Letters From Students (September 1998)

While I was working out the other day, [I] decided to walk on the treadmill. The treadmill has a pulse monitor. It will monitor your pulse while you walk or run and [you] try to keep your heart rate at what is the target. I was able to keep speed consistent so the machine would make the incline more or less so that my pulse would stay at 117 (my target heart rate).

So as I was walking my heart rate went up to 117 quickly at 1-2 degrees of incline. I got bored and began to think about what I was going to do next and that was T’ai Chi [Chih]. As I thought about deep breathing and the movements my pulse fell and the incline rose. When I stopped thinking about T’ai Chi [Chih] the incline fell and the pulse went up. I thought it was neat so I purposely went through the whole T’ai Chi [Chih] session in my mind as I walked. When I opened my eyes my pulse was 106 at the highest inclination–20.

I never knew that just thinking about the movements could be so relaxing, but this was really strong evidence.

– Kevin T. Seufert
El Cajon, CA

Reading the last issue of The Vital Force, I thought perhaps Vital Force readers might be interested in how T’ai Chi Chih helped me.

I fell down two flights of stairs–22 cement steps! By some miracle, probably because I fell on the hardest part of my body, my head, I didn’t break anything. For the first time, however, I understood what it meant to have your life force out of balance. I felt as if every nerve in my body jangled, as if I were shaking inside.

Although I had no broken bones, I did have some major aches and pains, so much that I couldn’t exercise, do yoga, even swim. But I could do T’ai Chi Chih, and it stood in for everything else. I felt myself regain internal balance as I performed the movements morning and evening, and in three weeks I was back to normal. And I’m not young (60)!

I never realized the power of T’ai Chi Chih before. As an aside, I’d add that, curious about T’ai Chi Chuan, I took a class in the first 10 movements of the abbreviated form. It made me comprehend what a genius Justin Stone is to have captured its essence in T’ai Chi Chih.

I’m very grateful,

– R.M. Zurkan
Fairhope, AL