The Vital Force Archive
Forty years of The Vital Force (1985-2025), the journal of the T’ai Chi Chih community. Search for a word, a teacher, a movement or a place, or browse by category and topic.
Schools and Children
T’ai Chi Chih has been shared with children and teenagers in K-12 schools and in other settings for young people. These articles include teachers’ accounts of classroom programs, notes on adapting the movements for little ones, and reflections on the community that grows when young students practice together.
Esther Kieffer reports 21 students since October in Cedar Falls and describes starting each day in her preschool classroom for children with handicaps with Rocking Motion to Fragrance of a Dream.
Esther Kieffer
Cedar Falls, Iowa
Christeen Niama Rae Sproehnle makes the case for T'ai Chi Chih in Confluent Movement Education, then prints her full grade 4-8 lesson plan with tasks, games like "Stillness," and review questions.
Christeen Niama Rae Sproehnle
Teachers write in from Asilomar, Idaho, Mexico, Phoenix, Stockholm and California, with Colin Clarity's newspaper ad, Lillian Susumi's 14-student intensive, and Benjamin Levitan's intergenerational Camp J.O.Y. assignment.