The Vital Force Archive

Lisa Stroyan recounts Marie Dotts leading September and October teacher practices on the t'an t'ien leading the weight shift, level pelvis, locked psoas muscles, and her "Kate Winslet on the Titanic" exercise for beginners.

April Leffler recounts her travels to meet UK, Italian, Dutch and German teachers, the UK conference presentations that drew accreditation candidates, and the EU teachers' monthly Zoom practices open to Americans.

Adam Lacey and Laurin McDonald outline the UK effort to train new TCC teachers, from the first two candidates in 2008 through to four preparing for accreditation in 2025, with timelines and costs.

Cristina Minelli adapts Italian meditation teacher Andrea Magrin's WhatsApp pairing system for TCC, where practitioners post a request like "10/10" and video call a partner, each leading half the movements.

Amy Tyksinski describes the New Teachers' Cohort pilot, six monthly Zoom sessions after the November 2024 Colorado Springs accreditation, in which 13 of 15 graduates became actively teaching.

An open invitation to a Zoom support group for teachers accredited from 2020 onward, and for teachers accredited any time who want to jumpstart their teaching again.

Bonnie LeBlanc describes how four Cape Cod teachers sustain a TCC community through Sunday Zoom practice reaching Ireland and Florida, library and church drop-ins, weekly teacher workshops and regular coffee hours.

Laurin McDonald and Adam Lacey describe how a breakout session at Mindfulness Now's 20th anniversary conference in Birmingham drew twelve therapists, four of whom are now Zoom students heading toward accreditation.

Marcella Levie recounts first seeing T'ai Chi Chih at sunset on Siesta Key Beach in 1991, then training over Zoom with Lesley Nell and being accredited in the UK in 2022 with Orly Mani, and the three Dutch groups they now teach.

Judy Hubbell describes teaching T'ai Chi Chih outdoors and at senior centers in the Castro, South Sunset and Ocean Beach, with City College classes for older adults and YouTube sessions for isolated students.

Lisa Stroyan recounts the October "2nd Saturday" teachers' Zoom gathering led by Ev Hanson-Florin, where about 30 teachers compared Justin's written instructions on the Cosmic Consciousness Pose, the heel placement, arm height, gaze and how long to hold it.

Lisa Stroyan collected the praise voiced at Sandy McAlister's August 2024 Second Saturday Zoom practice, from the spheres presentation and Laurie Jacobi's video to scholarships, Karen K's emergency surgery, and a call for future conference committee volunteers.

Benjamin Brisjar recounts how T'ai Chi Chih reversed a volunteer shortage at the all-volunteer Pittsburg Fifty Plus Club, sustained members through COVID Zoom classes, and led the Board to fund reprinting the Photo Text.

Daniel Pienciak recounts the July 28 Zoom practice he led for teachers who could not travel to the 50th anniversary conference, with comments from participants across the country.

Laurin MacDonald joined the 50th conference by Zoom from England and recounts teaching TCC to a group recovering from strokes and paralysis, where nonverbal participants imagined the movements and fingers began to flutter.

Joan Weaver's pyramid poem marks the 50th T'ai Chi Chih teacher conference, naming the Zoom connection to Albuquerque, the small-group storytelling, and those remembered in absence.

Lisa Stroyan details how she, Doriane Tippet and Belize-based Zoom anchor Beverly Miles run a simultaneous in-person and online class, from webcam setup and lighting to the surprising arrangement of students standing behind the teachers.

Pam Towne led seven teachers through a Zoom Seijaku accreditation in February, with participants Yuko Voss, Patty Stupca, Michelle Sarubbi and Sally Sherwin describing grounding, healing and beginner's mind.

Catherine Fedewa, who co-chaired the 2023 online Teacher Conference, names what Zoom gave the community and what it could not, and looks ahead to the in-person anniversary gathering in Albuquerque in 2024.

Carolyn Perkins, writing from Cyprus, managed one group practice and one of Carmen's workshops at the teacher conference despite the time difference, and does six repetitions daily since breaking her neck.

Lisa Stroyan compiled accounts from April Leffler's October 2023 Zoom accreditation, where 12 candidates from three countries worked from tree-frog "suction cup" feet upward and shared their "green banana" takeaways.

Marcella K. Levie treats Justin's Graceful Conclusion between movements as a moment of coming home, followed by Sharron Gonzalez on the value of in-person accreditation courses over Zoom and on making daily practice a habit.

Rebecca Paulson recounts April 29th World T'ai Chi and Qigong Day in northern Colorado, where 35 people from seven cities met at a community college while 26 more joined by Zoom from Belize onward.

Judy Kistler-Robinson turned shut-down recreation center classes into Zoom sessions that drew friends across the country, and she still offers a free monthly online practice from Albuquerque, including one student's husband with Parkinson's.

Host Jessica Lewis introduces participant accounts from the March 2023 Zoom Intensive, where teachers and candidates report new sense of the t'an t'ien, fuller weight shifts, relief from knee pain, and reconnection to community.

Participants including Pam Towne, Michelle Crowe and Neena Mitchell describe Daniel Pienciak's three-day January 2023 Zoom retreat for seven people, with a pyramid poem by Lisa Stroyan and the August conference announcement.

Marcella Box introduces Lovena Warren, an 86-year-old accredited teacher whose free weekday Zoom practice restored her daily habit, and who led hurricane evacuees in T'ai Chi Chih from a shelter stage in 2005.

Sandy McAlister recounts the second Saturday teacher Zoom gatherings, including September's discussion of TCC polarity and which movements have it, October's swap of class handouts, and tips on Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Johnnie Marquez came to T'ai Chi Chih for balance after stumbling off a stationary bike, resisted his teacher's repeated suggestion to seek accreditation, and describes how Zoom practice, an Intensive and pyramid poetry changed his mind.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recounts how Eliza Fulton and Anita Vestal built a virtual 2022 teacher conference for 156 Zoom participants, and how Patty Stupca's talk sharpened her own teaching of grounding the Chi.