The Vital Force Archive

Dennis McCann, a hospital chaplain newly accredited by Pam Towne and Antonia, describes starting a class at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, its Wellness Room setting, and the overlapping hour format for returning students.

Diana Bahn's account of the second T'ai Chi Chih Teacher Symposium, led by Sandy McAlister and organized by Alba Cordasco, where 22 teachers swapped handouts, teaching tips and critique over 2 1/2 days.

Jerry Johnson recalls waking at 4am in a luxury oceanfront suite at the Westin Maui, miserable and talking to the lobby parrots, and traces how humility and T'ai Chi Chih taught him real gratitude.

Linda Watson hid her hand under her leg at Pam Towne's teacher meeting during a Santa Barbara retreat, having sworn never to teach again after retiring drained, until someone said "Never say never."

Susan Kissinger's account of Sandy McAlister's April 2010 intensive in St Louis, where 13 students and eight teachers from seven states gathered, and of her own softening since her first class in 1996.

Marcella Box recounts the three-hour retreat Roberta Taggart led on the last Sunday in May for 30 Portland-area beginners, longtime students and teachers, reviewing the movements and flowing from the center.

May Young Chin took up T'ai Chi Chih in early retirement for balance and coordination, and draws on her Chinese roots and Feng Shui's wind and water to explain why she keeps attending group classes.

Neal Roy joins Steve Marsh, Jim Shorr and thirteen others in Portland's Chinese Garden, where watching hips rise and fall during Pulling Taffy Perpetual Motion sharpens his own movement.

Karin Yacullo recounts signing up for T'ai Chi Chih because it was something new, then repeating the beginner class as she came to see it as a moving meditation worth working at.

Jim Shorr details the Pulling Taffy refinements he picked up at Carmen Brocklehurst's Albuquerque spring retreat, then describes the Portland outdoor practice circles where one new refinement opens each session.

Nelson Weaver, a retired Air Force and corporate Type A personality, describes taking stock at 62, signing up for Donna McElhose's beginning class, and celebrating a 149 Day Gong.

Star Studonivic, recovering from cancer surgeries, chemo and Bell's Palsy, found the chi she thought dormant reawakening at the Portland retreat, prompted by a snow leopard message left on her seat.

Nancy Lawrence took up T'ai Chi Chih a year earlier after personal tragedies and because it cost so little, and describes chi feeling as large as a basketball during Daughter on the Mountain Top.