The Vital Force Archive

Phyllis Bagwell describes how years of clenching her jaw and hunching her shoulders against pain gave way after a T'ai Chi Chih class at the YMCA with Beth Preston.

Jody and her husband tried yoga and a T'ai Chi class before finding Hannah's T'ai Chi Chih class at the community center, where he gained relief from chronic pain and better sleep.

Karen Carlisle, 67, joined Hope Spangler's class at Yavapai College after two foot surgeries and severe arthritis, and six months later walks miles barefoot with minimal pain.

Nadine Burge recounts how her mother's death in 2009 sent her into a depression that halted her practice, and how returning to fifteen minutes of T'ai Chi Chih eased both her neck and back arthritis and her mood.

April Leffler, diagnosed with Meniere's Disease, describes canceling classes and waking to a spinning room, and how dropping her attention to the soles of her feet loosens her white-knuckled grip on fear.

Judith Schwartz describes her three classes at Laguna Honda Hospital, including the Zen Hospice Floor, where she rings a singing bowl, plays Mbira and chant recordings, and leads patients in wheelchairs.

Rachel V. Alvarado of Crown Point, diagnosed with Lupus 43 years ago, credits a year of daily T'ai Chi Chih with improved joint flexibility, better bone density and her doctor discontinuing three medications.

Rodney Anderson, a mail carrier for 37 years, describes the knee pain that stopped his teaching, Nancy Werner-Azarski's blunt push toward surgery, and the weight shift that finally felt like nothing.

Lucille Porter, at 80 and with a history of lower back trouble, describes going to her T'ai Chi Chih class despite stiffness and pain, and finding her back fine within minutes.

Sheila Leonard collected testimonials from her Newfoundland students, including relief from torn rotator cuff pain, night knee pain and migraines, plus a lunchtime employee wellness session and an NTV news segment featuring Sharon Snow learning TCC.

Roseann Heinrich came to T'ai Chi Chih in 1999 because restless leg syndrome kept her from sitting still or sleeping, gained total relief in six months, and left corporate work to teach.

Barb Petroski took her first T'ai Chi Chih class at a "Women in the Outdoors" event and found that four months of practice ended the nerve pain in her leg.

Benita Goldstein asked her new class of retired teachers in Brooklyn Heights what they felt after practice, and heard that sciatica pain had vanished and a hard school day had lifted.

A 79-year-old student of Jane Weiner danced four sets without tiring after one pool lesson, and a Tulsa student recounts the mother-and-daughters story she invented to remember the movement order.

Linda Braga read a podiatrist's brochure on plantar fasciitis and recognized its lunge and heel-walking exercises in Six Healing Sounds, Anchor Taffy and Rocking Motion, with suggestions for footwear and repetition.

Fran Green, diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia and recovering from spinal tumor and neck fusion surgeries, began with seated TCC and now practices ten minutes daily for strength, balance and less pain.

Lorraine Lepine describes the online Teacher Resource list updated at the 2008 conference and announces Hannah Hedrick's "Guidelines for Teaching Students with COPD," the first of several population-specific guidelines.

David Wasserstrom finds TCC more accessible than meditation in a busy life, while Laurenda Messer stops toppling over when she crouches and Margie Cala eases twenty years of chronic fatigue.

Hope Hadley's blinding headache drained away when she practiced in her chiropractor's waiting room, and Myra Goldberg found her fibromyalgia pain gone after starting classes in 2003.

Lisa Otero concludes that Life balances itself and TCC balances her reactions rather than her circumstances, followed by Hannah Hedrick's account of easing computer-related forearm spasms with Rocking Motion and Bird Flaps Its Wings.

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.

Dorene Krause, asked to speak to the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Support Group of Bergen County, passes on student Maryann Gottdenker's account of finding a pain-free refuge through practice.

Nancy Hoing writes to her teacher Ginny Morgan about being diagnosed with three hereditary clotting conditions, getting her medical team's approval for T'ai Chi Chih, and regaining strength, balance and reduced leg pain.

Leslie Keith's beginning students in Willingdon, Alberta reported, at their second lesson, a long-standing kidney problem gone and welcome time alone with themselves, healing she says she cannot predict.

Marilyn Irvin recounts going from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so severe an acupuncturist could not find her pulse to accredited teacher after first classes with Doug Harned and Victor Berg.

Ray Welles, a minister and family therapist sent to T'ai Chi Chih by his orthopedist for spinal stenosis and aching knees, found pain relief and a moving prayer that rewards no one for finishing first.

Moira Holland, ill since 1998 and off steroids, attended a four-day Albuquerque intensive, where aching feet, a borrowed foot massage, and a shower-time Bass Drum convinced her the Chi had become her teacher.

In a letter to Justin Stone, Marilyn Irvin lists the changes of her first year of practice after fourteen years with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, including an acupuncturist who could not find her chi.

Bernice Wilkinson, over 70 and living with osteoporosis and compression fractures, describes how Sandy McAlister's reminders about soles of the feet and soft knees ended her nervous clinging to shower walls.

Three student anecdotes: Pilar Triggs focusing on the soles of her feet through a dental filling, Bobbie Weichman's class thanking Donna McElhose "from the soles of our feet," and Sharon Sirkis splitting a karate student's groin cup.