The Vital Force Archive

Rodney Anderson, a mail carrier for 37 years, describes the knee pain that stopped his teaching, Nancy Werner-Azarski's blunt push toward surgery, and the weight shift that finally felt like nothing.

After a 2010 car accident left her back and knees painful, Judy George swapped the chair for a large exercise ball, then coached an 82-year-old student through her fear of falling onto it.

Sheila Leonard collected testimonials from her Newfoundland students, including relief from torn rotator cuff pain, night knee pain and migraines, plus a lunchtime employee wellness session and an NTV news segment featuring Sharon Snow learning TCC.

Sheila Leonard describes how a herniated disc and a later flare-up reshaped her practice into genuine slow motion, culminating in a lakeside practice among ducks that left her grounded and softened.

Cara Greene fell on slate steps and re-injured her knee a week before Bill Moore's intermediate class, and practicing the movements from a chair brought a humbling lesson and a deeper sense of grounded chi.

Diana Bahn recounts two falls, one crossing West 57th Street and one on the tennis court that strained her hamstring, and how acupuncture, physical therapy and a rebuilt daily practice brought Seijaku back within seven weeks.

Beverly Wrobel, a nurse of thirty-plus years, tells Theresa May how practicing TCC mentally while her leg was in a cast eased pain, followed by five Pyramid Poems.

Raymond Sharp, a retired consulting actuary, returned to T'ai Chi Chih after gall bladder surgery and prostate cancer, and credits daily practice with teacher Kate Van Frank for restoring his energy, balance and serenity.

Fran Green, diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia and recovering from spinal tumor and neck fusion surgeries, began with seated TCC and now practices ten minutes daily for strength, balance and less pain.

Nancy Werner-Azarski takes a ranger's advice not to hurry through a park home from a Quetico canoe trip, then meets her husband's heart surgery and her own hip injury with visualized practice.

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.

Cathy Williams, grieving her sister's death from breast cancer, found her mental chatter stop during Rocking Motion and quit smoking, while Gary Swanson credits daily practice after his double lung transplant with lower blood pressure and greater lung capacity.

Connie Stevens took T'ai Chi Chih for a physical education credit at UMBC days after laser eye surgery, and her ophthalmologist was astonished by better than 20/20 recovery; Patty Friddle adds her own account.

Ann Marie Wyrsch recounts a June workshop with Sr. Antonia in Warrenville, including outdoor practice and getting discombobulated in Anchor Taffy, followed by Pam Kamholz on recovering from a severe head injury.

Pat Flynn recounts how Lyme disease left her nearly blind and crippled, and how T'ai Chi Chih ended her night pain and restored ninety percent of her damaged shoulder movement.

Nancy Jo Bleier's journal of recovery from her second hip surgery, from seated practice and holding a bookcase to a Seijaku without support, plus Sitka's monthly TCC-by-the-Sea waterfront gatherings.

Maya Kent, facing six days of teacher training in Albuquerque with lower back pain that massage and chiropractic had not touched, recognized her kidneys were the trouble and repeated the Chui sound.

Lee Moore, facing two scheduled operations seven years ago, used acceptance and faithful T'ai Chi Chih practice at home and visualized practice in the hospital to walk into surgery free of panic.

Anne Doering rewrites the 23rd Psalm as her own story, thanking the Albuquerque teachers and students who share chi with her in Spruce Park each Tuesday despite her failing memory and brain surgery.

Anne Hollek, left balance impaired after surgery removed a tumor from a balance nerve, writes that nine months of classes with Donna McElhose let her walk heel to toe and ride a bicycle again.

Pat Flynn joined a class on a whim, blurted out to teacher Marge Erickson that she wanted to teach, and recovered shoulder movement and energy lost to Lyme disease.

Jan Arrott, six months after bilateral knee replacement surgery, describes consulting teacher Bitsy LeBlanc about whether chi would still flow freely, and discovering soft knees and sinking for the first time.

Sr. Patty Campbell recounts a blood infection and knee replacement that kept her from moving, and how she mentally practised all nineteen movements and the Six Healing Sounds from her hospital bed, closing with two autumn poems on a sweet gum tree.

Joseph Lomonico limped into a sample class with a painful, stiff right ankle, and by the fourth session, while doing Push Pull, the pain stopped and he walked nearly normally.

Jessica Skolnik, a college student of Sharon Sirkis, recounts walking away from a near-fatal car accident, losing her migraines, and practicing barefoot in a Connecticut park while on tour with a band.

Marty McLaren writes to thank her teacher Margery Erickson, describing how a back injury two summers after class prompted her to dust off the video tape and resume practice.

Sherri Taylor punctured her left palm with a paring knife in August 1999 and credits daily Bass Drum, Push Pull and Pulling in the Energy, plus massage, with restoring sensation and avoiding nerve surgery.

In a letter to Justin Stone, Elaine Unzicker credits the Chicago teacher certification, Ed Altman's grounding corrections and Justin's pamphlet on diet with guiding her through newly discovered food allergies and a health challenge.

Letters praising editor Noel's redesign of the journal, plus Sr. Viola Bens asking for help teaching a hearing impaired student and Jean Doan practicing daily at nearly 75 after a shoulder injury.

Linda Braga recounts the sensations her practice brought, from a warm "chi bath" over a surgically repaired knee to crawling-insect feelings and a moment of pure joy, then the armed robbery she met with calm.