The Vital Force Archive

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.

Lesley Nell answers questions about the new suggested curriculum for preparing teacher candidates, developed with Marie Dotts and Lisa Otero, and the new Teacher Prep Coach designation for experienced referring teachers.

Tina Wells traces her path from a first class with Wendy Helms in California to teaching T'ai Chi Chih at Oxford's Restore charity and the Oxfordshire Recovery College, where students use grounding to interrupt panic attacks.

Vanessa Petterson, accredited in December 2022, describes building two Village Hall classes despite weak marketing skills, the laughter and loving kindness at each class ending, and her growing confidence as a teacher.

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.

Tina Wells devoted a class to resting longer between the 19 movements, and the group concluded that pausing lets chi settle, grounds the feet, and mirrors nature's cycles of activity and stillness.

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.

Laurin McDonald recounts the first 800 hours of teaching after her 2018 accreditation, from a chance encounter at a business showcase to classes in wheelchairs, a mosque, and her Seijaku accreditation in 2021.

Laurin McDonald describes how Zoom sessions she and Lesley Nell run became a lifeline for isolated older UK students, and an anchor for her own bereavement after losing her husband in November 2020.

Lesley Nell describes how she and Laurin McDonald, accredited in 2018, ran a Discovery Workshop in Banbury for wellbeing coaches and therapists in March 2020, just before lockdown.

Jerry Jonnson offers teachers a ready-made promotional piece citing Dr. Richard Davidson's neuroscience of well-being, presenting T'ai Chi Chih as an easier moving mindfulness, ending with his outdoor Mt. Cuba Center classes.

Jerry C. Jonnson lays out ten guiding codes for T'ai Chi Chih instructors, from knowing your purpose and putting on your own oxygen mask first to being present, acting rather than overreacting, and valuing the journey.

Dr Jerry C. Jonnson offers two handouts he wrote to promote his classes: a plain description of T'ai Chi Chih with a list of researched benefits, and a basics card weighting shifting at 80 percent, posture 15 and hands 5.

Jerry Jonnson reprints a poem from his 2006 book Living in Balance, which he hands to every student, on caring for yourself and giving the gift of your uniqueness to the world.

Laurin McDonald recounts flying from England through blizzards to Philadelphia for her March 2018 accreditation with Daniel, the refinements on weight shift and Rocking Motion, and new UK classes starting in April.

Seven students in Tracy Gibbons's U.K. classes describe what T'ai Chi Chih has given them, from clearer memory, weight loss and better sleep to the calm they never found in other T'ai Chi and Qigong forms.

Responding to Sandy's "Even In Pauses" request, Tina Wells devoted a class to resting longer between movements, and lists the group's conclusions about settled chi, grounding and nature's own transition times.

Ev Hanson-Florin recounts her first TCC conference, from practices led by guide Antonia Cooper and teacher trainers Sandy McAlister and Pam Towne to talks on Seijaku, children and the scholarship raffle.

Ev Hanson-Florin breaks the Anchor variation of Pulling Taffy into its four parts, then offers a teaching sequence: demonstrate, teach footwork and waist turns alone, then add the arms mirroring and back-to-class.

Ev Hanson-Florin gives step-by-step instruction for Daughter on the Mountaintop, from the heel-forward weight shift to the hands crossing at center, followed by Carrie Schapker's poem for her mother Mary.