The Vital Force Archive

Amy Tyksinski gathers six UNM college students' written responses to the Softness passage in Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey, from bamboo and oak temperaments to jaw clenching, political argument and caring for a crying baby.

Three of Donna McElhose's College of Lake County students write letters to future beginners, describing bad knees, ankle and wrist ligament injuries, the switch to a seated class, and the fear of being the only man in the room.

Judy Hubbell describes teaching T'ai Chi Chih outdoors and at senior centers in the Castro, South Sunset and Ocean Beach, with City College classes for older adults and YouTube sessions for isolated students.

Sharon Sirkis and Kathy Grassel collect classroom mix-ups and comebacks, from a college student renaming Rocking Motion "Rocking Horse" to a retirement center resident asking permission to complain about the cold.

Sharon Sirkis Columbia collects three teaching mishaps, including a retirement community student whose hearing aid batteries died mid-class and a college student who decided Pulling in the Energy causes heart attacks.

Rebecca Paulson recounts April 29th World T'ai Chi and Qigong Day in northern Colorado, where 35 people from seven cities met at a community college while 26 more joined by Zoom from Belize onward.

Sharon Sirkis reprints four classroom jokes from December 2000, including a senior worried his big belly would stall the waist's engine and a hubcap that became the Seventh Healing Sound.

Janet Oussaty recounts her 1999 accreditation at the Carmel Retreat Center with Ed Altman, how a Japanese friend's talk of ki led her to TCC, and teaching the practice at her university.

Donna McElhose asked her current students to write to future beginners, and their mostly anonymous letters report a hip that stopped cracking, better balance, new friendships, and calm found in fifteen minutes of daily practice.

Ivonne Begue de Benzo, a Masters student in Positive Psychology, describes planning a qualitative study interviewing TCC teachers to build an awareness intervention for mindful eating and satiety.

Rebecca Paulson recounts being asked for a Diversity Statement when applying to teach T'ai Chi Chih in a community college Continuing Education program, and the answer she wrote about centering, self-acceptance and receptivity.

Two Widener University students describe what they found on taichichih.org beyond the classroom: photos of practice in public places worldwide, advice to keep practising on vacation, Justin Stone's quotations, and the health benefits reported by students, followed by student pyramid poems on silence.

Sharon Sirkis passes along a college student's story: after a class discussion on grounding and avoiding distractions, the student hung up from an undistracted hour-long phone call wondering whether the dog had been fed.

Sharon Sirkis collects two classroom moments: a college student's evaluation calling T'ai Chi Chih "very peaceful and weirdly healing," and a rainy day spent flipping fluorescent switches like an eye doctor.

Journal entries from April Leffler's PhysEd class at Widener University, where students describe feeling the t'an t'ien, easing seven years of anxiety and depression, and closing with Paige M.'s poem.

Vic Berg announces a new online teacher code and re-registration for ordering materials, followed by Sharon Sirkis quoting a college student on her barefoot professor and her deadline exchange with KG.

First-year teacher Nikol Price describes using essential oil sprays and albums like Misty Forest Morning to mask Student Union noise and make her class an experience rather than exercise.

Weekly journal entries from April Leffler's college students Nav, Rebecca and Samantha, who describe getting out of their heads, grounding during finals stress, and feeling energy intensely in their hands.

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.

Sharon Sirkis recounts Martin, a skeptical new student at a retirement home who predicted class would worsen his headache and then admitted he felt more relaxed, plus a college student inspecting his fingernails.

Roseann Heinrich, co-hosting the 2016 Teacher Conference with Lucinda Kutsko, recalls her first conference in 2001 and lists the Seattle sights she plans to visit with her daughter.

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.

Donna McElhose describes restructuring her intermediate college class with five minutes of silent sitting, a wordless 45-minute practice and a closing meditation, followed by nine students' written accounts.

April Leffler collects weekly journals from her college students and quotes their entries, from a freshman slowing her walk across campus to a resident assistant who practised alone for two hours.

Linda Braga describes how the WASC accreditation process at San Leandro adult school pushed her to survey students, analyze the data, and draft a revised "Levels of TCC" skills list with Northern California teachers.

Hope Spangler's 15-week for-credit college course moves outdoors to a campus sculpture garden waterfall, where honeybees and a metallic green hummingbird come to drink as the class practices.

Richard Bethke, a college student closing out his course journal, admits he probably will not keep practicing T'ai Chi Chih, yet credits the class with opening him to unfamiliar things.

Sharon Sirkis ends her college T'ai Chi Chih course with a show and tell circle, where students bring laundry detergent, a construction level, Pringles and a near empty cigarette pack to explain what they gained.

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.

April Leffler replaced two cancelled university classes with an assignment to research T'ai Chi Chih on social media, and three students report what they found on Facebook and Twitter, from the bubbling spring and trembling fingers to studies on depression in the elderly.