The Vital Force Archive

Helen Hill Crozier's sequence of haiku moves through the TCC form in order, from soft Rocking Motion and yin-yang in Bird Flaps Its Wings to the Six Healing Sounds and the Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Janet Forlow, a ballet dancer who teaches yoga and ballet to seniors, describes T'ai Chi Chih as a body meditation that relieves stress, and uses the weight shift with young adults with disabilities.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst asks students to notice body and emotion without judgment, citing feet that hurt only once noticed, a mother's resentment at her daughter leaving home, and five monkeys on a fence.

Beverly Wrobel, a nurse of thirty-plus years, tells Theresa May how practicing TCC mentally while her leg was in a cast eased pain, followed by five Pyramid Poems.

Cathy Dalton admits Pulling in the Energy is not a favorite movement, then traces her resistance to the upturned palms' openness to change and finds a blockage in her own chi flow.

Frances Alexander plays her flute in a hilltop grotto during a break at Dan Pienciak's T'ai Chi Chih intensive, and finds in the echo of her notes an understanding of honoring the stillness.

Rita Foster, a former science teacher, recalls first feeling the Chi during Pulling in the Energy, and passes on Justin's visualization along with pointers on chin position and the five colors.

Stephan Koblick, a lifelong athlete and student of Eastern thought, found a T'ai Chi Chih class in a hospital complementary medicine department after a serious diagnosis, and has studied with Dorene Krause for over a year.

Sr. Antonia Cooper argues that T'ai Chi Chih's future, like Chi itself, cannot be planned, controlled or commercialized, recalling Justin Stone's account of the form's 1973/74 divine inspiration, with five pyramid poems following.

Virginia Lee Cepeda names the people her gratitude is owed to: Justin Stone for teaching her to let go, Carmen and Brock, her mentor Pat Huseby, and her own students.

Sandy McAlister argues that teaching images like tracing a plate's edge or a bass drum should be dropped once a student knows the shape, since visualizations and energy-directing thoughts limit the Chi's natural flow.

Susan Kissinger hosted Antonia Cooper's April 2009 retreat for nine teachers and fourteen students near St. Louis, where a quiet voice guided review of all nineteen movements, grounding, weight shifting and stillness.

Pam Towne asks practitioners to check their circularity in a mirror, movement by movement, from the "D" shaped platter and Bass Drum to wrist circles, Working the Pulley and Passing Clouds.

Tony Johansen recounts Sandy McAlister's five-day Santa Barbara intensive, relocated after the Tea Fire destroyed Mount Calvary Retreat Center, using a cooking metaphor for how she chopped and diced the movements.

Linda Braga read a podiatrist's brochure on plantar fasciitis and recognized its lunge and heel-walking exercises in Six Healing Sounds, Anchor Taffy and Rocking Motion, with suggestions for footwear and repetition.

Judy Hendricks and Dora Derzon gave one-hour demonstrations for Presbyterian Hospital leadership at Ghost Ranch, following Justin's advice to teach Around the Platter, a Daughter and the Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Faith Isaacs asked her class of seniors, aged seventy-eight to ninety-four, what the essence of T'ai Chi Chih was for them, and records their answers about presence, home, peace and grace.

Alice Holden, host of Pam Towne's May 2009 San Antonio teacher training, compares it with her own 1991 certification and the 2000 course, noting how better prepared candidates freed days for teaching practice.

Sheryl Adair swapped a week of regular classes for a group practice in her home studio, where a late-arriving student felt the palpable Chi and the circle stayed on afterward to speak about what TCC had changed in their lives.

Richard Cutler recounts driving from Austin to the San Antonio teacher training, his impatience over "correct" movements, the guidance of Pam Towne and Stephen Thompson, and becoming Central Texas's first accredited teacher.

Ann Rutherford argues the three principles are tools rather than ends, urging teachers to train students to keep the mind in the soles of the feet instead of identifying with passing thoughts.

Judy Hubbell's impressions of her teacher accreditation week at the University of the Incarnate Word, from Pam Towne's teaching and Alice Holden's hosting to the Folsom Prison DVD and a slowly peeled banana.

June Engle began T'ai Chi Chih at 85 with a lesson in a parking lot after a hike, then DVDs, tingling hands, and one sleepless night after practising before bed.

Beth Cameron recounts Antonia Cooper's April 2009 retreat in Albuquerque, where 28 students and teachers moved softly as one unit, fine tuning each movement amid laughter and warm acceptance.

Cathy Williams names impatience as an ego problem, describing the road rage incident that pushed her to swap hard rock for classical music on the drive home and to start each day with T'ai Chi Chih.

Ann Rutherford announces that Justin Stone plans to attend Sandy McAlister's November 2009 teacher training, whose graduation day falls on his 93rd birthday, marked by a potluck dinner.

Justin Stone praises Sister Antonia, appointed Guide, for staging retreats in many cities, planning teacher training and travelling as far as Italy under a vow of poverty, and asks that people stop writing to him as he turns 93.

Sheila Leonard compiles accounts from her St. John's students: Danielle's shift toward doing the movements correctly, Doris losing Reynaud's Syndrome after surgery, Elizabeth sleeping through the night, and Audrey's moment of weightlessness.

Judy Hendricks hosted Carmen Brocklehurst's daylong Seijaku workshop in Albuquerque and returned to the practice with two bags of clothes to give away, plus refreshed detail on Carry the Ball to the Side and Bird Flaps Its Wings.

The editor announces secure on-line subscription renewals at taichichih.org, walks through the snail mail and email reminder cycle, and describes a teacher who asked 60th birthday guests to donate, raising $851.