The Vital Force Archive

Shelley Nielsen's letter to her library foundation recounts joining Marie Dotts's weekly class in January 2022, easing arthritis pain and hearing strangers stop their cars to say she looked at peace.

Bonnie LeBlanc describes how four Cape Cod teachers sustain a TCC community through Sunday Zoom practice reaching Ireland and Florida, library and church drop-ins, weekly teacher workshops and regular coffee hours.

Marilyn Griffin describes co-leading a bi-weekly open practice at her YMCA with fellow new teacher Russell Stith, building her confidence while navigating the Y's rules about who teaches what.

Rebecca Paulson describes the February 24th gathering at the Windsor Recreation Center, where more than 30 people from eight towns, some practicing in person for the first time since the pandemic, completed a full silent practice.

Judy Kistler-Robinson turned shut-down recreation center classes into Zoom sessions that drew friends across the country, and she still offers a free monthly online practice from Albuquerque, including one student's husband with Parkinson's.

Kathy Plachy describes a year in Oreann's class at the Clarkstown Community Learning Center, where slow repetitive movement eased her arthritic hands and steadied her enough to enjoy a steep rocky trail without fear.

Sue Bitney played Carmen's KNME interviews and Justin's instructional DVD for her senior students, who asked why no one had told them about softness, and moved more softly alongside him.

Margery Erickson recounts a former student, Sandy, rejoining her drop-in YMCA class and producing the worn list of TCC movements she once used to practice before craft shows.

Bruce Childs returned to teaching chair-assisted TCC at the Barnstable Adult Community Center after the pandemic, and lists the resources in his toolbox, from Sandy McAlister's DVD to his own Little Guy illustrations.

Fran and Jim Kaib recount the day ten intellectually disabled adults and their aides joined their small public library class unannounced, and how wordless modeling and Joyous Breath brought laughter and calm.

Adabelle Rychtarik collected testimonials from her Greenville-area students at libraries, senior centers and a French creperie, who report better balance after hip replacement, tremor relief, improved sleep and giving up a cane.

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.

Jackson Rains points to the retiring Baby Boomers, once drawn to Transcendental Meditation and the Age of Aquarius, as a ready audience, citing his YMCA class growing from 20 students to over 30.

Maureen Purves recalls teaching a weekend T'ai Chi Chih course in an Edmonton river valley recreation center, where a Chinese family on snowshoes stopped outside the glass walls to watch.

Beth Preston traces her T'ai Chi Chih life in Washington from finishing classes with Patricia Strand to teaching at a community college, a YMCA, a free library practice, and a women's cancer support group.

Jody and her husband tried yoga and a T'ai Chi class before finding Hannah's T'ai Chi Chih class at the community center, where he gained relief from chronic pain and better sleep.

Judy Hubbell teaches an Excelsior District outreach class through San Francisco City College where student translator Janet Yeong renders softness, continuity and weight shift into Mandarin and Cantonese while Judy keeps moving.

Jan Block thanks the 2009 Nebraska teacher conference for deepening her teaching of "why" as well as "how," describes adding intermediate and advanced classes, and recounts practicing TCC after airport security pat-downs.

Sue Bitney tells how a lighted sign outside a Minneapolis community center brought Carol in after days of driving past, plus Sr. Antonia Cooper's note that TCC has no recertification, only teh.

Meg Scinto's writeup of Athene Mantle's conference workshop, where ten teachers from Albuquerque to Philadelphia compared notes on teacher potlucks, sharing circles, local websites, press releases and borrowing library or Police Athletic League rooms.

Bobbi Anderson's conference workshop, transcribed by Terry Gay Puckett, lists practical ways to fill a class: embroidered TCC shirts, free demonstrations for Rotary and sororities, camera-ready newspaper copy, and health fair tables.

Nancy Werner-Azarski describes a November 21st gathering at the Fridley Community Center for Justin Stone's birthday, with Judy George leading 25 people in practice, a potluck, and a student's husband volunteering to build a class webpage.

Reports from the first Day of "Joy Thru Movement" on Justin Stone's birthday: Bernice Piotrowski on demonstrations at the Edmonton Public Library, Dan Pienciak on twenty New Jersey teachers at Sister Antonia Cooper's Villa Maria, plus Bismarck and a 96-year-old seated practitioner in Maryland.

Five classroom anecdotes from Sharon Sirkis, Noel Altman and Joyce DeGidio, including a Senior Center singalong of "Down in the Valley," a recreation center class lost to bingo, and a shirt worn backwards.

Excerpts from Monica Yadegar's Community News profile of Fred Muckel, a Milpitas letter carrier who left t'ai chi chuan after fifteen years, found T'ai Chi Chih through a bookstore find, and now teaches locally.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst describes teaching a mixed-age after-school class in Albuquerque, where children reported clouds circling their shoulders, pillows under their feet, and confidence drawn from their own contact with the Chi.

Two newspaper write-ups: the Milpitas Post quoted a skeptical senior in Susan Hudgen's class who now reports less stress, and Al Stanbridge of the San Mateo Times visited Hope Ridley's Foster City class.

Daniel Tetrault describes nine weeks of volunteer classes taught by Mary Naidu at Vancouver's Carnegie Community Centre, the first TCC, Qi Gong and Seijaku taught there, plus a note from Linda McKenzie.

Teacher updates include Christeen McLain speaking at the American Holistic Nurses' Association conference, Shoko Purdy teaching in Japanese to her mother, Michael Martin's free drop-in classes on Chicago's Navy Pier, and Theda Gillespie's library demonstration with the mayor.

Carole Gates recounts teaching 90 students in five classes in Duncan and the Cowichan Valley, mentoring four teacher candidates through her first Teacher Preparation Course, and planning a June celebration to introduce them.