Webinar Event: Arlene Faulk in conversation with Dr. Deborah Holton

Join local author and Tai Chi teacher Arlene Faulk as she discusses her new book, Walking on Pins and Needles: A Memoir of Chronic Resilience in the Face of Multiple Sclerosis. She will be joined by Deborah Wood Holton, Ph.D., MFA, a Professor Emerita at DePaul University, with advanced degrees in American Theatre Studies, English, and Creative Writing, as well as a professional coach.

Deborah is a Black Earth Institute Distinguished Fellow Emeritus and a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Institute Fellow on the Black Aesthetic. While Holton’s scholarly work explores various topics such as African American culture and literature, her creative endeavors resonate with African and women-centered folklore, myth, and culture.

She has been Arlene’s Tai Chi student since 2008. With a zest for inquiry and creativity — plus her down-to-earth, light-hearted style — Deborah brings more than 32 years of award-winning experience engaging with adults committed to fulfilling their lifelong and life-wide aspirations.

Having transformed her own dramatic story into a memoir, Arlene will talk with Deborah about her book, her journey, and more in this compelling webinar.

Sunday, April 24
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

ZOOM WEBINAR
Watch the video recording below.

F R E E

Register is closed for this free virtual event on Zoom. View the recorded version below or on the YouTube Channel.

The event will include:

Arlene’s reflections on health as a catalyst for self-discovery.
How Arlene tapped into the power of relationships—changing and constant
Walking the Tai Chi road from novice to teacher.
A reading from her book, Walking on Pins and Needles.
A Q&A with participants.

Follow Arlene on Facebook and Instagram for news about her upcoming memoir and Tai Chi classes, tips and observations about keeping our balance in life.

Arlene is also available to speak to your group or on your podcast. Call 312-642-0722 or use the Contact form.

ABOUT ARLENE FAULK
Arlene Faulk is a teacher, writer, storyteller and accomplished business woman. Through a zigzag trajectory, she discovered her calling with Tai Chi and has been teaching for more than 20 years in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois. In her award-winning blog, she interweaves Tai Chi principles and her own life experiences to inspire readers to live their best lives.

Her moving memoir, Walking on Pins and Needles: A Memoir of Chronic Resilience in the Face of Multiple Sclerosis, chronicles her inspiring story of how a chronic and debilitating health condition lacks the power to control our lives and stop us from moving in the direction of possibility.

ABOUT DR. DEBORAH WOOD HOLTON

Deborah Wood Holton’s doctoral papers, which center on Lorraine Hansberry, are part of the Chicago Public Library’s Vivian Harsh Research Collection holdings.

Publications, such as “Musings on Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower,” in About Place, and “For Adults Only: Teaching Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed, A Competence Based Approach,” in the award-winning Modern Language Association volume, Approaches to Teaching Octavia E. Butler, reflect a merging of her ongoing Butler research and her NEH work on the Black Aesthetic.

Holton is also a Certified Professional Coach and Energy Leadership™ Index Master Practitioner. Founder of The Comfort Club, she led a series of online workshops fostering women’s self-care and nurturance. Holton has taught courses at the Newberry Library. She has facilitated Transition Network workshops and was a featured guest for both the WomenOver70 network and Chicago’s Roots Watering Hole, where she shared her knowledge and reflections on Chicago’s Black Arts Movement.

With great respect and pride, she is honored to be a part of Arlene Faulk’s book launch festivities.

TESTIMONIALS FOR WALKING ON PINS AND NEEDLES

“Arlene vividly shows how perseverance, changes in lifestyle, and daily commitment to healthy exercises can lead to health. She lives out what I’ve learned through my years of clinical research. Be inspired and get ready to begin your healing journey, a step at a time!”

"Arlene Faulk’s memoir of self-healing shows two decades of ignoring symptoms, burying suffering and refusing to quit. Her succinct, unadorned chapters read like eating popcorn. No woo-woo, no religious visions, but powerful, simple 'steps' that change her illness to life energy."

"In Walking on Pins and Needles, Arlene Faulk delivers a gripping memoir of her exciting professional trajectory, first interrupted, then ultimately flattened, by chronic neurological disease. Hitting a dead end with Western Medicine, she explores other healing modalities, including the ancient, low-impact movements of Tai Chi. Slowly, steadily, her health returns. A powerfully inspirational story, exquisitely written."

"I have known Arlene since I started my integrative medicine and neurology practice at the Heartwood Center in 2013. I know firsthand the healing effects of Arlene’s Tai Chi classes through the experiences of our mutual patients and clients. After reading her memoir, I am honored to know such a truly exceptional individual. Her book documents her journey as she navigates the highs and the lows of life with multiple sclerosis. More importantly, it’s an inspirational account of the power of self-healing. I highly recommend this book to anyone going through their own personal health and healing journey."

"Walking on Pins and Needles is an amazing story of resilience. Arlene finds a way to reinvent herself, obstacle after obstacle. Along the way she finds the healing powers of Tai Chi, and as typical for her, uses this to help heal others. This book is a living example of the impact exercise and positive attitude have on health. It is also a reminder for those of us in the medical field to be persistent in finding positive solutions for our patients and acting as their partners in health. Excellent book to read and share with others who need inspiration!"

"With a quiescent calm and intimacy, Arlene takes us on her journey from getting off the couch to teaching Tai Chi in response to debilitating disease. When Western medicine offered no or unsatisfying answers to what she later learned to be Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Arlene listens to her body and embarks on the world of Eastern medicine and changes her life. This is an inspiring read for Acupuncture and Tai chi students and practitioners and for those with chronic illness who are bold enough to look outside of the box."

"This riveting book tells the astonishing true story of Arlene Faulk's reshaping of her life as she reclaimed it from multiple sclerosis. From her start as one of few women climbing the corporate ladder, she movingly takes us, step by step (literally), through her wrenching descent into a nearly immobile existence—and then her miraculous rise into an active, happy life grounded in the practice and teachings of Tai Chi. Like its author, the book conveys deep truths with deceptive simplicity, straight from the heart. Along with her many other students, I've found inspiration and healing in Arlene's approach to teaching Tai Chi, a gentle way of re-orienting those of us with physical challenges whose echoes resound through this compelling narrative."

Walking on Pins and Needles: A Memoir of Chronic Resilience in the Face of Multiple Sclerosis

by Arlene Faulk

Now Available

River Grove Books