The Vital Force Archive

Carmen L. Brocklehurst names teachers who rarely write in, among them Lyn Welch teaching through weekly chemotherapy, Pat Huesby's class of students over 90, and Margo Carpenter's unpaid weekend travel in Canada.

Ron Richardson recounts Pam Towne's March workshop for 35 people at the Wellness Center of North Mississippi Medical Center, local newspaper coverage with a T'ai Chi Chuan misprint, and doubled class attendance afterward.

Diana Welsh-Durkin and Debbie Cole summarize Sr. Alice Holden's open-floor conference discussion on spreading the UCLA, Wall Street Journal and Prevention findings to doctors, insurers such as New Mexico's Blue Cross, and graduate researchers.

Sharon Matesi tells how Lucia Veteran brought T'ai Chi Chih to northeast Pennsylvania after moving there, growing to over 100 students and a five-county group practice at Marywood University.

Linda Braga recounts the rooms she has taught in, from a smoke-soaked library space and a dizzying geometric carpet to a windowless country club court she privately nicknamed Cell block 7.

Larry and Nancy secured TV interviews, a live radio broadcast, newspaper listings and a Women's Expo demonstration, with Larry advising teachers to send a press release and FAQs beforehand.

Holly Davis recounts how insurance and CPR requirements nearly blocked her from teaching at Eisenhower Memorial Hospital, and how Pam Towne's advice about waivers led to four classes a week.

Justin Stone advises newly accredited teachers on filling classes: speak from personal experience, set a fair fee, use classified ads, and seek radio interviews, recalling the Los Angeles broadcast that produced fifteen weekly classes.

Margery Erickson's notes from the 2002 conference panel where teachers from Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis, New Jersey/New York, San Antonio and Albuquerque described their meetings, retreats, teacher prep days and community centers.

Sharon Sirkis and Sher Dano collect classroom slips and comebacks, from a student whose favorite move was "Rocking Horse" to a retirement center lady asking permission to complain about the cold room.

Dale Buchanan lays out his hour-by-hour schedule as a full-time T'ai Chi Chih teacher in Washington, DC, from a 4:30am practice to late-night emails, and the promotion needed to fill 10-12 classes a week.

Donna McElhose struck up a conversation about T'ai Chi Chih while waiting for a movie to start, and one of the two women she gave a card to dropped her psych class to enroll at the college instead.

Elaine Unzicker writes to Ed that her backyard class, begun September 8 with six students and promoted only by flyers and a yoga teacher's introduction, has grown to ten, with an Ojai Day demo ahead.

Janet M. Oussaty recounts a year of TCC expansion at Kean University, from a student-run practice group and credit courses to a 100-person session at the AAHPERD national convention in Cincinnati and a campus cable television interview.

KG waited 18 months after accreditation before teaching, then led an eight-day class for Lonely Planet authors at a conference in Australia, which led to classes in Boston health clubs.

Dale Buchanan drives rush-hour traffic from Herndon into Washington, DC, staying centered on his T'an T'ien, and recounts how an artist's email found through his website led to four weekly classes in a downtown gallery and a first class at AOL.

Lois Arrigotti thanks her trainer for a powerful week and the image of ripples and splashes, then offers a fill-in-the-blanks press release headlined "Reduce Stress with T'ai Chi Chih" for other new teachers to adapt.

Roseann Heinrich, doubting whether to keep teaching after two small company classes, asked the Universe for guidance and days later received an engraved plaque from three of her first students.

Noel Altman reports on an April workshop at the Albuquerque T'ai Chi Chih Center where Justin Stone gave a mock presentation and Ed Altman offered practical tips on public speaking, props, music and class sign-up incentives.

Carolyn Allenby follows the Minnesota conference charge to "plant seeds," describing radio interviews on addiction and healthy lifestyles, a Wellness Day, a retreat center workshop, and a nursing home fair table.

Hannah Hedrick, a former AMA executive, lays out the folder a teacher should assemble for a hospital interview: benefit statements, the AMA Cultural Competence Compendium entry, Dr. Scotti's letter to Justin Stone, and research citations, speaking of symptoms rather than diseases.

Dale Buchanan recounts closing his Great Falls T'ai Chi Chih studio after two years of financial losses, and finding more students, no overhead and a Seijaku-like acceptance of distraction while teaching ten weekly classes at five fitness centers.

Ann Rutherford lays out the finances of Albuquerque's non-profit T'ai Chi Chih Center, from the $14,156 annual rent and Justin Stone's donated retreat and gallery proceeds to the new Search and Find and Presentation Committees recruiting off site classes.

Caroline Guilott and Bitsy LeBlanc describe turning a neglected green rental house on Center Street in Lake Charles into a T'ai Chi Chih center, with bargain paint, scavenged furnishings and husbands' support.

Reports from the first Day of "Joy Thru Movement" on Justin Stone's birthday: Bernice Piotrowski on demonstrations at the Edmonton Public Library, Dan Pienciak on twenty New Jersey teachers at Sister Antonia Cooper's Villa Maria, plus Bismarck and a 96-year-old seated practitioner in Maryland.

Ann Sollars, the only accredited teacher in Idaho, writes from Pocatello about teaching old friends in Blackfoot and invitations to present at Idaho State University, including a T'ai Chi Ch'uan professor's intermediate class.

Catherine Millman writes to Justin Stone that after eighteen months of T'ai Chi Chih, a mother of four who was bedridden some 100 days a year has been sick only three.

In a letter to the editor, Donnis Minx describes using Justin Stone's video on a big-screen TV at a Shepherd's Center presentation, where one man noticed the practitioners' complete lack of tension.

Jan Linthorst found Orange County senior centers and parks programs already crowded with Qi Gong and T'ai Chi Ch'uan classes, so she began showing movements to individuals one at a time until a weekly practice class formed.

Sr. Alice Holden recounts how a press release brought FOX TV's "The Edge" to film Ed Altman and candidate Ann Sollars at the June 2000 San Antonio teacher training, and the founding of SARA of TCC.