The Vital Force Archive

Dorene Krause gathers New Jersey students' accounts, including Carolyn Pogwist's story of leaving her first class convinced she could not do it, then feeling the chi shake her until grounding and the tan t'ien settled her practice.

Hannah Hedrick recounts a long neighbor dispute over invasive Himalayan raspberries that reached court twice and even interrupted her class, and the intention of beneficence that came out of her practice.

Laura Star practices at dawn in a stone-ringed circle of desert sand near Tucson, joined by doves and coyotes, then trades cacti for birch trees and loons up north.

Sue Kenney traces two decades of the St Francis of Assisi practice group in Sacramento, its pairing of T'ai Chi Chih with the Wednesday Taize service, and its members' own accounts of finding the practice.

Dorene Krause collects statements from five of her students, led by Peter Swist, who turned to TCC after spinal stenosis surgeries left him a constant fall hazard, plus Victor DePauw on daily practice.

Dorene Krause set up a Zoom class in April and invited her students to write for a booklet she called "Students Speak," collecting five accounts, among them a woman who found her old notes in a drawer during the pandemic.

Laurie Jacobi, listening to Taoist master Waysun Liao during the pandemic, treats TCC as a moving art and traces the axle of stillness in the Anchor variation of Pulling Taffy and Six Healing Sounds.

Nancy Werner-Azarski recounts a Tuesday Zoom practice in which Sandy paused at Light at the Top of the Head to have everyone notice and relax their tense feet.

Sue Bitney led a 50-person introductory class outdoors in frost and 30-degree temperatures at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's Serenity Garden, offering a buffet of movements to let students feel different weight shifts.

Judy Hendricks describes the move of the Albuquerque TCC Center to Osuna Road, with two classrooms, an office, Justin Stone's paintings on the walls, and the free practice schedule for visitors.

Denise Emanuel Clemen lists the 2020 trips she canceled, from Oaxaca to Athens, each month returning to practice in her condo on Dakota land taken by the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux.

Doriane Tippet compares the T'ai Chi Chih community to a forest where trees communicate through mycelium at the roots, crediting Northern Colorado's teachers with nurturing her from a weak seedling into a stronger practitioner.

Terry Johnson's first T'ai Chi Chih class, set for April Fool's Day 2020, was cancelled by COVID-19, so she worked her local food bank instead and now practices in the park with a staff member who would have been her student.

Sandy Roerig's November 2019 visit to fellow teacher Lisa in St George led her to sell her house, move within two months, and finally commit to a daily practice.

Hannah Hedrick describes practising three times a week in her yoga shed during the pandemic, private sessions for students with cancer, energy work for a dying fellow organizer, and a Down Syndrome class cut short by lockdown.

Gail Terriff recounts how a recreation therapist's request for T'ai Chi Chih "forever" at Edmonton's Hope and Wellness Center drew Alberta teachers together, only for COVID-19 to postpone classes after week one.

Nancy Werner-Azarski reports on nineteen Minnesota teachers gathering in November 2019 to practice, read from Spiritual Odyssey, watch Mary Strom's conference video, and thank outgoing leaders Mary Weddle and Susan Sobelson.

Terry Jennings recounts stopping at Carmen's Seijaku retreat in New Mexico on the annual drive to a family farm, then teaching four classes to beloved friends in Des Moines, where one student joked about getting only half the benefits.

Compiled by Julie Heryet, three Folsom inmates describe what TCC does for them: David H. on healing stab wounds and 24 years of sobriety, Jonathon R. on filtering prison chaos, Steven F. on his three certificates.

Julie Heryet recounts how her Folsom State Prison students, backed by a TCC Foundation grant, entered the Annual Relay for Life and overcame deep fear to demonstrate before the general population.

Shari Holmes describes keeping up daily T'ai Chi Chih with two of her first students during a busy Mekong River cruise through Cambodia and Vietnam, drawing curious passengers on the top deck.

Lauren Paitson's hour-long flight out of Sault Ste Marie became a nine-hour ordeal of blizzards and diversions, so she practised T'ai Chi Chih in the aisle in Omaha.

Laurie Jacobi, co-chair with Linda Zelig, previews the 2019 "Return to the Circle" conference in Minnesota on June 27, and asks teachers to arrive with one burning question for the guides.

Four men in Julie Heryet's Folsom Prison class describe what the practice gives them: internal cleansing, a filter for bad thoughts, relief from body pain, support for 24 years of sobriety, and silent recognition on the yard.

Joseph Selzer describes how residents at a New Jersey retirement community organized twice-weekly Video T'ai Chi Chih practice, reporting improved blood test markers, blood pressure, balance and coping with Parkinson's.

Prompted by Julie Heryet's Folsom update, Hannah Hedrick describes her weekly class for recently released offenders, where students broke up a fight and welcomed the aggressor back, and argues against nit-picky correction.

Julie Heryet credits Sandy McAlister's playfulness for loosening her insistence on accuracy, describing how frustrated elders at a Senior Center and inmates needing to feel safe changed her teaching priorities.

Julie Heryet compiles first-person accounts from six men in the Folsom Prison T'ai Chi Chih class, who describe finding sanctuary, releasing anger, and practising on the yard and tier.

Nancy Rolph-Johnson likens Rocking Motion to a room full of rocking chairs, wooden arms sheltering the sitter, thoughts gliding away in a silent lullaby of moving meditation.

Julie Heryert reports that donated industrial fans have transformed the sweltering Folsom chapel class, which now has 33 students and a waiting list, and describes meeting ARC founder Scott Budnick.