Circulating Vital Force: Sharing Stories and Insights
Reader Voices: Chris Norkus
I have ongoing T’ai Chi Chih sessions two days per week and will teach a new round of classes for beginners soon, but recently I had more students than ever attend. I even extended the classes so we could listen to Spiritual Stories from the East and the KNME Justin Stone-Carmen Brocklehurst Interview DVD.
While I have kept many older issues of The Vital Force, I have also cut up some and given away others. Recently, I started looking through the older saved editions again. I always see something in them that makes me want to hang on to them. But today, I just decided to let them go. I took a big stack to my big class and asked every student to take one Vital Force, read it, and come back to the next session with an article, paragraph, or sentence that resonates with them and that they want to share. I also asked them to return The Vital Force issues so that we could continue circulating them until the issues (perhaps) don’t show up anymore. Maybe this process will generate some new subscriptions. Every copy I brought in disappeared. Circulation.
One of my students, who took lessons a couple of years ago and has been a regular attendee all year, did not take a copy today. I asked her why before she left. She said she had taken one a couple of years ago when I offered and had not returned it yet, but she would do so in an upcoming session. Circulation.
I do hope that somewhere there are copies of all the back issues of The Vital Force. They could be of future interest as a reference for documenting the growth and evolution of TCC. Maybe knowing that there is such a stash would make it easier for others to let go of their copies.
Editor’s Note: There is a stash of back issues, which will be archived on taichichih.org.
Photos Needed
The Vital Force is publishing springtime flowers in this May issue because it’s Spring, but also because there is a dearth of high quality and high-resolution images of people practicing T’ai Chi Chih (and practicing correctly). Please send some along when you get a chance. You will be credited and the whole community will benefit.
Website Funding
Your The Vital Force subscription fee not only pays for the publication to reach you via First Class, but it also goes towards maintaining and improving taichichih.org – with valuable information that reaches around the globe. Please remind teachers you know, who do not subscribe to The Vital Force but who enjoy the reach and influence of taichichih.org, about this service and benefit. Thanks for helping.
