The Vital Force Archive

Lucille Porter, at 80 and with a history of lower back trouble, describes going to her T'ai Chi Chih class despite stiffness and pain, and finding her back fine within minutes.

Benita Goldstein asked her new class of retired teachers in Brooklyn Heights what they felt after practice, and heard that sciatica pain had vanished and a hard school day had lifted.

Benita Goldstein, a three-year practitioner, describes arriving at her first teacher intensive weighed down by fear, falling ill on the second night, then waking the next morning to returning health and joy.

Beverly Weil's poem watches a bare tree rooted against a winter dawn sky, dances with it in flowing chi, and closes with thanks to Justin Stone for his life.

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.

Diana Bahn recalls the 15-minute mock presentation at her 2002 teacher training, where moving Passing Clouds with the audience steadied her nerves and showed her the clarity practice brings without effort.

Sister Francis A Kay writes from eleven years teaching T'ai Chi Chih in Zimbabwe, including at the Harare Hospice Bereavement Center amid cholera, AIDS and forced evacuations, before returning to the US for heart surgery.