The Vital Force Archive

Sue Bitney describes the beginning class she started at a senior co-operative housing building during COVID, where a core of eight practise twice weekly and one man moving only one hand practises with them.

Ron Richardson turns five things his parents told him as a child, from "Pick up your feet" to "Stand on your own two feet," into practical reminders for TCC students about posture, stepping, breathing and independence.

Pam Towne traces how she moved from seeing seated T'ai Chi Chih as a last resort to respecting it as a powerful practice, after teaching wheelchair users, hurting her back overdoing the pelvic tilt, and finding beginners connect with the t'an t'ien faster when seated.

Jessica Lewis credits a painful summer of toe trouble with converting her to seated T'ai Chi Chih, and lists why she now starts every student in the chair, including her VA-referred veterans.

Richard Karasik argues that teachers inevitably break T'ai Chi Chih into parts such as flexible wrists, hip swivels and moving from the t'an t'ien, but the student must reassemble them, as sodium and chlorine become salt.

Lisa Stroyan's notes from Sandy McAlister's monthly Zoom teacher practice cover December's discussion of movement order and January's on drop-in classes, with Zoom tips and handout suggestions.

Jessica Lewis, who teaches veterans in chronic pain for the Federal T'ai Chi for Veterans program, describes using very few words in a first class so students discover the Chi themselves.

Lisa Stroyan gathers highlights from the 2021 conference 20/20 activity, where 20 teachers led small groups discussing the tan t'ien, including Sandy McAlister's use of seated TCC and Carmen Brocklehurst's account of her ten-year discovery.

Five short passages from Justin Stone's Vital Force writings of 1986 and 1988, on accepting impermanence, love as self-realization, flowing slow motion in a dream, energy as wisdom, and his objection to teachers inventing new movements.

Sandy McAlister rereads an account she wrote 35 years earlier of teaching her first T'ai Chi Chih class, when 21 students arrived, nervousness became excitement, and fear turned to curiosity.

Susan Corey applies the Laban and Bartenieff Effort/Shape Method, with its continua of flow, weight, time and space, to T'ai Chi Chih instruction, identifying the practice as a light, sustained, direct glide.

Trish Winger's students kept missing the mark on Working the Pulley, so she watched herself in the mirror and recast the movement as a pie throwing machine, with one pie handed over after another.

Sue Bitney led a 50-person introductory class outdoors in frost and 30-degree temperatures at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's Serenity Garden, offering a buffet of movements to let students feel different weight shifts.

Linda Minor imagines the stress, resentment and ingratitude her life might have held without T'ai Chi Chih, and describes the sobering responsibility of now passing Justin Stone's gift to her own students.

Diana Daffner addresses fellow teachers directly, listing what a TCC teacher actually does: holding a space of love, reminding students to breathe, demonstrating continuous circles, and learning alongside them.

Sandy Roerig's November 2019 visit to fellow teacher Lisa in St George led her to sell her house, move within two months, and finally commit to a daily practice.

Sharon Sirkis recounts her first Zoom class of seated T'ai Chi Chih, coaching a newcomer's beautiful smile through several movements before discovering it was Melissa's still photo, left behind after she logged off.

Amy Tyksinski taught her first Zoom class to school families who appeared only as name plates, and offers practical tips on voice, contrasting socks for visible weight shifts, and trusting her own groundedness.

Fran and Jim Kaib recount the day ten intellectually disabled adults and their aides joined their small public library class unannounced, and how wordless modeling and Joyous Breath brought laughter and calm.

Mary Cerullo recounts a visit by twenty special needs adults aged 21 to 35 to Jim and Fran Kaib's class, where one young woman clapped and demanded Joyous Breath again.

Jeneth Rundle planned a year off from teaching after moving to Oregon, then agreed to teach a neighbor recovering from cancer treatment, a stroke and surgery who progressed from seated practice to standing for a full hour.

Jessica Lewis recounts a 90-minute virtual meeting with David-Dorian Ross and TaijiFit instructors about the Free T'ai Chi for Veterans program, the Fang Song principle, and how teaching Vets with few words changed her view of other T'ai Chi styles.

Linda Jones lays out the teaching rules for David-Dorian Ross's Tai Chi for Vets program: verbal safety cues and humor are welcome, but no individual corrections, no detailed demonstration and no expectation that veterans memorize the movements.

Sandy McAlister answers whether all 19 movements must be done in order, citing Justin Stone on Chi memory, and describes reordering her beginner classes so students finish on familiar ground.

Terry Jennings recounts stopping at Carmen's Seijaku retreat in New Mexico on the annual drive to a family farm, then teaching four classes to beloved friends in Des Moines, where one student joked about getting only half the benefits.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst asks teachers to teach the movements exactly as Justin Stone gave them, recalling a teacher who planned to omit difficult parts, and to demonstrate what they say.

Bev Chandley handed each of her 31 senior students at Shell Point Retirement Community a polished stone to hold palm up, and not one hand turned over while learning Pulling Taffy.

Judy Kistler-Robinson, teaching a Saturday class at a 55-plus retirement complex, found herself telling students to pick up a burden from the shoulder, carry it forward and release it.

Shari Holmes, accredited in November and teaching her first class right after New Year, describes the twelve students who came, the forgotten handouts and tips, and watching beginners find softness.

Andrea Skillman recounts teaching T'ai Chi Chih to long-term care residents, veterans at fall risk, and more than a decade of early morning classes for the American Holistic Nurse Association's national conference, with student evaluations included.