The Vital Force Archive

Victoria Mogilner recounts eight years of teaching at Gilbert Senior, where a small class grew to 49 people a week, bringing better balance and a group that moves together.

Caroline Guilott of Lake Charles explains how to set up a local T'ai Chi Chih Facebook community page, from the taichichihcitystate naming convention to posting class times, event photos and Justin Stone quotation cards.

Sandy McAlister reports the decision to alternate teacher conferences with combined community conferences, announces the June 2017 Boulder teacher conference, and describes three $200 Foundation grants for promoting TCC.

Pam Towne recalls Justin Stone's prediction that some event would bring T'ai Chi Chih into mainstream awareness, and asks students and teachers to recruit candidates, reach younger and more diverse classes, and use the referral form.

April Leffler, who has taught at Widener University since 2008, reports what her PE Director said would persuade a college to hire a TCC teacher, plus class formats and credit arrangements elsewhere.

Julie Heryet previews her conference presentation on teaching at Folsom State Prison, describing the noise and stress inmates face and giving practical steps for approaching a correctional facility about a moving meditation class.

Holly Ueda recounts her November accreditation in Albuquerque as a series of mountains, from applying at the last minute through the worry of whether she was ready to the next climb of forming classes.

Sheila Leonard of Newfoundland recounts the 1989 autoimmune and environmental crisis that led her to TCC, her flyers, brochures and "Beyond Beginners" classes, and the travel costs that deter Canadian accreditation candidates.

Marie Dotts traces 17 years of teaching, a six-year pause while caregiving, and building the Northern Colorado community through a retreat with Pam Towne and monthly principle sessions for teacher candidates.

Sheryl Adair recounts eleven years of persistence at Temple Sinai, from an unanswered volunteer offer in 2004 to a women's retreat session, a home class, and finally a six-week series in the chapel.

Panelists Deb Bertelsen, Deanna Rasch and Sheila Leonard describe growing TCC communities in Minnesota, Richmond, Virginia and Newfoundland, from quarterly potluck gatherings and mentoring frameworks to Dan Pienciak's nine island visits.

Marjorie Erickson keeps a diary through her first two weeks of retirement, counting practice days alongside a broken air conditioner, an unhappy customer who ends up leaving five stars, and plans to teach in the park.

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.

Pia Knighton traces her path from a Cenacle Retreat Center brochure in 2002 to accreditation in 2011 and teaching adolescent and adult psychiatric patients in Houston hospitals.

Jim Shorr counts three new students at his Wilsonville Joy with Movement group as a holiday gift, including a math teacher who calls the taffies and Working the Pulley a way to synchronize left brain and right brain.

April Leffler answers questions about why she teaches, recalling the woman in a wheelchair with an amputated leg who asked at a high-rise apartment presentation whether she could join a class.

Anita Vestal, the only accredited teacher in Costa Rica, answers questions on teaching rural villagers in Spanish, loosening their tightened muscles, and leading her construction workers in fifteen morning minutes.

Lisa Otero, who runs the official T'ai Chi Chih Facebook page, gives practical guidance on starting a local page: naming without the apostrophe, including your state abbreviation, keeping other practices off it and posting daily.

Marie Dotts organized an October 2014 retreat at Estes Park after only six months of teaching, and the seventeen students and Pam Towne's presence gave rise to a 100-day practice commitment, online groups and regular gatherings.

Deb Bertelsen answers questions about why she teaches, describing Minnesota's "Accreditation Journey Framework" for guiding candidates, her reliance on email and phone to stay connected, and the divorce and rheumatoid arthritis that first brought her to T'ai Chi Chih.

Carol Spicer registered over 60 people for the Saturday community practice, half of them newcomers drawn by newspaper and online outreach, who followed Sandy's lead with harp music and little verbal instruction.

Marie Dotts traces how April Leffler's Prajna exercise at conference, a voluntary hospice layoff and unemployment insurance let her release habit energies and build her teaching practice.

Jackson Rains points to the retiring Baby Boomers, once drawn to Transcendental Meditation and the Age of Aquarius, as a ready audience, citing his YMCA class growing from 20 students to over 30.

Matthew van der Giessen describes sending weekly class-summary emails with unlisted YouTube clips of the movements taught, using Chimpmail, an iPad and Good Karma videos to cut dropout rates.

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.

Barb Shambach names her accreditation week enjoyable, humiliating and encouraging by turns, thanks Pam Towne and the auditors, and lists her plan to organize notes, study Justin Stone's DVDs and teach at a Michigan Y Center.

April Leffler traces an inner directive that arrived during sudden hearing loss in her second ear, from surrender and returned hearing to joining Facebook and, after KG's conference presentation, using social media to spread T'ai Chi Chih.

Amy Tyksinski recounts being rejected then accepted as a TEDxABQ speaker on "Innovations in Education," paired with KG's summary of Lisa Otero's talk on insurance, waivers, taxes and trademark use for teachers.

Hannah Hedrick, prompted by conference discussion, began organizing "T'ai Chi Chih Connections" with contact people and home-based centers in Chicago, Vigo County, Matsu Valley and Big Island, followed by reader-submitted jokes.

Darlene Karasik recounts three pregnant women wandering into her HMO-sponsored class, the medical release forms that followed, and her call for teachers, testimonials and outcome data to establish prenatal T'ai Chi Chih.