News Shorts (June 1999)

Ed Altman to be interviewed on the “David Essel — Alive!” show

On July 10 at 1:00pm (Pacific Standard Time), David Essel will conduct a nationwide live interview with Ed Altman, Head of T’ai Chi Chih, on his radio show “David Essel — Alive!” about the happenings in the T’ai Chi Chih community and the potential benefits of regular practice.

Essel’s show, subtitled “America’s Positive Radio Talk Show”, features topics ranging from personal motivation to alternative medicine, fitness, stress management. His belief is that “fitness is not just from the neck down.”

Many thanks are due to Marjie Bassler, teacher candidate, and Carmen Brocklehurst, her referring instructor. Bassler wrote a letter to Essel suggesting that he may like to do a show on T’ai Chi Chih and its originator, Justin Stone, and Brocklehurst assisted in the effort.

“David Essel Alive!” is syndicated through Westwood One and carried mostly on “am” stations. Call your local radio stations to find out which one carries the show or try Westwood One Affiliate Relations.

– Noel Altman

NM Board Elects New Members

Congratulations go out to the new and continuing board members of The New Mexico T’ai Chi Chih Association (which runs the TCC Center in Albuquerque). The Board elections occurred on May 1. The Board is now comprised of the following members:

Robert Montes de Oca – President

Uly Messier – Vice President

Dora Derzon – Secretary

John Armitage – Treasurer

Ann Rutherford – Recording Secretary

Board members serve two-year terms. The New Mexico T’ai Chi Chih Association, an incorporated non-profit association, invites all TCC teachers and students, when in Albuquerque, to visit the Center. Open TCC practices for teachers are held at 9:30am every Tuesday morning at the Center, while open practices for students and teachers occur the first Saturday of the month at 11:30am and every Thursday at noon.

– Noel Altman

Shepherd’s Centers Offer TCC

T’ai Chi Chih was featured in the Winter 1999 issue of The Good Life, newsletter of The Shepherd’s Centers of America (SCA) in an article entitled “Balance Intrinsic Energy With T’ai Chi Chih.”

The article states, “The SCA Board of Trustees unanimously voted to make this option [TCC] available to our centers. During the meeting, board member Park Gerdine, MD supported the program based on personal experience. . . . He and his wife have been practicing the movements at home for about two months. He said it was definitely helping them.”

The article states that some 40 TCC teachers are located near SCA centers and could be available to help get classes started. (This list of 40 teachers’ names was given to SCA by Ed Altman last year.) SCA eventually would like to have its own staff members become accredited instructors. Last year, Jean Smith, former SCA secretary, was sponsored by SCA to become accredited to teach TCC and now does so in Kansas City. Lucy Ann Fleischman, nurse and health director at the Kansas City Central SCA, is the second person to be sponsored by SCA for teacher accreditation. She successfully completed her accreditation course at the end of May in St. Louis.

Elbert Cole, Executive Director/Founder of SCA, reported to The Vital Force that after the article appeared, dozens of SCA centers nationwide ordered Justin Stone’s T’ai Chi Chih text and videotape with the intention of beginning T’ai Chi Chih programs for their members.

– Noel Altman

“T’ai Chi” appeared on “Good Morning America” broadcast, resulted in TCC class enrollments

Don Walker of Huntington Beach, CA reported that his T’ai Chi Chih class enrollment soared after “Good Morning America” aired a segment on “T’ai Chi” on January 7 in which it was announced by Dr. Nancy Snyderman, “T’ai Chi has been officially endorsed by The Arthritis Foundation as a beneficial treatment option.”

Walker asked his students what had prompted them to enroll and a large percentage told him of the program they had seen aired.

According to the transcript of the program, Snyderman went on to describe the benefits she had found and was quite enthusiastic. “If you don’t have a doctor who knows anything about this, I can tell you there’s not a city in the country right now that doesn’t have some place where you can learn and incorporate it. If your pills and shots aren’t working, remember the basic exercise and keeping those joints moving is an important first step.”

The Vital Force confirmed the endorsement with the Northern California Chapter of The Arthritis Foundation.

– Noel Altman