The Vital Force Archive

Tara Stiles describes walking the corridor of five tiers of cells at Folsom Prison, resting attention in the soles of her feet, and the hungry, intelligent questions of the men who chose her class.

Rosalind L. Braga recounts Justin Stone's 1998 talk at Folsom Prison, where the words "your joy is my joy" won over inmates and guards, and traces the weekly classes and inmate teachers that continue in 2023.

Sue Kenney recounts how a 2001 Vital Force article led her to teach at Folsom Prison, walking the metal detectors, gold coin checkpoints, cell blocks and yard to reach a chapel class of thirty men.

Julie Heryet reports on the Folsom State Prison class after a 15-month lockdown gap, including a student talked out of suicide, poet Lawrence's release, and inmate-assistant Stephen's death from cancer.

Compiled by Julie Heryet, three Folsom inmates describe what TCC does for them: David H. on healing stab wounds and 24 years of sobriety, Jonathon R. on filtering prison chaos, Steven F. on his three certificates.

Julie Heryet recounts how her Folsom State Prison students, backed by a TCC Foundation grant, entered the Annual Relay for Life and overcame deep fear to demonstrate before the general population.

Four men in Julie Heryet's Folsom Prison class describe what the practice gives them: internal cleansing, a filter for bad thoughts, relief from body pain, support for 24 years of sobriety, and silent recognition on the yard.

Judy Kistler-Robinson recounts stalling Sister Joan Schafhauser outside a birthday cheesecake at the Philadelphia teacher conference, hearing how Joan's smile, not perfect movements, kept men coming to her prison class.

Prompted by Julie Heryet's Folsom update, Hannah Hedrick describes her weekly class for recently released offenders, where students broke up a fight and welcomed the aggressor back, and argues against nit-picky correction.

Julie Heryet credits Sandy McAlister's playfulness for loosening her insistence on accuracy, describing how frustrated elders at a Senior Center and inmates needing to feel safe changed her teaching priorities.

Julie Heryet compiles first-person accounts from six men in the Folsom Prison T'ai Chi Chih class, who describe finding sanctuary, releasing anger, and practising on the yard and tier.

Eleven men in the Folsom Prison class, from George R. to Tyrone J., describe feeling the Chi, finding groundedness amid rage and stress, and teacher Sandy closes with her own teacher's memorial.

Julie Heryert reports that donated industrial fans have transformed the sweltering Folsom chapel class, which now has 33 students and a waiting list, and describes meeting ARC founder Scott Budnick.

Lisa Stroyan accepted Julie Heryet's conference invitation and visited the T'ai Chi Chih class at Folsom Prison, walking through the cellblock to a chapel circle where inmates met her with kindness rather than the defensiveness she expected.

Julie Heryet recounts the response to her Seattle conference presentation on Folsom State Prison, prints her student L.H.'s poem about living in the now, and reports the class losing five men to a facility reclassification.

Julie Heryet previews her conference presentation on teaching at Folsom State Prison, describing the noise and stress inmates face and giving practical steps for approaching a correctional facility about a moving meditation class.

Julie Heryet describes returning to her Folsom State Prison class after a month's closure for construction, and the students who used practice to handle schoolwork anxiety and a cell search.

Larry Bloom describes his Sandy Springs Circle of Light practising to guqin music in honour of Franky Carrillo, exonerated after 20 years in Folsom, and teacher Sheryl Adair's closing question.

Julie Heryet remembers Franky Carrillo, wrongly imprisoned at Folsom, who forgave the judge and prosecutor, stood in the center of the Push Pull circle before release, and later practiced free in a Los Angeles park.

Julie Heryet recounts the 3rd Annual T'ai Chi Chih Banquet at Folsom State Prison, where exonerated former inmate Franky Carrillo returned, then practised at 2pm under the oak tree he once watched from inside.

Julie Heryet recounts how the prison's new documentation demands for Franky's guest pass and the missing inmate duckets became the very things that let the men at the Circles of Light banquet feel valued.

Merle Smith recounts her class dedicating its March 31 practice to Franky Carrillo, unjustly incarcerated for twenty years at Folsom, and teacher Sheryl Adair's account of his forgiveness after release.

Sandy McAlister recounts the third annual Folsom State Prison retreat and banquet day, where exonerated former inmate Franky Carrillo spoke of forgiveness, and links the men's outward and inner change to Chi.

Julie Heryet recounts how a stray thought about teaching in prison led her to cold-call Judy Tretheway, who happened to teach inside Folsom State Prison and had prayed for an assistant.

Robert Montes de Oca describes seven years of volunteer classes in psychiatric acute care units, including an inmate who learned all the movements over 18 months and read Justin Stone's Abandon Hope.

TCC Guide Sr. Antonia Cooper recalls the Portland conference practice in the Chinese Garden, announces Daniel Pienciak as a new teacher trainer with the qualifications she looks for, and previews the 2013 gathering in Collegeville.

Teachers and students from Alberta to Hawaii send memorial tributes to Justin Stone, including Julie Heryet's account of bringing news of his death to her T'ai Chi Chih class inside Folsom Prison.

Judy Tretheway describes two contrasting prison classes: at New Folsom, grieving a suicide, she let the men initiate the Chi, while at Old Folsom she led with visualizations and unsynchronized Working the Pulley.

Sr. Antonia Cooper recounts visiting Judy Trethewy's twelve-year weekly class in Greystone Chapel at Old Folsom prison, where inmates call T'ai Chi Chih an instant vacation and describe finding internal freedom, balance and calm.

Two poems by Judy Tretheway written out of her teaching at Folsom Prison: one on travelling partners whose ripples do the travelling, the other on unlocking a door with movement.