The Vital Force Archive

Hannah Hedrick and others were filmed for a videotape on AIDS therapies, Pam Towne taped half-hour teaching shows for public access TV, and Dorothy Marks filled two classes after a newspaper article and radio interviews.

Teacher news roundup with Pam Towne's public access video, Carmen Brocklehurst's class for Digital Equipment Corporation marketing reps, Oonagh Perdue's PBS interview, and letters to Ben Levitan reporting lowered cholesterol, vanished hay fever and restored circulation.

Teacher news: Theda Gillespie and Hannah Hedrick teaching at a Mexican health resort, Carmen Brocklehurst leading INTA mornings weeks after abdominal surgery, Harriet Henderson drawing 200 daily at Asilomar, and Joseph Pagano demonstrating in a Carmel restaurant atrium.

Joe Wythe reports that a fourth eight-week T'ai Chi Chih class at St. Luke's Hospital begins April 4, evidence that Kansas City is taking up the practice in a big way.

Bryan James recounts the night no students showed up for a new class at his Littleton home, and how two demonstration invitations two days later led to spin-off classes, including a sponsored series at US West in Denver.

Sharon Melvin recounts her first three years teaching in Edmonton after her 1984 training with Justin Stone, from classes in a friend's home and a bookstore to weekend retreat workshops and travel for Alberta Adult Education.

Pamela Towne's referral plan asks current students for names, addresses and phone numbers of people who might benefit from T'ai Chi Chih, then invites those contacts to free demonstrations.

Luba Blumberg reports on teaching T'ai Chi Chih to Danny Glover's Actors Workshop, a Monday class at the Orinda Community Center, and a lecture-demonstration for a Transactional Analysis seminar after her October 1987 teacher training.

Virginia Shilson's report on the Albuquerque teachers group: Carolyn Shaw's brochure pitching a TCC break to companies, a bamboo brush painting workshop for making flyers, and acceptance of the 1989 Teachers' Conference.

Carlos Magana reports martial arts students at the Brisbane Community Center and San Francisco Y.M.C.A. getting good results from Seijaku, Justin Stone's beginners' class fills at Monterey Peninsula College, and Joan Roulac finishes her first class.

Tais Hoffman of San Clemente reports on an eight-week class session, three workshops including one in New Mexico, and a UC Irvine radio talk show where T'ai Chi Chih came up alongside networking.

Norma Schaumann adds T'ai Chi Chih to a prenatal childbirth course, Christeen McCurran's mother teaches her first class to her sisters in Norway, and Pam Towne reports on the Denver teacher training and the $600 she was paid by a Long Beach computer company.

Christeen H. Curran reports on teaching T'ai Chi Chih in Fargo, from a ten-week geriatric contract at Villa Maria Nursing Home to 250 nurses doing Bass Drum at a state convention.

Carmen Brocklehurst describes how a retreat conversation led to a paid three-day engagement teaching T'ai Chi Chih to fifteen company presidents at the Arizona Biltmore, and urges teachers to approach corporations.

A January 1987 letter from Valerie Lawson-Smith and Steve, newly settled in Tsuchiura north of Tokyo, describes Steve's Aikido training, English teaching jobs, her high school post and plans for private TCC classes.

Teen lays out how to pitch a local newspaper writer, from choosing a reporter to lead times and folders of material, then reprints Robert Frohlich's Tahoe World piece on Christine Sproehnle's Tahoe City classes.

Pat Hill thanks Steve and her spring teacher training group, then recounts starting three classes within weeks, including one from a presentation to 30 people at Mile Hi Church.

Christeen Curran contracted to teach 20 hours at a Fargo nursing home, Mary Kim Candell moved from home classes to the Orinda Community Center, and Jean Williams filled Oklahoma City classes from one small newspaper ad.

Justin Stone recommends his newly recorded audio tape to all students and teachers, suggesting it can sustain enthusiasm, convey deeper meanings, and substitute for in-person presentations when attracting new students.

Justin Stone announces that Steve Ridley will conduct future teachers' training courses and will accredit those who pass, followed by Ridley's four requirements for hosting a course, including a minimum of nine prepared candidates.

Michael Alt reported teaching weekly at the HELIX Center in Lake Forest and three days a week at Body-Mind in Dana Point, classes that grew from a weekend TCC intensive.

Lillian Susumi's Seattle-Tacoma weekend workshops, with upcoming classes at Unity Church and the College of Holistic Studies, plus a reprinted newsletter piece by Richie Sindell and Nikki McRae collecting participants' reports of groundedness, inner peace and increased healing energy.

After rereading every back issue of The Vital Force, Carmen L. Brocklehurst urges teachers to sign up for the 2nd Annual International Conference and lists her own new classes in businesses, a fire department and senior centers.

Lucy Hocking recounts a year of persistence that led from one contact's referral to eight weekly classes at a California corporation, then dwindling attendance after management changes, plus her own recovery from cancer surgery.

Cathleen Rickard urges teachers to keep T'ai Chi Chih pure: advertise it by Justin Stone's name, flag any added movements, and hold to harmony, balance and Joy rather than other motives.

Amira Bramson passes along the holiday postcard Bruce made for her to send to her T'ai Chi Chih students, signing off with "Love and Chi."

Teachers write in from Asilomar, Idaho, Mexico, Phoenix, Stockholm and California, with Colin Clarity's newspaper ad, Lillian Susumi's 14-student intensive, and Benjamin Levitan's intergenerational Camp J.O.Y. assignment.

Pamela Towne supplies a one-page statement teachers can hand to administrators at community colleges, recreation departments, YMCAs and corporations, plus advice on pitching a local newspaper feature.