The Vital Force Archive

Teacher updates include Christeen McLain speaking at the American Holistic Nurses' Association conference, Shoko Purdy teaching in Japanese to her mother, Michael Martin's free drop-in classes on Chicago's Navy Pier, and Theda Gillespie's library demonstration with the mayor.

Teachers from Arizona to Florida report on new classes, free outdoor Saturday practice, ocean view park walks, and Linda Braga's partner practice method for mixed-level groups.

Hannah Hedrick's T'ai Chi Chih classes for American Medical Association employees in Chicago appeared in The Reporter, which promoted the practice as self-defense for the mind, plus Ruthmarie Arguello-Sheehan's magazine piece on mentor women.

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.

Justin Stone reminds teachers that T'ai Chi Chih is first a spiritual discipline, urging them to pursue their own self-cultivation so that students will be drawn to them in growing numbers.

Teacher updates spanning Billie Blair's team-teaching at a Unity church, newly accredited teachers from the Bemidji course, Corinn Codye's 16-day cruise classes, and a Bay Area referral list project.

Satori Resources reports daily calls from across the US and Canada, 800-plus responses to Corinn's Los Angeles Times article, and Justin Stone's advice to organize regions around ongoing practice, meetings and brochures.

Summer "T'ai Chi Chih In the Park" sessions continue monthly in Alvarado and Taylor Parks, and Virginia Shilson was invited to teach fall and spring classes for the Ayurvedic Institute's 1990-91 curriculum.

David Belz writes from Fort Myers about his accreditation week in Bemidji with Steve Ridley, the group chi field, his fear of not graduating, and the five presentations he scheduled on returning home.

Vicki M. Brodie recounts an unexpected phone call from Brenda Woodard Pierce, an accredited teacher she had never met, who passed along a local teaching opportunity and mailed helpful information.

Carmen Brocklehurst describes persuading Albuquerque's Health and Wellness director to fund city employee classes, and the student on crutches whose back pain eased when he practised seated.

Lynne Blackford writes to Justin Stone from Missoula about her move to Montana, a first class of thirty at the Unity Church, new proposals to hospitals and a fitness center, and her husband's reluctant practice on a Coeur d'Alene boardwalk.

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.

Marylin Ollivier, accredited in May 1989, describes how teaching T'ai Chi Chih turned someone who panicked speaking to three people into a regular spokesperson with demonstrations, two weekly fitness centre classes and private clients.

Donna Shaffer negotiated fifteen-minute T'ai Chi Chih breaks for Apple Computer employees in Cupertino, moving department to department two afternoons a week, while also teaching Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients at a San Jose acupuncture clinic.

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.

Justin Stone credits the growth of T'ai Chi Chih in Canada, Montana and beyond to the inner sincerity of its teachers, urges them to give presentations regularly, and asks for contributions to the newly bimonthly Vital Force.

Practical advice on back-of-the-room sales, with ten tips from Pam Towne, Lillian Susumi, Carmen Brocklehurst and Chris McLain on when to present the textbook, videotape and audiotapes to students.

A roundup of teacher news: Lucy Hocking starting classes in Maine, Chris Worcester's marriage and new daughter, Chris McLain's massage therapist seminars, and Pam Towne's three-birds logo drawing more calls.

Lillian Susumi negotiated a contract with the U.S. Health Department in Seattle for a three-week, six-session course, the first employee movement class the Department paid for in full.

Three ideas from teacher conference discussions for keeping students practising: Ed and Noel Altman's class-chosen graduation celebrations, a core group of continuing students, and Tais Hoffman's Saturday drop-in practice in the park.

Five letters: Doris Dandridge on the toning and the Acoma presentation at the teachers conference, Jean Doan on her first class and a blind student, Jean Katus on improved eyesight, Corine Reeber on the teacher packet, and Tim Stuetz on Passing Clouds in meditation.

Teachers at the 1989 conference listed their hopes for T'ai Chi Chih: a 15-minute promotional videotape, college credit courses, Elderhostel programs, a Colorado Center for Heightened Awareness, and a million practitioners by 2000.

Jeanie Lemaire's sample workshop proposal, written with Corinn Codye and accepted by the Life Spectrum Institute in Maryland, lays out objectives, participant benefits, brochure copy, history, room requirements and instructor biography.

Corinn Codye urges accredited teachers who have gone inactive or struggled to fill classes to start again, recommending regional teacher associations, auditing training courses, the annual conference and contributing to the Vital Force.

Roundup of newly accredited teachers' classes, from Harriet Henderson's Church of Religious Science in Newhall and Lynne Blackford's Montana retreat workshops to Dorothy Marks's 65 students and St. Luke's Hospital Arthritis Clinic.

Carole Gates recounts teaching 90 students in five classes in Duncan and the Cowichan Valley, mentoring four teacher candidates through her first Teacher Preparation Course, and planning a June celebration to introduce them.

Carole Gates of Victoria, B.C. breaks down the flyer she used to publicize a Teacher Preparation Course, listing objectives, prerequisites, format, cost, content, materials to bring and a registration form.

Reneé Wilson recounts how an elderly couple joined her new class at the "Y" after watching two of her former Victoria students lead about 20 travelers in T'ai Chi Chih during a long wait at the Kunming airport.

Chris Curran was hired by the PTA at Roosevelt Elementary in Fargo to lead Joy Thru Movement for early-drop-off children, drawing 20 to 50 kids twice weekly and local TV coverage.