The Vital Force Archive

Chris McLain credits her daughter Carrie's recovery from an unexpected heart attack to more than 400 days of solo daily practice, and traces three generations of accredited teachers in her family.

A Pyramid Poem by Kathryn Christeen Curron urging acceptance, respect and love without comparison, holding that no practitioner is more advanced than another and that relaxing is the key to healing.

Writing in response to a flyer for a TCC event, Jean Katus of Ft. Yates argues that teachers should not alter Justin's movements, likening them to notes a musician plays as written.

Jean Katus notes that Justin Stone has refused and even returned money tithed by teachers, earning only book and tape royalties and a small share of the accreditation fee, and asks teachers to honor him by making his materials available to students.

Christeen McLain-Horpedahl recounts teaching seated T'ai Chi Chih at Villa Maria Nursing Home in Fargo from 1985, her daughter Kathryn helping residents form circles, Gail Braaten's 12-week study, and two knee injuries healed without surgery.

A pyramid poem by Scott Shore, a student of C. McLain in Fargo, tracing the fleeting balance between darkness and light as sunrise displaces our desire for the moment's beauty.

Melodye Gustafson, a school counselor who also works at a Fargo rape and abuse crisis center and teaches through adult education, describes using T'ai Chi Chih with children, teens and clients alike.

Jean Katus of Fort Yates describes T'ai Chi Chih as subtraction rather than addition: letting go, releasing, sinking, and becoming vulnerable enough to the universe to let the chi lead.

A three-line Pyramid Poem by Don Arenz of Fargo, North Dakota, in which a shadowed moon reflects the light of a three-hundred-year-old pine.

A brief note from Jean Katus of Fort Yates, North Dakota, on how the contrasts in Seijaku made her relate to softness more completely, with the two forms complementing each other.

Christeen M. Curran reports from Fargo that three of her students will be certified in Denver in June, and that the nursing home chain where she teaches wants a staff member accredited for all its homes.

Christeen McLain-Curran recounts Fargo listeners mishearing T'ai Chi as "typing" and "tongue-in-cheek," plus her blood pressure readings showing drops across eight classes and a Parkinson's support group demonstration.

After her father's death, Jean Katus received a note from Justin Stone about trees shedding leaves in autumn, and found in T'ai Chi Chih a way to hold sorrow and joy together.