The Vital Force Archive

Sue Kenney describes a student returning to George Manning's Tuesday class at Hope Cooperative's mental health program after two years away with long COVID, recalling the Taffy variations and finishing seated.

Tina Wells traces her path from a first class with Wendy Helms in California to teaching T'ai Chi Chih at Oxford's Restore charity and the Oxfordshire Recovery College, where students use grounding to interrupt panic attacks.

Sue Kenney frames T'ai Chi Chih as a web of relationships: with her aging self, with fellow practitioners, with a Sacramento parish's Wednesday Taize service, and with George Manning's class at HOPE Cooperative.

Ann Rutherford gathers memories of Michael O'Connor, an Albuquerque teacher and physical therapist who died after relapsing, from Bruce Childs, Molly Grady, Beth Cameron, Kathy Grassel and Sr. Antonia.

Dr. Pauline Quimson-Miller, a medical doctor, psychologist and clinical hypnotherapist, describes weaving T'ai Chi Chih, Seijaku and Nei Kung into customized wellness programs for clients recovering from trauma, abuse and addiction.

Gail Terriff recounts how a recreation therapist's request for T'ai Chi Chih "forever" at Edmonton's Hope and Wellness Center drew Alberta teachers together, only for COVID-19 to postpone classes after week one.

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.

Newly accredited in April, Connie Krumrai booked a last-minute trip to the June teacher conference on scholarship funds, and a typewritten letter from Justin Stone about ego doubts gave her the nerve to arrange classes at Harvest Farm, an addiction and homelessness rehabilitation center.

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.

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.

Hannah Hedrick, accredited in 1986, describes teaching at a nursing home, a senior residence, a homeless transition program and a reentry program, and a student who showed her the movements she could do lying down after fracturing her foot.

Pat Moseley collected answers from two conference sessions asking how T'ai Chi Chih affected participants' personal growth, from ending the desire to drink to grief work, PTSD, inner ear incidents and recovery after leg cancer surgery.

Stephen Thompson recounts Peter Gregory's challenge to teach TCC in 12-step recovery programs, his failed attempts to enter Mississippi jails, and six months of talks before NMHS Behavioral Health Center accepted classes.

A Herald Review feature by Diane Jones on Sierra Vista classes, with teacher Dan Richter, who began practising as a cancer patient, and student Gayle Dragoo, who set aside her oxygen tank and wheelchair.

David Stone credits a morning practice with getting him through a painful couples counseling session where he disclosed troubling secrets, and thanks his teacher Steve Marsh for support after Iraq and entering a recovery program.

Pete Gregory answers Justin Stone's "Impatience" column with I AM, the Impatient Anonymous Mindset, a recovery-program parody tracing patience through grounding, regimen, skill and clarity toward peace and grace.

Justin Stone draws on Patanjali's Raja Yoga to explain how mental modifications harden into habit energies and tendencies, and argues that deep meditation and T'ai Chi Chih can erase harmful ones, including addictions.

Margaret A. Baker likens sharing T'ai Chi Chih to a neighbor's advice about dividing flowers, crediting Ron Richardson, who taught her in 2003 during benzodiazepine withdrawal, and naming her 2009 goal of reaching African American communities.

Diane See recounts thirteen years of teaching at YMCAs, senior centers and adult day health centers, where interruptions and mixed-ability classes became chances to teach Seijaku, serenity amid activity.

Michael Isaacs practices in airport waiting areas and visualizes the movements in cramped plane seats, Pete Gregory draws squad cars twice while practicing outdoors in Indiana, and Stephen Thompson finds stillness within the shifting.

Rita Otis describes her weekly hour-long class at JOURNEYS, an adolescent drug and alcohol recovery program, where a reprinted newsletter article quotes an 18-year-old client on learning to relax.

Leslie Keith quit smoking six months into T'ai Chi Chih, when a painful thrush infection and her doctor's advice coincided, and substituted movements and a glass of water for cigarette breaks.

Jean Katus taught weekly TCC classes at a residential drug and alcohol treatment center for Native American adolescents, structuring sessions in three parts and gathering honest anonymous drawings and written responses from residents.

Justin Stone draws on his book Metaphysics of Wall Street to argue that talk therapy cannot break addictive habits, while TCC practice changes the metabolism and the ground habits grow from, as one prison is discovering.

Justin Stone traces Patanjali's vritti into vashanas and samskaras, arguing that deep meditation and T'ai Chi Chih can erase harmful habit energies and addictions, closing with a verse from 20th Century Psalms.

News briefs report planning for the July 2000 Conference at Xavier Center, the Arthritis Foundation's formal statement naming T'ai Chi Chih, a Texas osteoporosis ad, and Dr. John Moth's cellular research on vashanas.

Hannah Hedrick thanks the Albuquerque conference organizers and Justin for the movement refinement sessions, and recounts how her lunch discussion group on TCC and addictive behaviors became a mutual aid session.

Ed Altman recounts Justin Stone's May lecture and demonstration for inmates at Folsom State Prison, and the teacher training that prepared inmate James Hecker to lead classes there.

Wendy Helms, troubled that her paying students in dojos and universities were all privileged, volunteered to teach a weekly class in a county transitional housing program for homeless families.

Southwestern College's newsletter The Heartlink put Janet Yannacone on its front page as new Art Therapy Program Chair, describing her therapeutic model blending art therapy, T'ai Chi Chih and spiritual principles for children.