The Vital Force Archive

Mary Case, who noticed her own sudden hearing loss ten years ago, offers practical adjustments for students who cannot hear you: face them, seat them discreetly up front, lower the music, and use a waist amplifier.

Judith Schwartz describes her three classes at Laguna Honda Hospital, including the Zen Hospice Floor, where she rings a singing bowl, plays Mbira and chant recordings, and leads patients in wheelchairs.

After a 2010 car accident left her back and knees painful, Judy George swapped the chair for a large exercise ball, then coached an 82-year-old student through her fear of falling onto it.

Ten pyramid poems from Dianne Moody, Jim Shorr, Nancy Little and others on letting go and chi, followed by five of Sharon Sirkis's funniest moments teaching at an MS day group and a retirement home.

A Herald Review feature by Diane Jones on Sierra Vista classes, with teacher Dan Richter, who began practising as a cancer patient, and student Gayle Dragoo, who set aside her oxygen tank and wheelchair.

Cara Greene fell on slate steps and re-injured her knee a week before Bill Moore's intermediate class, and practicing the movements from a chair brought a humbling lesson and a deeper sense of grounded chi.

Mark Moloney audits the November 2009 Albuquerque teacher training, where Sandy McAlister's precise corrections and her nearly wordless demonstration of seated T'ai Chi Chih moved him most.

Sue Bitney recounts an elderly Minneapolis student who arrived with a cane and oxygen tank on doctor's orders and, over three eight-week sessions, stood unaided for a full hour.

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.

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.

Carol Nelson-Selby describes running a continuous drop-in class at a health club, arriving early to work with newcomers on weight shift, the t'an t'ien and physical limitations before the regulars arrive.

Lorraine Lepine reports on the open Outreach Coordinator post, guidelines being drafted for teaching seniors, children and seated TCC, and the teacher reference materials project, followed by Justin Stone's letter objecting that T'ai Chi Chih is being made commercial.

Terry Jennings describes the 11-session pilot seated T'ai Chi Chih class she led at her mother's Honolulu memory care facility, using circle seating and chair rocking to prime the chi.

Sr. Antonia Cooper urges teachers to register early for the July conference in Nebraska City, names the discipline as a steady support during economic collapse, and announces Blooming the Spirit plus new COPD teaching guidelines.

Lorraine Lepine describes the online Teacher Resource list updated at the 2008 conference and announces Hannah Hedrick's "Guidelines for Teaching Students with COPD," the first of several population-specific guidelines.

Sr. Patty Campbell resigns from public teaching after 13 years and a posture brace; Stephen Thompson credits Mississippi workshops with filling classes, and Lorraine Lepine seeks 1,000 student questionnaire responses.

Diane See recounts thirteen years of teaching at YMCAs, senior centers and adult day health centers, where interruptions and mixed-ability classes became chances to teach Seijaku, serenity amid activity.

Lorraine Lepine describes three teacher tools from the 2005 survey and 2007 Conference: an online Teacher Resource List, a 12-question student questionnaire being piloted, and guidelines for special populations.

Nancy Jo Bleier's journal of recovery from her second hip surgery, from seated practice and holding a bookcase to a Seijaku without support, plus Sitka's monthly TCC-by-the-Sea waterfront gatherings.

Linda Braga names inertia as the two-fold pitfall of teaching in assisted living residences, poses the hard questions teachers face about lowering standards, and offers six posted guidelines for resident participation.

Dorene Krause thanks Lorraine Lepine and the 90 responding teachers, announces where the 2005 Teacher Survey results are posted online, and passes along teaching tips for seniors, teens and students with physical challenges.

Linda Braga's first class at an assisted living residence, where a walker ran over her foot, a leak from upstairs brought in a noisy HAZ-MAT crew, and ten seated beginners stayed anyway.

Hannah Hedrick describes pairing pursed-lip breathing with the weight shift for students with COPD, modifying Light at the Top of the Head, and bringing TCC to Red Hat Society women, cancer and HIV/AIDS groups.

A report that 87 teachers responded to the TCC Teacher Survey 2005, with results promised online in April 2006 and suggestions forwarded to Antonia, Sandy and Pam.

Teachers responding to the 2005 TCC survey give Lorraine Lepine their practical advice on chairs, hearing problems, remembering birthdays, PACE arthritis training and slow repetition for students with Parkinson's.

Judy Hendricks led 155 children through Rocking Motion and the Six Healing Sounds at a park on International Day, and lists what she learned teaching seven classes at a Montessori charter school.

Lorraine Levine asks teachers to return the 2005 TCC Teacher Survey by December 31 and publishes teaching tips from the first 55 responses, covering seniors, Parkinson's, dementia care, hospice bereavement groups and deaf children, plus a new Special Requests section.

Meg Costello, a Catholic Sister teaching with a physical disability, recounts five years of invitations: a stress management class at Georgian Court College where a student in a wheelchair wrote approving comments, monks at a New Jersey monastery, and a public school special needs class.

Nancy Hoing writes to her teacher Ginny Morgan about being diagnosed with three hereditary clotting conditions, getting her medical team's approval for T'ai Chi Chih, and regaining strength, balance and reduced leg pain.

Tony Johansen describes practising at a Santa Barbara retreat with a paralyzed left foot and braced ankle, finding that uncertainty, not infirmity, breaks his connection to the chi holding him up.