The Vital Force Archive

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recalls her first teacher Helen Brungardt Pope's words about life as a circle, links yin and yang alternation to natural change, and describes introducing four movements at a 400-person community event.

Richard Karasik distinguishes speaking T'ai Chi Chih from speaking about it, urging teachers to build a shared vocabulary with students, test words like "palm up" and "circular," and treat confusion as an opening for learning.

Raymond Reid recounts arriving at T'ai Chi Chih by mistake after decades of T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Aikido, his ejection fraction climbing from twenty-five to seventy percent, and building a practice as Portland's only full-time teacher.

Pia Knighton traces her path from a Cenacle Retreat Center brochure in 2002 to accreditation in 2011 and teaching adolescent and adult psychiatric patients in Houston hospitals.

Carol Nelson-Selby teaches health club classes with ever-changing attendance, so she drills the full weight shift using Carry the Ball to the Side, hands behind the back, and lets the t'an t'ien tow the arms.

Justin Stone's general comments from the booklet "Teaching Tips For Teachers" insist T'ai Chi Chih is neither exercise nor martial art, and detail spotting faults in weight shift, wrists, waist and knees.

Robert Montes de Oca recounts a near collision on I-40 west in Albuquerque, when a confused driver turned into oncoming traffic and being in the flow made the evasive action clear.

Larry Bloom describes his Sandy Springs Circle of Light practising to guqin music in honour of Franky Carrillo, exonerated after 20 years in Folsom, and teacher Sheryl Adair's closing question.

Mary Wichmann's new hiking boots sat unused in the closet after a dermatology procedure on her foot, until an email about a community hiking group led her to the Sonoran Desert and Superstition Mountains as another moving meditation.

Sheryl Adair practices outdoors in Sarasota on the fourth anniversary of Justin Stone's death, while visiting her nearly 97-year-old uncle, and finds herself carrying all of life during Carry the Ball to the Side.

April Leffler collects weekly journals from her college students and quotes their entries, from a freshman slowing her walk across campus to a resident assistant who practised alone for two hours.

Julie Heryet remembers Franky Carrillo, wrongly imprisoned at Folsom, who forgave the judge and prosecutor, stood in the center of the Push Pull circle before release, and later practiced free in a Los Angeles park.

Charlie Williams, sent to T'ai Chi Chih by his orthopedic surgeon after two knee replacements, describes crossing an ice-covered rear deck to feed wild birds by shifting weight one grounded step at a time.

Julie Heryet recounts the 3rd Annual T'ai Chi Chih Banquet at Folsom State Prison, where exonerated former inmate Franky Carrillo returned, then practised at 2pm under the oak tree he once watched from inside.

Margaret Lang Nelson found a 1987 receipt from Carmen Brocklehurst tucked inside Justin Stone's photo text, revealing that her mother had taken an eight-week T'ai Chi Chih class in Albuquerque.

Julie Heryet recounts how the prison's new documentation demands for Franky's guest pass and the missing inmate duckets became the very things that let the men at the Circles of Light banquet feel valued.

Gail Horlick recounts first feeling the energy at a women's mountain retreat and a year of weekly classes with Sheryl Adair that left her calmer and more emotionally balanced.

Merle Smith recounts her class dedicating its March 31 practice to Franky Carrillo, unjustly incarcerated for twenty years at Folsom, and teacher Sheryl Adair's account of his forgiveness after release.

Donna Deffenbaugh describes trading her lifelong rigidity for the image of a marionette, following her teacher's hands and feet on imagined strings until T'ai Chi Chih itself took the strings; appended are attendee reflections from an Intensive.

Sandy McAlister recounts the third annual Folsom State Prison retreat and banquet day, where exonerated former inmate Franky Carrillo spoke of forgiveness, and links the men's outward and inner change to Chi.

Linda Braga describes how the WASC accreditation process at San Leandro adult school pushed her to survey students, analyze the data, and draft a revised "Levels of TCC" skills list with Northern California teachers.

Daniel Pienciak suggests imagining three dimes under each foot, two at the balls and one at the heel, as a way to test even weight distribution and complete the weight shift.

Pam Towne lays out what a T'ai Chi Chih retreat offers, two full practices a day, free time and lasting friendships, then recalls the 2006 Santa Barbara retreat where romance with Ted began.

Hannah Hedrick, accredited in 1986, describes teaching at a nursing home, a senior residence, a homeless transition program and a reentry program, and a student who showed her the movements she could do lying down after fracturing her foot.