The Vital Force Archive

Ruth Marie Arguello-Sheehan, a retired RN, describes her Sun City classes for students aged 9 to 96, watching for unsafe movement after reports of knee, hip and back injuries from other T'ai Chi classes.

Pat Huseby describes her first seated class for residents aged 83 to 96 at a retirement home, where dozing students became bright and laughing and named peace of mind their top benefit.

Paula Weiner, accredited in April 1995 and about to turn 60, describes teaching three night classes a week and leading a Chicago synagogue presentation for 30 seniors, some paralyzed, some arthritic.

Reprinted from Tapestry, a profile of Vivian Hoff of Eagan, Minnesota, who saw t'ai chi on a trip to China after her husband's death, became accredited, and won the Age is Opportunity Arts Award.

Hope Ridley's conference notes on adapting TCC for seniors, wheelchair users, cardiac and arthritis students, including skipping taffies, one-arm Pulley, mental practice, class fees and bringing focus back to the t'an t'ien before standing.

Donna Iverson describes the beginning class she led Saturdays at Wake Robin Retirement Community, where students in their nineties practised seated, balance improved, and one woman suddenly felt the ground beneath her feet.

Lisa Langer's piece from OT Week describes t'ai chi as an occupational therapy intervention, citing studies on postural control in the elderly, rheumatoid arthritis patients, and NIH-funded balance research at Northwestern.

Lois Mahaney describes five years of presenting T'ai Chi Chih to a Seniors Concerns Class at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, closing with student Alinya Charron's poem.

Recovering from foot surgery, Rosalind Braga spent the 9th Annual Conference practicing seated T'ai Chi Chih, and describes the pelvic movement, rooted center and movements that worked best for her seniors class.

Carolyn P. Shaw's first teaching after breaking her leg: a two-week class for 19 seniors in the Getaway Program, with Tao Te Ching readings, chair practice, and a man with a lung ailment performing at the final banquet.

John Lash recounts meeting Justin Stone at an Albuquerque bookstore in 1974 and now running the Harmonious Dragon T'ai Chi School and a Taoist temple in Bern, where every student learns T'ai Chi Chih.

Three reader tips: Christine Sproehnle-Benson on keeping a clear space at home with a new baby, Gordon Wade on swapping his afternoon power nap for a TCC session, and Hope Ridley's conga-line drill for Working the Pulley.

Justin Stone retells the Buddha's instruction to a grieving mother to collect rice from any household untouched by death, arguing that accepting impermanence frees us from constant striving.

Teacher updates from Gordon Wade on Elderhostel classes in Banff, Sister Trinitas on retired nuns' balance and walking, Pat Graves teaching at a Santa Fe half-way house, the Sanchezes' move to Lake Tahoe, and Dorcas Hueners' master's thesis.

A Chicago Tribune story on adult education visited Barbara Peller's Oakton Community College class, quoting students aged 67 and 73, plus an NTSW Industries newsletter piece on her work.

Press coverage of two teachers: Barbara Riley's classes at the Rossmoor retirement complex, where a student with a hip replacement praised the gentle motion, and Lynne Blackford's full-page feature in the Missoulian.

Carmen Brocklehurst recounts Justin Stone's whirlwind move back to Albuquerque at 76, placing a deposit on a home hours after landing, with a Seijaku course and meditation class already booked.

Barbara Peller describes her first semester teaching T'ai Chi Chih to seniors at three locations, with mid-class rest breaks, chairs on hand, movements talked through aloud, and students encouraged to advocate for their own bodies.

Lu Marla Dorn of San Francisco reports private teaching, T'ai Chi Chih moves added to her Senior Fitness classes and a March workshop for CCSF instructors, while George Balliet teaches three weekly classes in Merced.

Prompted by Master Steve Ridley's phrase "you are teaching physical prayer," John J. Barbour describes TCC as communion with nature and Cosmic Energy, bringing rejuvenation, longevity and eventual serenity.

A Center for Healthy Aging newsletter near Chicago praised T'ai Chi Chih for lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, and announced a 12-week class taught by Nancy Meyer and Hannah Hedrick with an optional research study.

Joy Carle Barbour describes teaching T'ai Chi Chih to 38 Elderhostel participants, all over sixty, at Mohave Valley Community College, alongside classes in photography, art and "Casino Science."

Ruthmarie Arguello Sheehan answers a reader of New Mature Woman who saw T'ai Chi practised in China, describing her daily twenty movements as joy, serenity in activity, and a guard against jet lag.

Two newspaper features reprinted in part: The Times on San Mateo teacher George Balliet, who found T'ai Chi Chih while recovering from an industrial accident and now runs a 12-week class, and The Albuquerque Tribune on Caroline Chavez leading seniors.

Corinn Codye taught daily T'ai Chi Chih classes aboard the Crown Odyssey on a 16-day cruise to Hawaii, drawing 20 to 45 passengers and finding none could visualize the bubbling spring.

Lois Mahaney traces her path from 1917 Hancock, Michigan and wartime WAAC service to substitute teaching, a Sunday park practice session, and a high school demonstration where students' chi set her hands fluttering.

A new call for 100-150 word teacher biographies, plus Sister Rita Tschudi on teaching fourteen retired sisters in Baltimore, one aged 94, and Martha Lynn Armstrong on the change in her since accreditation.

Julie Attaway's Desert Sun report compares Jacques Moramarco's T'ai Chi Ch'uan classes in a Palm Springs park with Tais Hoffman's trial T'ai Chi Chih class at a Palm Desert senior center.

Teacher news from Joy Barbour's RV park demonstration, Donna Shaffer's pre-natal class at Apple in Cupertino, press coverage prompting a Palm Springs workshop, and Ruth-Marie Arguello-Sheehan's earthquake injuries and retiree classes.

Joy Barbour taught T'ai Chi Chih at the Elderhostel campus in Bullhead City on the Colorado River, drawing students from across the country, one of whom said he felt 40 years younger.