The Vital Force Archive

Jessica Lewis pushes back on the claim that only specialists can teach Veterans, giving three reasons T'ai Chi Chih suits students with PTSD and advising class-wide suggestions rather than individual corrections.

Amy Tyksinski describes the New Teachers' Cohort pilot, six monthly Zoom sessions after the November 2024 Colorado Springs accreditation, in which 13 of 15 graduates became actively teaching.

Lisa Stroyan describes offering suggestions rather than corrections in ongoing classes, from a nervous newcomer discovering effortless rise in Light at the Top of the Head to catching her own unrolled right wrist in Bass Drum.

Kathy Grassel tells how a student who arrived late and had to stand across the room noticed the energy there felt different, leading Grassel to conclude that collective Chi has variable individual components.

Kathy Grassel tells her Albuquerque class about ospreys diving at the Tingley Fishing Ponds, and her student Peg likens an osprey beaten under by a wave to the power of softness in Seijaku.

Richard Karasik takes up Justin Stone's puzzle of smoothness and continuity, arguing that whether you drop the hands between movements matters less than keeping the drop inside the practice rather than treating it as a coffee break.

Terry Jennings passes along Elizabeth Tyler's teaching image of the pelvic area as a fruit bowl that spills if you rock too far forward or back, plus her own Rocking Motion one-liners.

Tina Wells devoted a class to resting longer between the 19 movements, and the group concluded that pausing lets chi settle, grounds the feet, and mirrors nature's cycles of activity and stillness.

Steven Huskey recounts the teaching that found him after accreditation, from filling in for his own teacher to classes for Parkinson's patients and a brain injury support group, and the lesson plans he abandoned for flexibility.

Greg Berg recounts his first eight-class beginner course, crediting written class plans, co-teaching with Jim Eagle, Justin Stone readings and closing stillness, while admitting 14 students was too many.

Ann Rutherford quotes Justin Stone's Photo Textbook and Heightened Awareness on enlightenment experienced in the body, then asks fellow teachers whether they tell students the deeper meaning of the Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

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.

Regina Otero-Sabogal, a psychologist and Colombian immigrant, describes recruiting students for free Spanish-language T'ai Chi Chih classes at Galería de la Raza's Casa Adelante housing and Berkeley's Latino Family Engagement Program.

Dorene Krause describes a June evening event for her students, with shared TCC stories and a practice in two concentric circles, and prints the words she wrote on the unity a circle creates.

June Calende describes a weekly hour at the senior center: shoes off, chairs against the wall, Debby counting reps barely audibly, nineteen movements done beside an east window of trembling leaves and a kettle pond.

Lisa Stroyan details how she, Doriane Tippet and Belize-based Zoom anchor Beverly Miles run a simultaneous in-person and online class, from webcam setup and lighting to the surprising arrangement of students standing behind the teachers.

Laurin McDonald recounts the first 800 hours of teaching after her 2018 accreditation, from a chance encounter at a business showcase to classes in wheelchairs, a mosque, and her Seijaku accreditation in 2021.

Dina Ajlenberg found that Israeli students, unlike Canadians raised on parades and big bands, had no image of a bass drum, so she teaches the arm movement as a train's wheels.

April Leffler recounts an intuitive nudge to focus on the Taffies at her YMCA class, and the fellow teacher who arrived that morning with a box of salt water taffy, as evidence of prajna at work.

George Manning describes letting chi guide his teaching, moving side by side with students, slowing movements with the breath, and carrying the practice to settings where souls are forgotten.

Rosalind (Linda) Braga recalls a private lesson where telling a nervous teacher candidate what she was doing right made her cry, and offers wording for positive group corrections.

Abby Molino, a nurse since 1976, describes the right-left confusion that flummoxed her during Pulling Taffy's Anchor variation, with coping strategies and mirroring tips for instructors; four poems by Beverly Miles follow.

April Leffler describes imagining three coins under each foot, two at the ball and one at the heel, to track the weight shift and finally understand Justin Stone's reminder to bring a movement to a graceful conclusion.

Lisa Stroyan collects teachers' responses from Sandy McAlister's April 2023 Zoom discussion on the split mind, including Joan Weaver's trick for recovering a lost count while teaching.

Newly accredited, John Marquez compares himself to an artichoke shedding layers, and finds that demonstrating movements while talking, correcting, pacing and counting is harder than he expected.

Sharon Sirkis collects four jokes first printed in March 2001, including a student named Murray who joked about the draft board and a beginner worried she was doing variations on the variations.

Rebecca Paulson opened her fall and winter classes in Colorado by comparing TCC to the life of trees: rooted grounding, a heart center, dropping leaves before snow, and winter dormancy as self-care.

Sandy McAlister questions Justin Stone's phrase "graceful conclusion," recalls how he ended repetitions with a downward thud, and asks teachers who studied with him to respond in the next issue.

April Leffler describes how allowing space under the armpits, rather than letting the upper arms hang, dropped her shoulders and freed the Chi, and how she taught it using the Goldilocks Method.

Patty Stupca, inspired by Kay Rydeen's visual aid, walks readers through a word puzzle moving from DOG SHOWS to GOD SHOWS to GOOD SHOWS as four levels of TCC practice.