The Vital Force Archive

Jessica Lewis passes on a disabled Army veteran's account of going medication-free since 2018 and keeping his temper with his teenage son, then records her own sensations after their one-on-one Seijaku session.

Walter Charley, who learned T'ai Chi Chih in Sedona around 1976, recounts teaching groups of children in psychiatric hospitals, where depressed children lifted and anxious ones calmed; with pyramid poems by Beverly Miles and Johnnie Lee Marquez.

Nancy Hebert describes practicing TCC in a hospital family lounge while her mother-in-law was institutionalized for depression, her mother-in-law's suicide, and her 2019 accreditation to bring TCC to mental health facilities.

Margery Erickson gathers four teaching moments that made her chi smile, including a beginner who nearly walked out, a mother sharing energy with her handicapped son, and a student off her antidepressant.

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.

Anita Vestal summarizes twelve controlled trials of T'ai Chi Chih, covering sleep quality, shingles immunity, inflammation, physical performance in older adults, stress and depression, with recommendations for future studies.

Kathy Starrick recounts her talk at a holistic nursing conference on building resilience, covering stress management, the Lavretsky depression and Irwin sleep studies, and grounding through the soles of the feet.

Sue Bitney credits T'ai Chi Chih with keeping her grounded through the death of her husband Jim in 2013 and the many losses since, including her dying mother-in-law.

Julie Heryet remembers Franky Carrillo, wrongly imprisoned at Folsom, who forgave the judge and prosecutor, stood in the center of the Push Pull circle before release, and later practiced free in a Los Angeles park.

Gail Horlick recounts first feeling the energy at a women's mountain retreat and a year of weekly classes with Sheryl Adair that left her calmer and more emotionally balanced.

Social work student Lauren Robson and a classmate review the TCC health benefits page and Twitter feed, noting claims about migraines, chi flow, depression and the discovery of seated practice for wheelchair users.

Social work students Lauren Robson and a classmate review the TCC health benefits page and Twitter feed, noting claims about migraines, chi flow, seated practice for wheelchair users, and lifting depression.

Two social work students report on the TCC health benefits page and Twitter feed, with Lauren Robson noting migraine and blood pressure claims and another discovering seated practice for wheelchair users.

Social work major Lauren Robson, writing for Amy Schied's social media column, reviews the TCC health benefits page and Twitter feed, noting migraines, joint pain, seated practice for wheelchair users and depression.

Sheila Leonard collects brief student comments: Harriet practising mentally through transatlantic turbulence, Trish sleeping better by week three, Sue's seasonal low lifting in the fog, and Mary's joints and balance.

Stu Goldman, whose high-pressure career ended after life-saving surgery left him with neurological changes and depression, describes finding T'ai Chi Chih through a 2010 AARP article and now pursuing accreditation.

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.

Ardi Baker, in her seventies and left depressed and listless after an illness, found T'ai Chi Chih through a newspaper article and turned her practice time into prayer.

Terry Engelhart recounts the years after his wife's death from cancer in 2001, when faith, a Special Forces friend's blunt intervention, a quiche mispronunciation and T'ai Chi Chih kept him from suicide.

Kate Hollister, instructor for three UCLA studies, describes Dr. Michael Irwin's insomnia trials with older adults and breast cancer survivors and Dr. Helen Lavretsky's project on depression.

Michael S. Isaacs practices reluctantly during a flight delay and finds effortless flow by Around the Platter, followed by Seth Ambrose's account of recovering from a suicide attempt and craniotomy with TCC.

Marilyn Birchfield, diagnosed with breast cancer, took Donna McElhose's class at the Cancer Wellness Center of Northbrook and found Rocking Motion rising in her body on the rocks at Lake Michigan after a hospital stay.