The Vital Force Archive

Carmen Brocklehurst maps her eight-session Intermediate class week by week, from the opening full practice through stop-action work on the Taffies, with counting repetitions on the fingers and an invitation to Seijaku at the end.

Sr. Antonia Cooper gives full instructions for the Rededication Candle Ceremony, from candle suppliers and spiral formations to the stepping pattern, reflection questions and the yin-yang meaning of each hand.

Seven classroom mishaps collected from Sharon Sirkis, Debbie Cole, Ann Sollars and others, including a church bulletin advertising "Moving Medication" and a carpet-scraping heel dubbed the Chi Dragon.

Linda Braga expected one or two students at her fall class in San Leandro on September 11, 2001, and twenty-five came; midway through they lit a candle and kept silence for the dead.

Dale Buchanan describes how he uses the photo-text book, Justin's instruction video, the 'Justin Speaks' cassette, and the Brocklehurst and Towne practice tapes in beginner and intermediate classes.

Rosalind L. Braga distinguishes passive from active learners and, citing William Glasser's figures on retention, recommends partner practice so students check each other's posture, foot position and weight shift.

Linda Robinson recounts how a chance remark from a Seattle hospital bereavement coordinator led to paid TCC classes for the recently bereaved, with practical advice on scheduling, candles and group critique.

Dale Buchanan recounts closing his Great Falls T'ai Chi Chih studio after two years of financial losses, and finding more students, no overhead and a Seijaku-like acceptance of distraction while teaching ten weekly classes at five fitness centers.

Ann Rutherford lays out the finances of Albuquerque's non-profit T'ai Chi Chih Center, from the $14,156 annual rent and Justin Stone's donated retreat and gallery proceeds to the new Search and Find and Presentation Committees recruiting off site classes.

Caroline Guilott and Bitsy LeBlanc describe turning a neglected green rental house on Center Street in Lake Charles into a T'ai Chi Chih center, with bargain paint, scavenged furnishings and husbands' support.

Guadalupe Buchwald describes the second year of the T'ai Chi Chih program she and Lynn Shaw-Ringham run at William Head prison, where constant turnover forced a rolling intake and students wanted to become gentle giants.

Eight classroom jokes and slips collected from Donnis Minx, Sharon Sirkis and Mary Ann Johnson, including a student's misspelled "biginner," a sneeze that turned the Six Healing Sounds into "Ho, Hu, Achoo," and a Pulling Taffy centipede.

A photo of Tom Tolentino and his students moving through Around the Platter in a Southern California park, where his Saturday morning class runs as a walk-in, join-in session.

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.

Noel Altman recounts her conference roundtable on intermediate classes and describes her own Kaiser Permanente curriculum: movements sorted by weight shift, paired peer feedback with worksheets, and a closing Six Healing Sounds circle.

Nancy Vermond reports Hannah Hedrick's conference roundtable on teaching T'ai Chi Chih in chest-high water of 90 to 100 degrees, using ankle or waist weights to stay grounded.

Donna McElhose describes the eight-week beginner and intermediate T'ai Chi Chih courses she teaches for credit at the College of Lake County, including written tests, video taping, student projects and 100-day practice charts.

In a letter to the editor, Donnis Minx describes using Justin Stone's video on a big-screen TV at a Shepherd's Center presentation, where one man noticed the practitioners' complete lack of tension.

Christeen McLain offers to share curriculum guidelines and procedures with anyone wanting to teach TCC for college credit, drawing on her classes at Minnesota State University Moorhead since 1996.

Donna McElhose made more than 200 phone calls to gather students from a dozen class locations into a free room at the State Bank of the Lakes, drawing 35 practitioners.

Neena Mitchell describes how a YMCA student's discovery that muscle contractions move lymphatic fluid led her class to study lymphatic and foot reflex diagrams, motivating far more practice of Rocking Motion and the weight shift.

Sharon Sirkis closes her final class by asking each student to bring an object symbolizing what T'ai Chi Chih gave them, then lists twenty-five choices from bubble wrap to a plant.

Noel Altman describes choosing a small, quirky conference room with windows and wooden floors over larger HMO spaces, and how teaching in a circle improved group cohesion.

Justin Stone answers a new teacher's letter on how wide to set the feet, why the title "Master" is meaningless in the West, Zen's rare granting of Inka, and Chi Kung.

Janet M. Oussaty describes winning approval for a one-credit T'ai Chi Chih course at Kean University, from curriculum committees to flyers, plus the class format, grading by journals and presentations, and a parallel non-credit offering.

Eight classroom mishearings and comebacks collected from Viola Bens, Sharon Sirkis and Pat Huseby, including silly putty mistaken for chewing gum and a student stuck on the two girls on the mountain.

Noel Altman describes filling three waitlisted TCC classes at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, teaching the form over two eight-week courses, adapting for disabilities, and sending students home with Justin Stone's video.

Cheryl Hall recounts how she and her mother Shirley found T'ai Chi Chih at a Cannon Beach retreat with Elizabeth Tyler, both became accredited, and now co-teach classes in Oregon.

Carolyn Allenby travelled 200 miles from New Jersey to Dale Buchanan's studio in Great Falls, Virginia, describing its natural light, rock fountain and video corner, then joining a Saturday morning class.

Tara Stiles hands out strips of small blue dots for students to stick on steering wheels, mirrors and cupboard doors as reminders to check the breath or the t'an t'ien during a busy day.