The Vital Force Archive

Four written assignments collected by Donna McElhose: students describe emerging from bipolar isolation, easing fibromyalgia fatigue, practising anywhere after 2005 cancer surgery, and discussing Justin's Climb the Joyous Mountain chapter by chapter.

Linda Braga read a podiatrist's brochure on plantar fasciitis and found its recommended lunge stretch and heel-walking exercises already present in the Six Healing Sounds, Anchor Taffy and Rocking Motion.

Lanni Lantery recounts a 2003 TCC presentation where built-up Chi made her karate demonstration so fast she split her student's groin cup, plus a beginner's George Clooney remark during Pulling in the Energy.

Laurie Jacobi recalls first seeing Justin Stone playing 1940s jazz at a grand piano, and the conference where he corrected her for not moving low enough before learning of her back pain.

Laurie Jacobi led a class devoted entirely to Rocking Motion and foot awareness, then shares student Patricia Blakely's email describing how the stone-like neuropathy pain in her right foot vanished by class end.

Hannah Hedrick, managing nearly four decades of chronic back pain and recovering from a third hip surgery, found that seated TCC sharpened her feel for grounding, alignment and the tan t'ien.

Hannah Hedrick recounts her 1985 classes with Theda Gillespie in Mexico, the unprepared California accreditation Justin embraced, and the s-e-l-f breath guidelines she developed for students with COPD.

Jessica Lewis, who teaches veterans in chronic pain for the Federal T'ai Chi for Veterans program, describes using very few words in a first class so students discover the Chi themselves.

George Zimmerman remembers Nicole, who kept a daily T'ai Chi Chih practice through eleven years with ALS, moving without her wheelchair for three years and later practising the movements in imagination alone.

Doriane Tippet compares the T'ai Chi Chih community to a forest where trees communicate through mycelium at the roots, crediting Northern Colorado's teachers with nurturing her from a weak seedling into a stronger practitioner.

Sharon Sirkis recounts three classroom moments: an 87-year-old confused all his life, Roland finding his knee's sweet spot in front of the TV, and a coronavirus misunderstanding needing quick damage control.

Carmela Beck recalls watching Justin Stone demonstrate at an Albuquerque bookstore while her toddler roamed unsupervised, then finding his photo online a decade later when back pain sent her looking for something gentler than yoga.

Diane Crago, an artist diagnosed with a vestibular migraine disorder after two years of vertigo and lost balance, sent her teacher Bill Nakao a poem instead of an article because screens hurt her eyes.

Carmela Beck names what keeps her practicing daily even when she does not feel like it, from easing sciatica and low back pain after an injury to a growing sense of reverence for all of life.

Lisa Stroyan accepted Julie Heryet's conference invitation and visited the T'ai Chi Chih class at Folsom Prison, walking through the cellblock to a chapel circle where inmates met her with kindness rather than the defensiveness she expected.

JoEtta Heck, a registered dietitian worn down by stress and constant left shoulder and neck pain, found Marie Dotts' recreation center class and went on to accreditation.

H.B. recounts being raped at sixteen, the back pain and involuntary muscle spasms that followed, and the class with instructor Sharon Sirkis where the Six Healing Sounds gave her back herself.

Linda Sercarz came to T'ai Chi Chih for severe PMS, found it again after a lupus diagnosis in 1999, then admits she let her practice lapse for years before returning to it with gratitude.

Daniel Pienciak traces his own knee pain from figure skating and its easing through practice, then advises smaller steps, softening rather than gripping, and letting the knee lead the weight shift.

Jayne Kennelly recounts how her body collapsed under grief after her father's death in 2009, and how years of classes with Joe Apt and Monica Campbell brought softness, balance and freedom from pain.

Terry Jennings passes along an exchange in which a student with MS and vertigo practices lying down or on the couch, with Sandy McAlister and April Leffler advising effortless movements and both feet.

Mrs. Stough, unable to do yoga after back surgeries, found TCC through an online search for relaxation, and describes falling asleep easily, lowered pain, and feeling grounded for the first time in her first Seijaku class.

Michiko Uramoto, a quadriplegic with severe chronic pain, describes four years of seated T'ai Chi Chih classes begun at her spinal cord injury doctor's invitation, and the pain relief, energy, posture and sleep changes that followed.

Kathy Starrick describes presenting T'ai Chi Chih to an osteoporosis support group, demonstrating Around the Platter, Carry the Ball to the Side and Push Pull as models for vacuuming, sweeping and clearing snow.

Carolyn O'Donnell, told years earlier she would lose all her teeth to gum disease, reports x-rays showing a marked increase in jawbone density that amazed her periodontist and hygienist.

Bobbie Weichman rereads the letter she wrote to Donna McElhose, Justin Stone and Carmen Brocklehurst after three months of classes, measuring twelve years of practice against fibromyalgia, cranky joints and shorter, sometimes seated, sessions.

Dana Diller, a skeptic with a science background, took a community college T'ai Chi Chih class on her doctor's advice and watched her systolic blood pressure drop 15 to 18 points after practice.

Stu Goldman describes how COPD was caught early by his cardiologist, the two stents that followed his Prescott retreat, and the calm that has let him give up carrying an inhaler.

Joan Hutchison, diagnosed with spinal stenosis in 2009 and unable to walk, describes how intense physical therapy helped her avoid surgery and how T'ai Chi Chih became the one exercise she can still do.

Donna J. Moore recounts how she resumed T'ai Chi Chih from a bed and wheelchair after her prosthesis exploded her right femur in July 2010, using seated arm movements and focused breathing to manage pain and fend off depression.