in her 20-year-old artificial hip, and the physical therapist who evaluated T'ai Chi Chih's weight shifting, approved both directions and asked to refer patients to her classes.

Jim Shorr takes up the phrase "the flow" from Sandy McAllister's teacher newsletter, quoting the Dalai Lama by way of Howard Cutler, and describes the peace that arrived after years of practice.

Kathy Starrick recounts her talk at a holistic nursing conference on building resilience, covering stress management, the Lavretsky depression and Irwin sleep studies, and grounding through the soles of the feet.

A note on Analysis of Variance results from 610 T'ai Chi Chih students who self assessed at their first class and again weeks later at the last, with contact details for Dr. Anita Vestal.

Jeff Hoepner argues that T'ai Chi Chih has no spiritual benefits in the transactional sense, matching Justin Stone's six aspects of spirituality to the practice and quoting Spiritual Odyssey on getting the 'I' out of the way.

April Leffler recounts the three black and white images that came during morning practice before her 2015 conference talk on harmony, plus the palm-to-palm partner exercise in leading and following she led.

Anita Vestal recounts the 2015 Black Mountain conference, where Susan Quinn used chocolate and candy to locate the perfect moment, April Leffler told of a fly landing on her nose, and Sandy McAlister taught gliding into a full weight shift.

Roseann Heinrich describes attending the 2015 conference in the North Carolina hills two years in a row, finding that smaller numbers, old friends and unhurried talk with teachers mattered more than lodging or food.

Mary Wichmann describes the morning after the 2015 conference in Asheville, eating heirloom tomato eggs Benedict on the Inn on Biltmore Estate terrace and finding herself moved to tears by strangers.

Stu Goldman, the only year-round teacher south of Orlando on Florida's east coast, describes retreats as his lifeline to the TCC community and, after reading Barry Boyce in Mindful, proposes renaming them a recharge.

Ron Richardson watched a gracefully slow practitioner from behind at a teacher conference, discovered it was his teacher trainer Sandy McAlister, and learned to let waist and hips set his pace.

An advance notice of the 2015 T'ai Chi Chih conference, set for August 6-9 at Black Mountain in the Southern Appalachian Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, with details online.

Alice Holden's account of the 40th anniversary conference at Kean University, where 102 participants heard Sandy McAlister refine the movements, Pam Towne present Seijaku, and Neal Roy's raffle raise over $2000 for scholarships.

Teachers at the 2014 conference wrote single words describing T'ai Chi Chih and pinned them to the "Grounded in Growth" tree, from Rootedness and Flow to TEH and Surrender.

Carmen Brocklehurst's introduction to a DVD of Justin Stone's 2005 conference talk, recalling his piano playing in Hong Kong, his favorite word teh (inner sincerity), and the message of gratitude he left for teachers two weeks before he died.

Carol Spicer registered over 60 people for the Saturday community practice, half of them newcomers drawn by newspaper and online outreach, who followed Sandy's lead with harp music and little verbal instruction.

Carol Spicer answers the question of what to do with the knees, hips and ankles with a single instruction, let them be, describing grounding through the soles of the feet and strength arising from softness.

Deb Bertelsen recounts how Marie Dotts' conference talk on habit energies and April Leffler's presentation on Prajna, followed by her father's sudden death, led her to leave a 17-year job.

Judy George recounts how softness in T'ai Chi Chih let her feel stored painful memories, and how Marie Dotts' conference talk on habit energies led her class to stand in new spots and enter in silence.

Diana Bahn left her family, ailing friend and cat to attend the conference, where a Japanese tea ceremony and a sea turtle labyrinth both echoed her husband's own morning tea and pool rituals.

April Leffler recounts preparing her 2013 teachers conference talk on Prajna by asking Prajna itself what she would say, and opening with a disclaimer inviting listeners to discard whatever did not ring true.

Mary Wichmann found conference to be about renewal, reuniting with teachers she was accredited with in 2001, moving with Christeen McLain and Jean Katus, and attending the Joyful Feet, TEDx and Prajna workshops.

Deb Bertelsen outlines the recommended path to accreditation, from the website's Overview and Guidelines to workshops, retreats and an intensive, followed by Marie Dotts on Justin Stone's habit energies and Essence.

Linda Watson describes traveling to the "Encircled in Chi" conference in Minnesota and returning home to make a handmade journal of sewn painted paper, stamped marks and an old map.