Making News (September 1992)

Mark Harrell, Saratoga, CA was featured in the Living section of the San Jose Mercury News in June. Not only did he have a picture above the masthead of the paper, but inside was a note on Interesting Reading headed Go to class…and relax. To quote “The sound of the surf lulls you into breathing in unison with the waves, in and out. Relaxation sets in. Watching Mark Harrell lead his class of T’ai Chi students is a lot like that. Harrell finds that T’ai Chi Chih is becoming an increasingly important way for him to ease the stress that permeates Silicon Valley life.” Then reference was made to page C1 that had a five-column picture of Mark with a class doing Passing Clouds. The article, titled “Grace under Pressure” took up virtually all the front page and continued on the following page with another picture. Mark says that the article was not entirely accurate but the marvelous thing about it was that it generated over 400 calls to the Camden Lifetime Activities Center in the San Jose area and almost 200 to the area teacher referral number. Mark’s classes were filled and a waiting list started. Susan Hudgens, Dona Marriott, and Donna Shaffer helped Liz make contact with interested persons in the extended San Jose area. How great it would be for the spread of TCC if more of the teachers could get this sort of publicity!

Brian Battista, Oak Brook, IL was recently featured in a local newspaper under the heading “Health/Medicine.” Picture with students was centered in a four-column spread. Quoting part of the article Battista says: “T’ai Chi Chih is one of the few things in my life that has proven to be true. It is simple, straight forward and it works. T’ai Chi is a discipline, not a sport. If you are a weight lifter, you build your weight-lifting muscles. If you’re a cross country runner, you build your legs. With t’ai chi you are developing discipline within yourself so that everything you do is more effective, regardless of what it is. It is not as important to learn the philosophy behind t’ai chi as to practice the movements. The more you do them, the better you get and the more effective you will be. You are in better control of yourself so you can determine how you want to deal with your stress in your life.”