The Vital Force Archive

Diana Bahn describes, in the third person, her long-running free class at an assisted living facility, where canes, faded memories and old injuries wore down her early hopes until she found commonality with her elderly students.

Jim Shorr describes Don, a modest resident of Edgewood Downs Retirement Center who sheds his walker for T'ai Chi Chih after a concussion years ago and wrote his own practice creed on a napkin.

Vanjie Bratt and Carol Mockovak describe teaching at the Becketwood Cooperative since 2003 and the seventh summer of outdoor practice at Hidden Falls park beside the Mississippi, herons and jumping fish included.

Jerry Bumbalough describes teaching seniors with Alzheimer's and dementia at an adult day health care facility, where early frustration turned around after Antonia advised him to simply say, "Copy me."

After a 2010 car accident left her back and knees painful, Judy George swapped the chair for a large exercise ball, then coached an 82-year-old student through her fear of falling onto it.

Ten pyramid poems from Dianne Moody, Jim Shorr, Nancy Little and others on letting go and chi, followed by five of Sharon Sirkis's funniest moments teaching at an MS day group and a retirement home.

Peter Gregory quit a 30-year restaurant job, moved in with his aging parents in northwestern Indiana, and endured car repairs, cancelled classes and cold shoulders before a newspaper health feature brought 75 inquiries.

Faith Isaacs asked her class of seniors, aged seventy-eight to ninety-four, what the essence of T'ai Chi Chih was for them, and records their answers about presence, home, peace and grace.

Donna Aldous describes starting winter classes at the Mesa Spirit RV Resort, growing past 30 participants in two weeks, charging $2, opening seated with Justin Stone's CD and ordering DVDs.

Lorraine Lepine reports on the open Outreach Coordinator post, guidelines being drafted for teaching seniors, children and seated TCC, and the teacher reference materials project, followed by Justin Stone's letter objecting that T'ai Chi Chih is being made commercial.

Nancy Lecraw describes five years of team teaching with Bobbie, from Tuesday morning planning sessions over tea to dividing new and review movements, working with seated students, and meeting program directors together.

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.

Jerry Bumbalough tells his senior class to bring water because moving chi makes them thirsty, and asks where the water goes; one gentleman answers, "In my pants."

Dorene Krause thanks Lorraine Lepine and the 90 responding teachers, announces where the 2005 Teacher Survey results are posted online, and passes along teaching tips for seniors, teens and students with physical challenges.

Bobbi Anderson's conference workshop, transcribed by Terry Gay Puckett, lists practical ways to fill a class: embroidered TCC shirts, free demonstrations for Rotary and sororities, camera-ready newspaper copy, and health fair tables.

Kathy Grassel taught Tai Chi Chih to 30 sixth-graders waiting to testify at the New Mexico legislature, renaming every movement with wildlife themes, plus classroom quips collected by Sharon Sirkis.

Classroom mishaps collected from Cristina Minelli, Sher Dano, Sharon Sirkus and Lisa Thorburn, including an Italian student who thought Sandy's talk of knees meant a missing girl named Denise.

Sr. Antonia Cooper led a 16-hour retreat for 15 newcomers in a North Carolina retirement community, breaking a Passing Clouds impasse by switching to Linda Braga's Partner Practice.

Linda Braga recounts how Helen, an unsteady 85-year-old referred by her doctor, stood through her first Seniors class and returned to report sitting in her car feeling amazingly calm.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst names teachers who rarely write in, among them Lyn Welch teaching through weekly chemotherapy, Pat Huesby's class of students over 90, and Margo Carpenter's unpaid weekend travel in Canada.

Cary Fellman taught a week-long class at the UW-Madison summer arts school in Rhinelander, where a five-minute demonstration of Rocking Motion and Bass Drum quieted an audience of a hundred.

Reader-submitted jokes from Rhonda St. Martin, Michael Isaacs, Sharon Sirkis, Kathy Grassel, Caroline Guilott and Debbie Cole, including a letter promising seniors "flossing" movements and a student who "only does digital" circles.

Sher Dano reports the results of the National Council on Aging qigong and tai chi pilot: 349 participants at 18 sites, mean age 73, with significantly reduced perceived stress and plans for a more rigorous study.

Sharon Sirkis recounts blinking emergency lights during her college class's first music session, a student's "get-out-of-jail free card," and a 95-year-old choosing her hair appointment over class, plus Sheila Leonard's license plate holder photo.

Sandy McAlister describes her shy Mormon childhood, her ski-bum years, the gentle exercise and seated T'ai Chi Chih she teaches in convalescent homes and senior centers for two school districts, her Nepal and Africa trips, and her fifth year of Sierra Club hiking-and-practice weeks.

Barbara Riley describes 13 years of teaching at Rossmoor, an over-55 community in Walnut Creek, where longtime students stay fit and each class closes with a five-minute seated meditation.

A collection of classroom laughs gathered from Sharon Sirkus, Nancy Lecraw and Bobbie Weichman, Kathy Grassel and Rodney Anderson, including a whole class bowing by mistake and juvenile detention students riffing on Working the Pulley.

Sher Dano describes being selected with Deanne Hodgson as one of about 20 facilitators in a 2004 National Council on Aging pilot bringing qigong, breath practice and self-massage to seniors.

Five reader anecdotes, including Carol Houtkooper's grandson mishearing "aftermath" as a math class, Sher Dano's 99-year-old student Gerry explaining the Viagra benefits of T'ai Chi to a curious newcomer, and a Seijaku training quip about sitting in a square.

Nancy Beck and Larry Sava report on West Texas's first T'ai Chi Chih workshop, where Pam Towne taught fifty students at HealthPoint Wellness Center, honored Justin Stone at dinner, and refined movements with five teachers.