Working With Stroke Victims

In June (’95) I went on “talk radio” WBTA, in Batavia, to introduce TCC to the area public. One of my listeners turned out to be Mary . . . a stroke victim in her 70’s. In mentioning some of the benefits reported by participants in TCC, Mary’s attention was caught and she told her husband, “Get a hold of that man and tell him I want to take ‘High C’ from him!” (She apparently misheard T’ai Chi as ‘High C’) and soooo — it became known between her and I in the ensuing months.

It might interest teachers to know that this was a woman who had been paralyzed on her left side (hand, arm, hip, leg and foot) a year before with very little progress and had stopped going to therapy sessions. Within one session she was getting feeling (i.e., pain) in her left foot! Within three sessions she was getting lurching reactions each time she brought the energy down to her tan t’ien . . . (I had her doing each exercise she learned with her right arm and leg, and visually seeing herself doing the same with the left side as if she really were).

As time went on (and I taught her self-hypnosis), she began to replace the pain with “discomfort” and then to keep telling her body that it was now feeling, i.e., giving her body/mind permission to manifest it as a “feeling” rather than discomfort. Five months later, Mary [has returned] to therapy, [is using] self-hypnosis, practice[s] TCC regularly, and is standing. She also lies on the bed and pushes her husband away from her 15 or more times with HER LEFT FOOT! She does her version of all 20 movements (but has her favorites) . . . . her husband also has taken up TCC as well, so they practice together. Hopefully, she will be walking soon!

Although I’ve taught visualization, self-hypnosis and PATIENCE as well, I really feel that the T’ai Chi Chih, in combination with these techniques, has helped her progress much faster than she would have otherwise!