The Vital Force Archive
Forty years of The Vital Force (1985-2025), the journal of the T’ai Chi Chih community. Search for a word, a teacher, a movement or a place, or browse by category and topic.
Colleges and Universities
This topic covers T’ai Chi Chih taught to college and university students and within campus programs. Articles include teachers’ accounts of starting classes on campus, team teaching, excerpts from student journals, and stories from musicians and others who met the practice during their studies.
Ruthmarie Arguello-Sheehan reports two new two-hour classes at Arizona State University and a weekly 6:30 am Thursday practice on an island in a desert lake, open to current and former students.
Jennifer Biehn describes how meditating with other educators in the Educator's Sangha strengthened her resolve, and how she presented T'ai Chi Chih to co-workers at San Francisco State.
Practical steps for getting T'ai Chi Chih approved for college credit or CEUs, including syllabus and credential requirements, Christeen McLain's nursing and addiction counselor approval in North Dakota, and an Albuquerque effort on eight-week classes.
Joy Carle Barbour describes teaching T'ai Chi Chih to 38 Elderhostel participants, all over sixty, at Mohave Valley Community College, alongside classes in photography, art and "Casino Science."
Joy Carle Barbour
Sr. Alice Holden describes building St. Louis classes from scratch, with Lisette Tingesdahl's prenatal course, Barbara Lefforge's booth at Chevron's Wellness Fair and Barbara Joy's UC Santa Barbara staff workshop.
Teacher updates spanning Billie Blair's team-teaching at a Unity church, newly accredited teachers from the Bemidji course, Corinn Codye's 16-day cruise classes, and a Bay Area referral list project.
A history of T'ai Chi Treks, the wilderness trips that grew out of T'ai Chi Ski and Colorado University outdoor courses, with journal entries from dawn practice in the Grand Gulch.
Joy Barbour taught T'ai Chi Chih at the Elderhostel campus in Bullhead City on the Colorado River, drawing students from across the country, one of whom said he felt 40 years younger.
Teachers at the 1989 conference listed their hopes for T'ai Chi Chih: a 15-minute promotional videotape, college credit courses, Elderhostel programs, a Colorado Center for Heightened Awareness, and a million practitioners by 2000.
Teacher news from spring 1989: Beverley Bach at Humboldt State, Christine Sproehnle's T'ai Chi Telemarking and rock climbing courses at Boulder, Jeanne Carlson-Linscott's Hawaii intensives, and Corinn Codye leading 80 conference participants in Santa Barbara.
Renata, a student in Adele Wenig's QUEST class for older adults at Chabot College, describes her first lessons after years of debilitating headaches, vertigo and abandoned Hatha Yoga.
Carlos Magana reports martial arts students at the Brisbane Community Center and San Francisco Y.M.C.A. getting good results from Seijaku, Justin Stone's beginners' class fills at Monterey Peninsula College, and Joan Roulac finishes her first class.
Adele Wenig reports on senior classes at a Jewish Community Center, chiropractic center sessions, and a Stroke Club presentation where three students gained relaxation and balance while one grew fatigued from trying too hard; plus notes from Bonnie McKenzie and Carolyn Shaw.
Christeen Curran taught her college basketball-playing son the Rocking Motion and Bass Drum before a game he finished with 24 points and nine rebounds, plus notes on Cass Redmon's mobile home park class and Pamela Towne's four follow-up options.
Teachers write in from Asilomar, Idaho, Mexico, Phoenix, Stockholm and California, with Colin Clarity's newspaper ad, Lillian Susumi's 14-student intensive, and Benjamin Levitan's intergenerational Camp J.O.Y. assignment.