The Vital Force Archive

Kay Rydeen presented "T'ai Chi Chih for Body, Mind, and Spirit" at a Minnesota occupational therapy conference, teaching two dozen OTs about weight shifts, softness, and joint range of motion.

Warren Wolfe, sleepless in the hospital after knee-replacement surgery and plagued by muscle spasms, began doing T'ai Chi Chih mentally at 3 a.m., and describes the practice he has refined since.

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.

Lynne Roberts presented T'ai Chi Chih at an annual Parkinson's Summit conference, leading Kaiser Permanente providers, hospital staff, caregivers and Parkinson's teams in Push Pull, standing or seated.

Nancy Jo Bleier recounts her 1997 accreditation in Albuquerque under Ed Altman with Justin visiting daily, teaching seated sessions to stroke and mental health patients, and starting monthly Practice by the Sea in Sitka.

Mary Ann Benner found T'ai Chi Chih at the Mayo Clinic during her husband's three months of cancer treatment, then carried it home to Lorraine Lepine's church group and daily Zoom sessions through COVID-19.

Gail Terriff recounts how a recreation therapist's request for T'ai Chi Chih "forever" at Edmonton's Hope and Wellness Center drew Alberta teachers together, only for COVID-19 to postpone classes after week one.

Rachel Rilinger, a music therapist covering for a recreation therapist on an inpatient acute psychiatric unit, led Rocking Motion and watched pacing, blanket-covered and muttering patients join staff in flowing practice.

Judy Chancey lists the practical steps to take while awaiting TC4VETS certification, from offering pro bono VA volunteer classes and meeting VFW commanders to practicing cues without left and right.

Merle Freidin Smith began T'ai Chi Chih after a 1998 rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis, and practiced it mentally through 18 days in hospital after cervical fusion surgery, keeping her attention in the soles of her feet.

Diana Bahn describes teaching Rocking Motion to chemotherapy patients with foot neuropathy at a Mt. Sinai cancer center, using Realization Process methods to locate the heel centers and Kidney 1 points.

Dennis McCann, a hospital chaplain accredited in 2009, describes his first annual conference as a spiritual upgrade that led 26 employees and patients to sign up for his eight-week summer course.

Dr. Janet Oussaty reports from the inaugural International Medical Tai Chi and Qigong Association conference at Massachusetts General Hospital, where researchers proposed grandfathering accredited T'ai Chi Chih instructors into new standards.

Andrea Skillman recounts teaching T'ai Chi Chih to long-term care residents, veterans at fall risk, and more than a decade of early morning classes for the American Holistic Nurse Association's national conference, with student evaluations included.

Neena Mitchell had been teaching seated T'ai Chi Chih to seniors in Camillus just in case, then ruptured a kneecap muscle and used mental TCC in the MRI chamber and seated practice through surgery and recovery.

Andrea Skillman's biweekly class for in-patient PTSD veterans in North Chicago pairs tapping and guided meditation with TCC; 67 participants reported drops in pain, racing thoughts, anger, anxiety and agitation.

Becky B Watkins recounts a free eight-week class at her downtown Louisiana library, where Irma, a student with no fingers, rode the bus through pouring rain and practised Rocking Motion softly and beautifully.

Kent Jarratt used the Six Healing Sounds while waiting in a car during a police sting to recover his stolen laptop, then visualized the whole practice after heart ablation surgery.

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.

Pia Knighton traces her path from a Cenacle Retreat Center brochure in 2002 to accreditation in 2011 and teaching adolescent and adult psychiatric patients in Houston hospitals.

Joyce K. Veerkamp recounts the April appointment that found a mass in her mid-section, the surgery to remove it while family and friends practiced TCC nearby, and her unexpectedly painless six-week recovery.

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.

Pia Knighton traces her path from a Houston retreat center brochure to accreditation in 2011, and describes teaching weekly 30-minute TCC classes to adolescents on the Menninger Clinic psychiatric unit.

Linda Jones fractured her ankle on a shore excursion in Crete, practiced T'ai Chi Chih mentally against the pain, and found calm and gratitude through surgery and eight days in a Rome hospital.

Darlene Karasik recounts three pregnant women wandering into her HMO-sponsored class, the medical release forms that followed, and her call for teachers, testimonials and outcome data to establish prenatal T'ai Chi Chih.

Charles Hanks, an eight-year student in Darlene Karasik's seated class at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, argues that TCC's seated approach assumes students will return to standing, and calls on teachers to prepare for more disabled students under the ADA.

Valerie Jennings began T'ai Chi Chih after a hysterectomy for cancer, practiced sitting and later in her hospital bed through congestive heart failure and a pacemaker, and sewed scarves showing the movements.

Rickie Wilson credits twelve years of T'ai Chi Chih with friendships, a 30-point drop in blood pressure, and mental practice that carried her through acute pancreatitis surgery and a failed dental anesthetic.

Henry Smith was referred to a hospital T'ai Chi Chih class for work-related anxiety after two emergency room visits, and now pairs weekly floatation tank sessions with near-daily Seijaku; Pyramid Poems follow.

Gail Terriff describes teaching T'ai Chi Chih at four Edmonton sites serving people with mental health issues, from psychiatric hospital groups to a YMCA program whose participant evaluations she reports.