The Vital Force Archive

Justin Stone insists that benefit depends on how you move: flowing from the t'an t'ien with no effort in shoulders or arms, correct yinning and yanging, and no striving to please the teacher.

Justin Stone names impatience as an ego problem that peaks in city traffic, contrasting twitching drivers at red lights with his friend Sri Dadubhai, who meditates by staring into the distance.

Justin Stone marks the birthday party at the Albuquerque T'ai Chi Chih Center, argues TCC is making the world a better place, and adds two pyramid poems written in 1999 en route to Kyoto.

After watching teachers and students at a retreat shift weight incorrectly, Justin Stone urges teachers to stress that T'ai Chi Chih happens below the waist, with loose wrists and spread fingers.

Justin Stone argues that "flow softly" should be a teacher's first instruction, since strain contracts the meridians, and adds a companion piece distinguishing spirituality from religion and linking gratitude to happiness.

Justin Stone argues that attitude and motivation decide the outcome of any undertaking, from piano practice to a foreign language, citing Hitler's anti-Semitism, Southern slavery, karma, and a defiant sweatshirt slogan.

Justin Stone answers teachers' questions about T'ai Chi Chih after he passes away, confirming Sister Antonia as Guide, Sandy and Pam as the only Intensive teachers, and a proposed scholarship fund for candidates.

Justin Stone answers his own terse questions on truth, rain, old age and compassion, declaring darkness positive, arguments foolish, and chi the greatest influence on our lives.

Justin Stone urges teachers who lack understanding of softness, circularity and polarity to audit classes and ask questions, and explains why he never took a cent from teachers.

Justin Stone asks teachers to stop calling T'ai Chi Chih simply "T'ai Chi," distinguishing it from the 108-movement T'ai Chi Ch'uan and criticizing advertised "short forms" sold for profit.

Justin Stone describes T'ai Chi Chih as working on both inside and outside, citing letters reporting release from smoking, alcohol and narcotics, relief from arthritis and migraine, and the 'effort of no effort'.

Justin Stone insists attitude comes first, describing the yinning and yanging, the effort of no effort, and movement below the waist, plus the weight loss and recovery students report.

Justin Stone distinguishes T'ai Chi Chih from the martial arts that share the name "Supreme Ultimate," citing textbook translations into Spanish, Italian and French, a letter from the American Medical Association, and his conviction that doctors will one day refer patients to classes.

Justin Stone praises the August conference and its 17-person planning committee, then corrects teachers for careless yinning and yanging, insisting the knees bend deeply because TCC is done from the waist down.

Justin Stone's casual notes argue for seeing from the Universal rather than the personal standpoint, calling time and change illusion, Nirvana the Garden of Eden, and most teachers tellers of what students want to hear.

Justin Stone presents quotations he found in old papers, possibly from Gopi Krishna's Higher Consciousness, on bioenergy and kundalini, with his own commentary on where they fit T'ai Chi Chih.

Justin Stone collects jottings found among old papers, from Paul Reps's line about having "no thing" to be grateful for to the Uncarved Block, arrogance, boredom and the two levels of truth.

Justin Stone argues that maturity begins when we admit the true motivation behind our actions, and examines the habit energies and white lies that cloud self-knowledge.

Justin Stone writes that beauty cannot be defined but opens to anyone, from the early riser at dawn to a Dutch doctor who hired symphony players for a string quartet, and argues that only those who accept death can be grateful for life.

Justin Stone's short poem watches the stars fade at daybreak and turns to time as the great key, warning that whoever lacks love for others finds only Self.

Marking the journal's twentieth year, the July 2004 issue reprints Justin Stone's letter to teachers from the Summer Solstice 1984 first issue, on harmonizing Kidney yin and Heart yang and keeping the practice pure.

Justin Stone corrects common errors: the wrists, not the arms, do the work in Carry the Ball to the Side, hands stay cupped in Push Pull and Passing Clouds, and Working the Pulley turns from the waist, plus news of his conference videos.

Justin Stone traces the Vital Force from Corinn Codye's founding through Noel Altman and Kathy Grassel, and asks lapsed teachers to subscribe again and rejoin the community.

Justin Stone, writing for a health organization, cites the zero percent recidivism among T'ai Chi Chih practitioners at Folsom Prison, a Wall Street Journal report on shingles immunity, his unbroken bones after a fall at Needles, and his own blood pressure.

Justin Stone tells teachers that pointing out where the hands go is not enough, explaining how ending movements with hands parallel to the floor and the Cosmic Consciousness pose let yin and yang rejoin.

Justin Stone argues that T'ai Chi Chih is true Zen practice without the struggle, contrasting Eiheiji's 3:30 A.M. zazen with effortless movement from the T'an T'ien into Mushin.

Justin Stone instructs teachers to watch below the waist, insisting students stay sunk down through forward and backward movements and swivel the hips in sideways ones before being sent to Teachers' Training.

Justin Stone advises newly accredited teachers on filling classes: speak from personal experience, set a fair fee, use classified ads, and seek radio interviews, recalling the Los Angeles broadcast that produced fifteen weekly classes.

Justin Stone pledges that T'ai Chi Chih will stay free of bureaucracy, salaried positions and profit motives, proposing that the $100 in teacher-training honoraria go instead to a scholarship fund for needy candidates.

Justin Stone quotes Swami Rama of India at length on prana as the Cosmic life principle, then credits his own undiminished health at nearly 86 to consistent T'ai Chi Chih practice.