The Vital Force Archive

Lauren Elaine Marble recounts declining immediate surgery for thyroid cancer in 2008, leaning on daily practice, Tuesday group practice with Justin Stone in Albuquerque, and a retreat with Antonia where the Six Healing Sounds convinced her she would heal.

B.J. Day, a beginner in her twenties who considered herself clumsy and without balance, practised Rocking Motion while waiting for the shower to warm and recalled the Six Healing Sounds inside it.

Linda Braga read a podiatrist's brochure on plantar fasciitis and recognized its lunge and heel-walking exercises in Six Healing Sounds, Anchor Taffy and Rocking Motion, with suggestions for footwear and repetition.

Fran Green, diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia and recovering from spinal tumor and neck fusion surgeries, began with seated TCC and now practices ten minutes daily for strength, balance and less pain.

Tina A. Poslusny wanted to learn T'ai Chi after seeing a sunrise group in the Luxembourg Gardens, then found April Leffler's class was a moving meditation, Six Healing Sounds and all.

Nadine Burge began T'ai Chi Chih the same month her 14-year-old cat Spike was diagnosed with cancer, and practiced daily beside him, adding Six Healing Sounds at her instructor's suggestion.

Judy Hendricks led 155 children through Rocking Motion and the Six Healing Sounds at a park on International Day, and lists what she learned teaching seven classes at a Montessori charter school.

Maya Kent, facing six days of teacher training in Albuquerque with lower back pain that massage and chiropractic had not touched, recognized her kidneys were the trouble and repeated the Chui sound.

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.

Lucia Veteran writes to Justin Stone asking whether the Six Healing Sounds should be whispered or crisp, and whether Passing Clouds has a 60/40 hand emphasis; Justin answers both and welcomes good change.

Light-hearted anecdotes from teachers: a special needs student correcting a classmate's balance, Sharon Sirkis finding a Chicago bag as her sign to audit Ed's last teacher training, and a detention-home student renaming the Six Healing Sounds "Blessings Your Innards".

Noel Altman recounts the first TCC retreat at Camp Sloggett in Kokee State Park on Kauai, where Ed Altman taught flow, a rooster seemed to call "From the CENNNN-ter!" and the group formed a Healing Circle.

Sr. Patty Campbell recounts a blood infection and knee replacement that kept her from moving, and how she mentally practised all nineteen movements and the Six Healing Sounds from her hospital bed, closing with two autumn poems on a sweet gum tree.

Judith Rivera took a community center class with her husband in January 2000 and now uses the Six Healing Sounds with children who have ADHD, plus a daily meditation habit grown from two minutes to twenty.

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.

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.

Five light moments from Sharon Sirkis and Ed Altman, including a senior's "big belly" horsepower, a hubcap that interrupted the Six Healing Sounds outdoors at UMBC, and fireworks after teacher training.

Susan Evans's class laughed when she called the Six Healing Sounds her favorite movement, having heard her say the same of nearly every move, and a former student confessed to doing likewise.

Linda Braga's rhyming thank-you to the Albuquerque hosts of the 13th Annual International Teachers' Conference, recalling the flowing, singing, candle-lighting days and closing with the Six Healing Sounds.

Pat Huseby gives five guidelines for teaching seated Seijaku at a Danville retirement community, from sitting to the chair's edge to placing thought in the t'an t'ien, plus advice for fibromyalgia flare-ups.

Carol Glinski practiced TCC and the healing sounds daily through her pregnancy, then used focused breathing in the hospital labor room to bring her daughter's heart rate back to normal and avoid a C-section.

Jean Katus sets the Taoist healing sounds alongside Sun Dance drums, eagle-bone whistles and sage smoke in a pyramid poem that closes on the Lakota words Mitakuye Oyasin, all my relatives.

Carol Glinski credits daily practice with an easy pregnancy, no morning sickness and no swelling, and describes adding a lighter set of healing sounds to direct chi toward her unborn daughter Sasha.

Rip Riparetti recounts practicing on Figueroa Mountain to drive off flies, leading a spontaneous set with fellow travelers during a delayed flight at the Lima airport, and sounding the healing sounds atop Machu Picchu at dusk.