The Vital Force Archive

A transcript of Victor Berg's half-hour appearance with Dr. Julia Bain on Albuquerque public-access Channel 16, where he defines chi, cites the UCLA immune study, and demonstrates Around the Platter.

Byron Gill describes being deferred at the 2002 Edmonton teacher training with his wife Rhonda and Faye Mohr, and Pam Towne's announcement that they had finally earned full accreditation.

Justin Stone writes that beauty cannot be defined but opens to anyone, from the early riser at dawn to a Dutch doctor who hired symphony players for a string quartet, and argues that only those who accept death can be grateful for life.

William Nielsen recalls an evening with Dr. Gay Luce, whose remark that "without a practice we tend to get small" frames his case for TCC as a bridge between East and West.

Faye Mohr writes to family and friends about the Saskatoon retreat where teacher trainer Pam Towne announced that Faye, Byron and Rhonda, deferred at Edmonton teacher training in 2002, were now fully accredited.

Catherine Millman recounts hosting the 2004 St. Louis conference, from the leaderless committee structure and the T-shirt auction and quilt raffle that funded scholarships to the Seijaku practice by the fountain.

Eight short pyramid poems and haiku from students of Sharon Sirkis and Sandy McAlister, plus Debbie Cole and Lisa Thorburn, on birds, fall breeze, rocking away pain and chi flowing soft within.

Pam Towne congratulates Faye Mohr and Byron and Rhonda Gill on completing full accreditation two years after being deferred at the Edmonton Teacher Training, and invites other deferred teachers to contact her.

Sr. Antonia Cooper's opening and closing remarks at the St. Louis conference define flowing from the center as mental focus on the t'an t'ien, full weight shift and continuity, with a family joke about "Ho Chi Minh."

Justin Stone's short poem watches the stars fade at daybreak and turns to time as the great key, warning that whoever lacks love for others finds only Self.

Donna Aldous reports on a September retreat for twenty-nine Canadian participants led by teacher-trainer Pam Towne, themed "Attending to the Intent," where three deferred Edmonton candidates received full accreditation.

Pam Towne predicts a critical mass of long-term practitioners transforming planetary consciousness and urges teachers to keep up personal practice, followed by Sandy McAlister's call to strengthen the TCC connection by practising with teachers wherever we travel.

Sister Carol DeAngelo describes the seated, breath-and-hands practice she leads at St. Cabrini Nursing Home, where residents, day health registrants and nurse assistants find a noisy room gradually quieting.

Sharon Matesi tells how Lucia Veteran brought T'ai Chi Chih to northeast Pennsylvania after moving there, growing to over 100 students and a five-county group practice at Marywood University.

Diana Welsh-Durkin and Debbie Cole summarize Sr. Alice Holden's open-floor conference discussion on spreading the UCLA, Wall Street Journal and Prevention findings to doctors, insurers such as New Mexico's Blue Cross, and graduate researchers.

Sher Dano reports the results of the National Council on Aging qigong and tai chi pilot: 349 participants at 18 sites, mean age 73, with significantly reduced perceived stress and plans for a more rigorous study.

Judy Tretheway's account of teaching six movements to about 150 men across six yards at Avenal State Prison, with closing Push Pull circles and plans for a new group at New Folsom.

Debbie Cole credits her teacher training week with starting her writing, and offers poems including "When a Student Can Flow" and "Explorers" alongside thanks to Sharon Sirkis and Ed Altman.

Pat Flynn describes practicing T'ai Chi Chih step by step across a patio toward Sprite, a fearful Saluki scarred by infant surgery, until the dog let herself be touched.

Siobhán Hutchinson recounts a self-drive from Dublin to Shannon on the left side of narrow Irish roads, finding in missing third gear, roundabouts, Gaelic signs and a galloping herd of sheep the same lessons T'ai Chi Chih teaches about presence and acceptance.

Athene Mantle's 2004 St. Louis conference talk, in which a hummingbird and two hawks outside her window lead her through years of auditing trainings, hip restrictions and a broken baby toe.

Ray Welles, a minister and family therapist sent to T'ai Chi Chih by his orthopedist for spinal stenosis and aching knees, found pain relief and a moving prayer that rewards no one for finishing first.

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.

Athene Mantle, Nancy Jo Bleier, Sher Dano and Susan Evans give short accounts of the St. Louis conference, from Jim Hecker's message from Folsom Prison practitioners to Evans's objection to alternating future conferences with Albuquerque.

Lee Moore, facing two scheduled operations seven years ago, used acceptance and faithful T'ai Chi Chih practice at home and visualized practice in the hospital to walk into surgery free of panic.

Sheila Leonard, a Presentation Sister from Newfoundland who practised alone 1000 miles from the nearest teacher, recounts how the first Ringwood Intensive in May 2003 prepared her for accreditation.

Lucia Veteran recounts the June 2004 Intensive at Mt. St. Francis Retreat Center, where Sandy McAlister spotted the bad habit in her Anchor Taffy: complete the wind-up before stepping out.

Asked to teach at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Center, Sher Dano was required to carry professional liability insurance and reports finding affordable coverage through the Tai Chi Arthritis Association of America.

Lorraine Lepine, accredited in 1999 and rusty, describes Sandy's Houston intensive where onomatopoeic sounds loosened her Anchor Taffy hips and the phrase "soft without sacrificing the form" released her neck tension.

After the 2004 St. Louis conference, Beverly Weil argues that the community's collective Chi mirrors each member's own, and asks whether responsibility is being shifted yin to yang, citing the Teachers Directory.