The Vital Force Archive

Claire Whalen replaced dwindling eight-week beginner classes with weekend and one-day intensive formats at her convent retreat center, paired with a Harvard Health Letter report on UCLA's T cell study.

Editor KG announces promotional postcards for the new taichichih.org site, press kit files and Pete Gregory's brochure on the community resources page, graphics copyright limits, and a subscription increase back to $40.

Pauline Quimson-Tong, a doctor who felt unfulfilled, recounts emptying herself through T'ai Chi Chih, while Pete Gregory abandons his brochure scheme and daydreams of nationwide studios.

Stephen Ryter sorts audiences into facts, forms, feelings and futures people so a T'ai Chi Chih pitch lands, and Mary Schapker recounts the 2007 conference committee's agenda-free beach reunion in Silver Beach.

Four short reports: Debbie Cole builds a basement studio funded by six students, Ann Rutherford previews Antonia's brush painting retreat, Sheila Leonard's class airs on CBC, and Sr. Carletta LaCour coaches high school basketball players.

Sr. Patty Campbell resigns from public teaching after 13 years and a posture brace; Stephen Thompson credits Mississippi workshops with filling classes, and Lorraine Lepine seeks 1,000 student questionnaire responses.

Sue Bitney tells how a lighted sign outside a Minneapolis community center brought Carol in after days of driving past, plus Sr. Antonia Cooper's note that TCC has no recertification, only teh.

Diana Wright interviews Dr. Jennifer Pike about UCLA's rheumatoid arthritis trial comparing TCC to relaxation therapy, followed by Judy Hendricks recruiting co-workers for a child-parent class and Tony Johansen's first class.

Pat Flynn recounts how Lyme disease left her nearly blind and crippled, and how T'ai Chi Chih ended her night pain and restored ninety percent of her damaged shoulder movement.

Anita Vestal describes a 12-question Student Reaction Questionnaire being piloted by a few teachers, given anonymously before the first class and at the last, and invites others to test it.

Ev Hanson-Florin describes launching three beginner classes in the West Sussex village of Sidlesham after her January 2007 accreditation, and how students' own clear explanations of the movements deepen her practice.

Gail Terriff traces her path from her first class with Maxine Wan to teaching after her 2005 Edmonton training, with practical advice on class length, fees and covering costs.

Pam Towne urges newly accredited teachers to start teaching immediately, give a presentation a week to fill classes, audit a Teacher Training within a year, and keep their own daily practice at the center.

Justin Stone asks teachers to stop calling T'ai Chi Chih simply "T'ai Chi," distinguishing it from the 108-movement T'ai Chi Ch'uan and criticizing advertised "short forms" sold for profit.

Ron Richardson and Stephen Thompson lay out the costs, publicity and logistics behind their Mississippi workshops and retreat, from paying a visiting teacher's $500 fee to free hospital Wellness Center space.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst practices in waiting rooms and airport gates, and recounts how a woman who watched her before a flight ended up in the next seat, ordering a book and signing up for a retreat.

KG outlines how to approach newspaper, magazine, television and radio reporters plus local newsletters, noting that TV crews need a visual event like a demonstration to cover.

KG gives nine practical steps for following up a press release with a phone call to a reporter, including a 30-second script, timing the call before a demonstration, and insisting it is T'ai Chi Chih, not T'ai chi.

KG supplies nine talking points for teachers speaking to reporters, covering the 19 movements, the difference from T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Justin Stone's 1974 origins, and research from UCLA and Wisconsin.

Nancy Werner-Azarski reports on the 2006 Minnesota teachers' conference themed Encircled in Chi, compiling twenty-two pages of breakout notes on building classes, supporting teachers and reshaping the Vital Force.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recalls the handmade sweetgrass soap in the welcome packet at the 2006 Minnesota Teachers Conference, and the practice sessions, teaching reports and publicity advice from Good Karma Publishing.

KG notes that the journal is reprinting the handouts from his conference talk on publicizing TCC, asks teachers to email high resolution photos for a press image library, and mentions the GKP product catalog.

Ron Richardson's workshop group named the obstacles to offering TCC in church facilities, including suspicion that it is evil, and recommended building trust and talking concretely about balance in prayer, relationships and daily life.

Judy Hendricks led 155 children through Rocking Motion and the Six Healing Sounds at a park on International Day, and lists what she learned teaching seven classes at a Montessori charter school.

Meg Scinto's writeup of Athene Mantle's conference workshop, where ten teachers from Albuquerque to Philadelphia compared notes on teacher potlucks, sharing circles, local websites, press releases and borrowing library or Police Athletic League rooms.

Amy Tyksinki's conference workshop notes on reaching high school students through counseling, history and language departments, and on teaching teens with concrete body cues, a soft cloth passed around, and recordings of Justin Stone.

Notes from Bonnie Sokolov's conference workshop list eighteen group suggestions for getting T'ai Chi Chih into hospitals, from arranging nursing CEU credits and health fair booths to bartering free staff classes for room space.

Bobbi Anderson's conference workshop, transcribed by Terry Gay Puckett, lists practical ways to fill a class: embroidered TCC shirts, free demonstrations for Rotary and sororities, camera-ready newspaper copy, and health fair tables.

Larry Sava recounts sponsoring a T'ai Chi Chih workshop in Lubbock, Texas, where Sister Antonia's cuing and soft teaching style reached him in new ways and brought back former students.

Sheila Leonard traces T'ai Chi Chih in Newfoundland from earlier local leaders to her own 300 students, built through free "Come and See" demonstration sessions at The Lantern Spirituality Centre.