The Vital Force Archive

Marlene Brown volunteered to lead T'ai Chi Chih at a clinic program for people with schizophrenia, and within four days was offered a paid contract that was later extended twice.

Teacher letters report the Africa Fund covering Sister Marie-Ann Main's airfare for accreditation, a Dutch-language text translation in Switzerland, monthly outdoor practice at Portland's Rose Garden, Kaiser Permanente classes, and a San Diego publicity push.

Carmen Brocklehurst recalls Justin Stone prompting shy new teachers to practice right inside the Albuquerque student union in 1981, and how a later demonstration for a fibromyalgia support group answered her questions.

Susan Patterson describes opening a T'ai Chi Chih studio in San Diego in July 1995, driven by demand from California nurses, and the monthly teacher gatherings it now hosts.

Lisa Langer's piece from OT Week describes t'ai chi as an occupational therapy intervention, citing studies on postural control in the elderly, rheumatoid arthritis patients, and NIH-funded balance research at Northwestern.

Judith Jones describes teaching her first class after October 1994 accreditation at the Evergreen Cancer Center in Kirkland, where her twelve students included colleagues, volunteers, cancer survivors and community members.

Southwestern College's newsletter The Heartlink put Janet Yannacone on its front page as new Art Therapy Program Chair, describing her therapeutic model blending art therapy, T'ai Chi Chih and spiritual principles for children.

Carmen Brocklehurst counts more than 78 T'ai Chi Chih teachers in Albuquerque, where the practice began at the University of New Mexico and now reaches hospitals, corporations, senior centers, churches and trade fairs.

Sandy McAlister describes co-teaching a six-hour Clinical Use of T'ai Chi Chih workshop with hand therapist Eva Ching for Northern California physical and occupational therapists treating chronic pain and hand rehabilitation.

Ellen Tatge, given only five minutes before hospital employee wellness delegates in Albuquerque, dropped the talk and simply did two movements, watching the room relax and later fielding numerous calls.

Hope Burla practiced T'ai Chi Chih for an hour on the morning of her abdominal surgery, let her fears fall away, and went home from the hospital two days later.

Susan Webster reports on the nineteen graduates of Steve's August 1993 accreditation course, new classes for San Diego city employees, Mercy Hospital and an AIDS program, and her bid to add TCC at Grossmont College.

Carol Glinski practiced TCC and the healing sounds daily through her pregnancy, then used focused breathing in the hospital labor room to bring her daughter's heart rate back to normal and avoid a C-section.

Press coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle and Contra Costa Times reported t'ai chi's gentle motion as arthritis therapy, including Patricia Yu's ROM Dance used in occupational therapy at a Madison hospital.

An unsigned Edmonton Journal piece from January 1993 on the East Meets West Interest Group at Calgary General Hospital, where staff investigate tai chi, yoga, biofeedback, massage and meditation as wellness-based preventive care.

Carmen Brocklehurst reports that the New Mexico Nurses Association approved a 12-hour, 8-week T'ai Chi Chih course for 14.4 continuing education credits, with Ellen Tatge administering records, plus late-night encouragement from Suni McHenry.

Teachers report in: Chris McLain brings TCC to nursing staff at Fargo hospitals, Donna Shaffer leads poolside sessions for Apple developers, and Ellen Greyson describes losing years of joint pain.

Chris McLain reports that she and instructor Colleen Heising are working with Dr. Alberto Pontillo of the Fargo Veterans Hospital on the first research study of T'ai Chi Chih and Alzheimer's.

Nurse Marty Wilkes describes how T'ai Chi Chih, taught by Mark Louris, became part of the three-week Chronic Pain Program at Sister Kenny Institute, Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

Susan Webster describes hosting Justin Stone's Heightened Awareness Seminar in San Diego and the teaching that followed: a weekly Naval Hospital employee class, a senior high-rise contract, and fuller classes.

Vicki Michele Brodie recounts four "T'ai Chi Chih situations," including practicing in a hospital emergency room beside her mentally ill daughter and being asked whether she was performing a secret ritual.

Teacher notes from around the world, including John Lash in Switzerland pairing T'ai Chi Chih with T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Lynne Blackford on the Bemidji accreditation, Yehudit Goldfarb's Hebrew Letter Movements, and Hilda Pertha's monitored heart strengthening as she practiced in bed.

Donna Shaffer negotiated fifteen-minute T'ai Chi Chih breaks for Apple Computer employees in Cupertino, moving department to department two afternoons a week, while also teaching Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients at a San Jose acupuncture clinic.

Roundup of newly accredited teachers' classes, from Harriet Henderson's Church of Religious Science in Newhall and Lynne Blackford's Montana retreat workshops to Dorothy Marks's 65 students and St. Luke's Hospital Arthritis Clinic.

Carmen Brocklehurst recounts how her uncle practised T'ai Chi Chih at the bedside of her dying 95-year-old grandmother, who settled, took food, and died with a single crystalline tear.

Reprinted from St. Luke's Hospital's Intercom Magazine and submitted by Dorothy Marks, a profile of 37-year-old Dorothy McKnight, who takes twice-weekly T'ai Chi Chih classes as therapy for psoriatic arthritis.

Joe Wythe reports that a fourth eight-week T'ai Chi Chih class at St. Luke's Hospital begins April 4, evidence that Kansas City is taking up the practice in a big way.

Christeen H. Curran reports on teaching T'ai Chi Chih in Fargo, from a ten-week geriatric contract at Villa Maria Nursing Home to 250 nurses doing Bass Drum at a state convention.

Robyn McCulloch, a Recreational Therapist at Washoe Medical Center in Reno, taught the whole form to three Occupational Therapists in nine hour-long sessions and modified movements for chronic pain and rehabilitation patients.

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.