Student finds balance greatly improved with practice

This letter is for all you T’ai Chi Chih students out there who struggle with dizziness and balance problems. My name is Anne Hollek and about [three years] ago I had a tumor removed that had settled on a balance nerve in my brain and was getting way too comfortable having parties in my head…I kept getting vertigo (a balance/spinning disorder) and was hoping that once I had the tumor removed, the dizziness would disappear. To make a long story short, it didn’t and the Doctors were at a loss telling me I would always be balance impaired, never be able to balance putting one foot in front of the other and never ride a bicycle.

I decided to try the T’ai Chi Chih form when I saw it advertised at the College of Lake County. The instructor, Donna McElhose, took the extra time and invited me to her house to show me how to compensate for some of the movements I was unable to do at the time before the class actually started. I’ve been taking T’ai Chi Chih class about nine months now and am an intermediate student. My balance has improved tremendously, I can pass the drunk test because I am finally able to walk one foot in front of the other and the other day, I got on my bicycle and rode it around our subdivision. So, the moral of this story is…..this works! Stick to it! Do what you can and practice a a little while every day. I would also suggest purchasing a T’ai Chi Chih video to help develop and reinforce the movements learned in class. You’ll be amazed at how much calmer you feel and how your balance has improved. If anyone would like to discuss this further, my email address is The best of luck to all of you.

– Anne Hollek
Student of Donna McElhose