The Vital Force Archive

Carol Love makes the case for taking practice outside, from Nature-derived movement names to choosing a spot where uneven ground sharpens balance and birdsong replaces traffic noise.

Fred Lorch credits his ongoing T'ai Chi Chih practice with better balance, flexibility and strength as he ages, plus blood pressure averaging 20 points lower and improved coronary health.

Lisa Stroyan reports on Sandy McAlister's April 2025 teacher discussion on balance, including an exercise of breathing out down through the flattening front foot to notice weight going too far forward.

Dr. Ofelia Olivero describes how lowering the foot slowly and deliberately keeps the practitioner rooted, sharpens awareness of shifting weight, circulates chi evenly, and becomes an expression of presence.

Marcella K. Levie asked her senior students why they return each week, and Madelon, Olga, Ariette and Sima describe calmer minds, better balance, repeating guitar and flute music, and effort without effort.

Carmen Brocklehurst breaks down the hip swivel used in the side-to-side movements, from the slight curve of the hips to Justin's reminder "nose to the front" and grounding the Chi.

Colette Hertz describes the exhaustion and deepening after her November 2024 accreditation, teaching seated TCC to her 95-year-old neighbor Roberta, and feeling chi in her fingertips while her right hand was in a cast.

Jim Shorr collects comments from four practitioners at Creekside Village in Beaverton, finishing their sixth year of Saturday morning sessions, on balance, joint tension, new friendships and Qigong warm-ups.

Patricia Spears Bigelow credits regular practice with strengthening an ankle after tendon surgery, easing asthma, and stopping the falls her glaucoma caused, and describes doves, squirrels and an owl watching her practice outdoors.

Ana Royal describes injuring her left knee reaching for a carry-on bag in Boston, the years of injections and medicated gel that followed, and how a year of daily TCC practice ended both.

Patty Stupca reports the January Second Saturday discussion of seated practice, including Kay Rydeen's caution to rock from the sitz bones rather than the lower lumbar spine, and chair placement for unsteady students.

Johnnie Marquez came to T'ai Chi Chih for balance after stumbling off a stationary bike, resisted his teacher's repeated suggestion to seek accreditation, and describes how Zoom practice, an Intensive and pyramid poetry changed his mind.

Daniel Pienciak explains why he teaches Bass Drum before Around the Platter and Pulling in the Energy, breaking each into hand circle, weight shift, then both, with eyes forward for balance.

Laurie Jacobi led a class devoted entirely to Rocking Motion and foot awareness, then shares student Patricia Blakely's email describing how the stone-like neuropathy pain in her right foot vanished by class end.

Wilma Kuhns took up T'ai Chi Chih to protect her balance, then during her second class the last joints of her right fingers clicked into place, letting her close a painless fist.

Paul Ciske argues from the physics of the center of mass, which shifts with posture and can fall outside the body entirely, that the t'an t'ien is dynamic, empty and representative of the universal.

Kathy Plachy describes a year in Oreann's class at the Clarkstown Community Learning Center, where slow repetitive movement eased her arthritic hands and steadied her enough to enjoy a steep rocky trail without fear.

Rick Davis likens life's transitions, from pandemic isolation to the death of a loved one, to the weight shift, arguing that firm footing and real permanence are found inwardly.

Loretta and Gil Weimer began T'ai Chi Chih on her 68th birthday in Donna's class, then learned the rest at home with handouts and a DVD, gaining better balance, deeper sleep and less aching.

Jim Shorr collects November and December 2020 testimonials from Creekside Village residents who kept practicing through the COVID-19 shutdown, with balance the benefit nearly everyone named.

Dorene Krause collects statements from five of her students, led by Peter Swist, who turned to TCC after spinal stenosis surgeries left him a constant fall hazard, plus Victor DePauw on daily practice.

Daniel Pienciak recalls two earthquakes during a Santa Barbara TCC Intensive, then explains how a low, appropriately wide stance keeps practitioners grounded, including a chair-supported exercise for seniors.

Oreann Kempadoo recounts becoming accredited in 2015 and struggling to introduce TCC in Rockland County until an adult learning center called, followed by testimonials from students including a woman recovering from a head injury and C-spine surgeries.

Jean Olszak's rhyming poem answers the question "What's in it for me?" with lower blood pressure, steadier balance, quieter joints, a clearer head and a brighter outlook.

Jim Shorr gathers first-person testimony from residents and guests at Creekside Village in Beaverton, Oregon, who describe calm, loosened muscles, better balance and the group's shared Six Healing Sounds.

Diana Bahn describes teaching Rocking Motion to chemotherapy patients with foot neuropathy at a Mt. Sinai cancer center, using Realization Process methods to locate the heel centers and Kidney 1 points.

Pam Towne's practical guidance for teaching seniors, covering hearing loss, balance, stamina, footwear, chairs for seated practice, time for social interaction, and knowing the facility's emergency procedures.

Carol Selby describes teaching students with Parkinson's disease and poor balance to seek the brief secure moment when both feet are flat and the hands pass in front of the body.

Adabelle Rychtarik collected testimonials from her Greenville-area students at libraries, senior centers and a French creperie, who report better balance after hip replacement, tremor relief, improved sleep and giving up a cane.

Andrea Skillman recounts teaching T'ai Chi Chih to long-term care residents, veterans at fall risk, and more than a decade of early morning classes for the American Holistic Nurse Association's national conference, with student evaluations included.