The Vital Force Archive

Sheila Leonard compiles accounts from her St. John's students: Danielle's shift toward doing the movements correctly, Doris losing Reynaud's Syndrome after surgery, Elizabeth sleeping through the night, and Audrey's moment of weightlessness.

David Schulberg's students report sleeping better and feeling less on edge, and he recalls outdoor practice in a New Jersey backyard and a park where squirrels, birds and a hawk joined in.

Kate Hollister, instructor for three UCLA studies, describes Dr. Michael Irwin's insomnia trials with older adults and breast cancer survivors and Dr. Helen Lavretsky's project on depression.

Betty J. Roberson credits daily practice with easing stress and improving her sleep after a sedentary life of caregiving, while Maybelle Filler recounts a snowy Saturday outdoor session in Sitka and her wordless first classes.

Paula Rivers describes taking Sharon Sirkis's ten-week class at Tai Sophia Institute, using the movements to calm a headache after witnessing a highway accident, and practising morning and evening for sleep and patience; Larry Bloom likens Rocking Motion to a rower's effortless swing.

Two beginner accounts from a junior college class: Janis Gorski found sounder sleep and relief from a headache before her first test, and Tony Botting, facing knee replacements, could stand through ten movements.

Monica Simorangkir enrolled in Sharon Sirkis's class only for graduation credit, then found her hands warm after the first session, slept sixteen hours straight, and saw her anxiety attacks grow less frequent.

Three beginning students, Zena, Nancy and Carol, describe gains in energy, posture, knee strength and sleep, with Carol practising the twenty movements along the shore of Lake Superior.

Jan Law kept up daily practice through a 7,000-mile, twelve-state road trip, using rest stops and the passenger seat, and felt the tingling and floaty lightness for the first time.

Robert E. Rollin, a student of Judy George, recounts a night of bronchitis when mentally picturing the TCC movements relaxed him enough to stop his coughing spasms and sleep.

Mpho Mosinyi, a student of Sharon Sirkis, doubted his teacher's claims about chi until one Sunday morning practice session, after which nightly movements replaced the sleeping tablets he had relied on.

Catherine McNair, a student of Neena Mitchell, started T'ai Chi Chih in October 2000 and cancelled the breast reduction surgery she had been saving for after her chronic upper back pain disappeared.

Susan Kissinger describes giving up the hope of a silent house before dawn, shifting her intent to savoring each movement, and the changes that followed: diminished inner chatter, sounder sleep, and fewer esophageal spasms.

Susan Evans describes her first year of teaching: twenty signups split into back-to-back classes, nights awake until 3am from the chi, a Good Karma book of students' comments, and sticky circles marking who wants correcting.

Justin Stone answers Dale Buchanan's questions by letter, warning that Seijaku and the Jing be taught only to sincere students, advising against weightlifting, and insisting the teacher must be a motivator.

Pat Huseby describes her first seated class for residents aged 83 to 96 at a retirement home, where dozing students became bright and laughing and named peace of mind their top benefit.

Three reader tips: Christine Sproehnle-Benson on keeping a clear space at home with a new baby, Gordon Wade on swapping his afternoon power nap for a TCC session, and Hope Ridley's conga-line drill for Working the Pulley.

Vicki Michele Brodie recounts four "T'ai Chi Chih situations," including practicing in a hospital emergency room beside her mentally ill daughter and being asked whether she was performing a secret ritual.