The Vital Force Archive

Reader-submitted jokes from Rhonda St. Martin, Michael Isaacs, Sharon Sirkis, Kathy Grassel, Caroline Guilott and Debbie Cole, including a letter promising seniors "flossing" movements and a student who "only does digital" circles.

Sharon Sirkis recounts blinking emergency lights during her college class's first music session, a student's "get-out-of-jail free card," and a 95-year-old choosing her hair appointment over class, plus Sheila Leonard's license plate holder photo.

A collection of classroom laughs gathered from Sharon Sirkus, Nancy Lecraw and Bobbie Weichman, Kathy Grassel and Rodney Anderson, including a whole class bowing by mistake and juvenile detention students riffing on Working the Pulley.

Rebecca Busching practiced in the corner of a Los Angeles business seminar room, where one attendee swore the wallpaper waved above her hands and another offered to help with her tremors.

Five reader anecdotes, including Carol Houtkooper's grandson mishearing "aftermath" as a math class, Sher Dano's 99-year-old student Gerry explaining the Viagra benefits of T'ai Chi to a curious newcomer, and a Seijaku training quip about sitting in a square.

Light-hearted anecdotes from teachers: a special needs student correcting a classmate's balance, Sharon Sirkis finding a Chicago bag as her sign to audit Ed's last teacher training, and a detention-home student renaming the Six Healing Sounds "Blessings Your Innards".

Six anecdotes from Sharon Sirkis, Jean Katus and Debbie Cole, including a plumber husband annoyed by waterfall music, a student who equated the t'an t'ien with the bowels, and a teacher candidate joking about the KGB.

Four light-hearted anecdotes: Margery Erickson's student Kristin rolls off a log into a Sedona creek, Debbie Cole's finger movements are diagnosed as a neuromuscular disorder, a college student finds silence in her head, and Supreme Ultimate sounds like a restaurant dish.

Three student anecdotes: Pilar Triggs focusing on the soles of her feet through a dental filling, Bobbie Weichman's class thanking Donna McElhose "from the soles of our feet," and Sharon Sirkis splitting a karate student's groin cup.

Five anecdotes: Vida Wackerling's male students who scorned then demanded the Joy song, Thuha Bui feeling chi sent from her New York class mid-training, Noel Altman on George Washington's wooden teeth, Arthur's week-long argument, and April Leffler's student who got only as far as Pluto.

Sharon Sirkis and Sher Dano collect classroom slips and comebacks, from a student whose favorite move was "Rocking Horse" to a retirement center lady asking permission to complain about the cold room.

Six classroom anecdotes from Nancy Jo Bleier, Debbie Cole and Sharon Sirkis, including a hospital student singing rock-a-bye-baby during Pulling in the Energy and a pose renamed the "Cosmic Kick-stand."

Seven short classroom anecdotes from Sharon Sirkis, Debbie Cole and Bobbie Weichman, including a senior center woman wanting new knees, 96-year-old Dell's retort, and a dog imitating Rocking Motion.

Seven classroom mishaps collected from Sharon Sirkis, Debbie Cole, Ann Sollars and others, including a church bulletin advertising "Moving Medication" and a carpet-scraping heel dubbed the Chi Dragon.

Five classroom anecdotes from Sharon Sirkis, Nancy Vermond, Ann Sollars, Debbie Cole and Kat York, including a reluctant husband's "T'ai Chi - Cha Cha Cha," Toronto nonagenarians, and a student asking whether TCC is sold in health food stores.

Four light-hearted items: Debbie Cole's class billed as "Moving Medication," Sharon Sirkis taking a message from a squirrel, Mary Pat George's student hearing "Around the Bladder," and Sher Dano's grandchildren critiquing a graceful conclusion.

Eight classroom jokes and slips collected from Donnis Minx, Sharon Sirkis and Mary Ann Johnson, including a student's misspelled "biginner," a sneeze that turned the Six Healing Sounds into "Ho, Hu, Achoo," and a Pulling Taffy centipede.

Five light moments from Sharon Sirkis and Ed Altman, including a senior's "big belly" horsepower, a hubcap that interrupted the Six Healing Sounds outdoors at UMBC, and fireworks after teacher training.

Seven short anecdotes from Ed Altman, Amy Hackenberg, Sharon Sirkis and Bitsy LeBlanc, including a beginner who tried to swim through Working the Pulley and said she was drowning.

Sharon Sirkis collects classroom moments, from seniors interlocking fingers during Around the Platter to a student doing Pulling Taffy at red lights, and Nancy Vermond's seated class flows to Frank Sinatra.

Viereck's cartoon urges a turtle to get out of its shell and attend the T'ai Chi Chih Teachers Conference in Morristown, New Jersey, July 20-23, 2000.

Eight classroom mishearings and comebacks collected from Viola Bens, Sharon Sirkis and Pat Huseby, including silly putty mistaken for chewing gum and a student stuck on the two girls on the mountain.

A Zen story submitted by Dick Detert from Peter Beilson's Zen Buddhism: the swordsman Banzo tells the eager Matajura that training harder will take seventy years, not ten.

A three-panel Viereck cartoon in which a couple admire a dinosaur's graceful moves, and the dinosaur privately claims his kind would still be here if they had listened to him about T'ai Chi Chih.

Four anecdotes: Sharon Sirkis gets a message from a movie listing, Mark Moloney's student renames Around the Platter "Wiping the Counter," Jean Katus mishears "waste," and Ed Altman slips a quarter under a candidate's heel during Anchor Taffy.

Viereck's four-panel cartoon has two tired, stressed people respond differently: she decides fatigue is the best time to practise T'ai Chi Chih, while he dozes off in his chair.

Five classroom anecdotes from Sharon Sirkis, Noel Altman and Joyce DeGidio, including a Senior Center singalong of "Down in the Valley," a recreation center class lost to bingo, and a shirt worn backwards.

Sharon Sirkis collects five classroom mishaps, including the senior center gentleman who wanted to push away his wife, a student aware only of his bladder, and a newsletter that billed her as Sharm Sinkis.

Four single-panel and strip cartoons joke about Bird Flaps Its Wings, a pun on Justin Stone's name chiselled in stone, floating in very heavy air, and students told to empty their minds while remembering the next move.

Susan Evans's class laughed when she called the Six Healing Sounds her favorite movement, having heard her say the same of nearly every move, and a former student confessed to doing likewise.