The Vital Force Archive

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.

Kate Polk credits her T'ai Chi Chih practice with two reductions in her blood pressure medication, calmer recurring visions of a traumatic experience, and comfort during radiation for a skin cancer on her scalp.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recounts a friend being told about T'ai Chi Chih for high blood pressure by someone who did not know she already knew, and urges a post-Covid return to daily practice.

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.

Parker Reynolds prints an email exchange with Mary B., a former student practicing at home with the TCC DVD, who reports a 118/64 blood pressure reading, eased joint pain, and total absorption during her 45-minute practice.

Joseph Selzer describes how residents at a New Jersey retirement community organized twice-weekly Video T'ai Chi Chih practice, reporting improved blood test markers, blood pressure, balance and coping with Parkinson's.

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.

Jean Katus relays what her monthly practice regular Carol reports: calmer nights, better sleep, lower blood pressure, and balance regained after knee replacements, plus dropping the Pulling in the Energy visualization before bed.

Sheryl Adair staffed a booth at a "Go Red" women's heart health event at Emory University Hospital, demonstrating TCC to nurses next door and drawing an invitation to teach nursing students.

Jack Weaver recounts how a workplace survey flagging rage and depression led him to T'ai Chi Chih while his wife was permanently hospitalized, and how practice lowered his blood pressure, eased shingles pain and carried him through his dog Cody's death.

Valerie Jennings began T'ai Chi Chih after a hysterectomy for cancer, practiced sitting and later in her hospital bed through congestive heart failure and a pacemaker, and sewed scarves showing the movements.

Rickie Wilson credits twelve years of T'ai Chi Chih with friendships, a 30-point drop in blood pressure, and mental practice that carried her through acute pancreatitis surgery and a failed dental anesthetic.

Dana Diller, a skeptic with a science background, took a community college T'ai Chi Chih class on her doctor's advice and watched her systolic blood pressure drop 15 to 18 points after practice.

Melinda Antoon Cormier, a 56-year-old artist practising in Lake Charles, mentally ran through the Six Healing Sounds during a resting stress test, and her angioplasty revealed a naturally grown bypass around a minor blockage.

Gloria Mancusco credits classes with Dorene Krause and Bill Moore for normal blood work, blood pressure and improved bone density, joined by Kay Spaloss, who stopped her bone density medication.

Marian Massman gathers written comments from students at the end of her Wisconsin classes and retreats, reporting eased shoulder tension, steadier balance after a stroke, lower blood sugar and first full nights of sleep.

Barbara Pence signed up for what she thought was T'ai Chi, got confused by Passing Clouds, and a year later reports no falls, easier arthritis, returning hearing and blood pressure down 30 points.

Pat Flynn argues that T'ai Chi Chih teaches the graceful letting go we are never taught, citing UCLA insomnia research, University of Cincinnati heart findings and a Cousins Center rheumatoid arthritis study.

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.

Margaret A. Baker likens sharing T'ai Chi Chih to a neighbor's advice about dividing flowers, crediting Ron Richardson, who taught her in 2003 during benzodiazepine withdrawal, and naming her 2009 goal of reaching African American communities.

Pam Towne counts 23 years of practice in terms of balance: skating and tree climbing at 53, low blood pressure normalized within six months, thyroid and hormone shifts, and steadier grief after her parents' deaths and her divorce.