The Vital Force Archive

Fusun Sulzbach traces her on-again off-again practice from her 2002 accreditation presentation through a divorce, retirement, a gym class closed by COVID, and a June retreat in Oceanside that renewed her daily routine and ended her sleep medication.

Kristin Clark Taylor describes completing one of the first accreditation courses held entirely on Zoom, with Daniel Pienciak and April Leffler, and insists the Chi she felt alone in her living room was not virtual.

Andrea Skillman's biweekly class for in-patient PTSD veterans in North Chicago pairs tapping and guided meditation with TCC; 67 participants reported drops in pain, racing thoughts, anger, anxiety and agitation.

Furman Riley, a new teacher, recounts the second annual T'ai Chi Chih teacher symposium, where Sandy McAlister led movement refinement and teachers traded aids, problem solving and community wisdom.

Furman Riley traces his path from a 1990 workshop with Janet Yannacone to accreditation week, aided by Athena Mantle and Lorraine Lepine, capped by Justin Stone's 93rd birthday celebration, with brief comments from fifteen new teachers.

Dale Buchanan recounts dropping twenty pebbles into a pond to finally grasp Ed Altman's image of chi rippling outward, after which two months of Seijaku practice suddenly made sense.

Dale Buchanan describes what followed months of daily Seijaku, Jing, Sole Breathing and Nei Kung practice: intense pressure in his head, a surge of creativity that sent him out to buy paints, lasting internal power, and monthly bouts of weeping that cleansed what he was holding onto.

Dale Buchanan, a martial arts instructor and personal trainer, almost backed out of the April 1997 Melbourne, Kentucky teacher training over staying at a convent, then let go of his judgments and drove the ten hours home in silence.

Dale Buchanan contrasts gym-goers who read magazines on the bike with T'ai Chi Chih as mindfulness in motion, and reports his own workouts became more efficient with recovery time halved.