The Vital Force Archive

Daryl Isenberg describes her twice weekly practice group in Ajijic, and Hannah Hedrick recounts how Theda Gillespie sold her the book in 1985 only on the promise she become accredited.

An invitation to the 50th anniversary TCC Teacher Conference in Albuquerque, July 25-28, 2024, with registration at $495, followed by Sharon Sirkis's five class anecdotes from senior centers and a college group.

Catherine Fedewa, who co-chaired the 2023 online Teacher Conference, names what Zoom gave the community and what it could not, and looks ahead to the in-person anniversary gathering in Albuquerque in 2024.

Terry Gay Puckett strings together phrases gathered at the 2023 conference, from "effortless effort" and "empty the cup" to feeling the soles of your feet and remembering Justin Stone.

John Lee Marquez, a teacher of nine months, describes his first TCC conference under the theme "Remembering Connection," with videos and stories of Justin Stone and notes on deepening practice.

Laurie Jacobi arrived at the 2023 teacher conference convinced 24 years of practice had taught her all there was to know about body mechanics, then came away with new refinements in Bird Flaps Its Wings, Around the Platter and the Six Healing Sounds.

Jessica Lewis recounts how she, Anita Vestal, Adam Lacey and Sokie Lee won a 30-minute experiential slot at Boston's OSHER Whole-Person Health Conference in September 2023, funded partly by grants and T-shirt sales.

Adam Lacey travelled from Oxfordshire to the inaugural Tai Chi and Qigong research conference in Boston, where prominent scientists named T'ai Chi Chih in their trials and attendees sought out the day-two experiential workshop.

Dr. Anita Vestal reports from the inaugural Science of T'ai Chi and Qigong as Whole Person Health Conference, where Dr. Helen Lavretsky could not locate a TCC teacher for a study through the website directory.

Hannah Hedrick expands on the constellation idea born during Linda Prosche's stay in the Hawaii rainforest, inviting comments on a Prime Mover graphic with Justin as North Star for the 2024 conference.

Host Jessica Lewis introduces participant accounts from the March 2023 Zoom Intensive, where teachers and candidates report new sense of the t'an t'ien, fuller weight shifts, relief from knee pain, and reconnection to community.

Hannah Hedrick works through the principles she took from the four teacher trainers' presentations at the international conference, from pressing dimes into the floor to using wrists rather than arms in Working the Pulley.

Amy Tyksinski gathers quotations recorded in small group sessions with Justin Stone around his metaphor of dyeing the cloth, linking devotion, faith and letting go to becoming large-hearted.

Laurie Jacobi recounts how pandemic isolation in Minnesota opened a fruitful emptiness, drawing on Lao Tzu, Japanese flower arranging and the slowed transitions between movements, followed by readers' Pyramid Poems.

Ann Rutherford defends the closing position as grounding rather than ornament, recounting a student whose ungrounded chi threw Ann into spasms of pain, plus her lightning-rod and kelp teaching images.

Patty Stupca uses the Zen parable of the overflowing teacup to ask what expectations, shoulds and judgments students bring to practice, offering gratitude as what to fill the cup with instead.

Guy Kent compares solo and group practice after the 2022 teacher conference, recalling forty-minute sessions with Justin in Albuquerque and suggesting practitioners time their own practice against that mark.

Eliza Fulton maps the body's subtle anatomy - the toric field, chakras, the shushumna and the koshas from physical to bliss body - and argues TCC's circular movements rebalance them; a short poem by Terry Gay Puckett closes the piece.

Linda Prosche describes attending the virtual 2022 Teacher Conference with 150 others, lying on the floor to rest her back, and finding that less effort meant she learned more.

Lynne Roberts recounts the 2022 virtual conference with 60 volunteers and 163 teachers, praising new presenters and April Leffler's tip of mentally placing dimes on the soles of the feet.

Paul Ciske argues from the physics of the center of mass, which shifts with posture and can fall outside the body entirely, that the t'an t'ien is dynamic, empty and representative of the universal.

Rosalind L Braga praises the 2022 conference for its easy attendance and the fact that no one had to choose between presentations, and for awakening a lasting sense of belonging among longtime teaching colleagues.

Ron Richardson turns five things his parents told him as a child, from "Pick up your feet" to "Stand on your own two feet," into practical reminders for TCC students about posture, stepping, breathing and independence.

JJ Johnson quotes a line from a 2007 Carmen Brocklehurst article to a frustrated veteran student, then cannot find the sentence anywhere in the text; with Pyramid Poems by Johnnie Lee Marquez.

Judy Chancey and Sky Young-Wick outline the 2022 International Teachers' Conference on Zoom, themed Cultivating Wisdom, from the Friday Around the World Practice to Sandy McAlister's opening words, Seijaku mornings and breakout rooms.

Suzanne Roady-Ross recounts Judy Chancey's conference presentation on teaching veterans in the ocean, waist or chest deep, replacing familiar imagery with waves, sinking sand, porpoises and frisbees.

Susan A. Corey describes taking up Seijaku and Fast Track at the Zoom conference Continuing the Connection, likening her first Seijaku practice to falling gracefully into cool water.

Mary Strom gathers teachers' takeaways from the March 2021 online retreat on transitions, including Judy Kistler-Robinson's discovery that the palms turn before the weight shift completes in Rocking Motion and Push Pull.

Anne Rutherford recounts asking Justin Stone whether Turiya meditation alone sustains awareness, then embedding a chosen ego fixation as a felt sense in Seijaku's resistance section, with self-inquiry questions for students.

Host April Leffler collects participant accounts from Sandy McAlister's four-day Zoom intensive, including breakthroughs in the front and back weight shift, breakout group feedback, and one student's tearful Rocking Motion.