The Vital Force Archive

Marie Dotts uses the pearl formed from an irritant to describe how her longstanding struggle with the forward and back weight shifts, and the gripping tension it caused, became her deepest gift to students.

Sandy McAlister announces two new accreditation resources, the Teacher Preparation Suggested Curriculum and the Teacher Prep Coaches created by Lesley Nell, Marie Dotts and Lisa Otero, then passes the role of Guide to Marie Dotts.

TCC Guide Sandy McAlister likens the community's year to Spring, announcing the 2025 focus on Supporting and Strengthening Each Other, new suggested guidelines for preparing teacher candidates, a Foundation stipend for European support, and a July 26 Zoom teacher conference.

Sandy McAlister pairs a Rick Hanson quotation found in her filing pile with Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" to reframe moral outrage over humanitarian and planetary crises as a form of love.

Lisa Stroyan recounts the October "2nd Saturday" teachers' Zoom gathering led by Ev Hanson-Florin, where about 30 teachers compared Justin's written instructions on the Cosmic Consciousness Pose, the heel placement, arm height, gaze and how long to hold it.

Sandy McAlister recounts the 50th anniversary teacher conference in Albuquerque, from Skip Whitson's memories of publishing Justin's books to a raffle and auction that raised $6,974 for scholarships.

Written before the 50th anniversary teacher conference in Albuquerque, April Leffler finds unity in flowing from the t'an t'ien and in the "Chi-mails" teachers send each other with their thoughts.

Dorene Krause describes a June evening event for her students, with shared TCC stories and a practice in two concentric circles, and prints the words she wrote on the unity a circle creates.

Sandy McAlister recounts how her breath settles naturally as she sinks into stillness, citing Justin's insistence that no breathing technique be coupled with T'ai Chi Chih, and a class experiment that found regulated breathing distracting.

Sandy McAlister calls on teachers to fund travel and hotel costs for overseas colleagues attending the 50th anniversary Teacher Conference in Albuquerque, and to sponsor candidates at in-person Intensives and Accreditations.

Sandy McAlister outlines the volunteer-run pieces of the TCC organization and urges every teacher to pay for a listing on the taichichih.org find-a-teacher page, after a researcher searching for a teacher found no names.

Sandy McAlister describes the first California teacher's retreat since COVID-19, held in Oceanside with 20 teachers, and its theme of coming home to community, to practice, and to Prajna, the inner voice heard in silence at the tan t'ien.

Teacher-trainer Daniel Pienciak breaks down Justin Stone's instruction to 'make a graceful conclusion,' describing the full weight commitment, the soundless setting down of the foot, and the pelvic girdle letting go into stillness.

Sandy McAlister describes how a wandering mind lets the Chi rise, bringing headaches and giddiness, and how attention below the waist keeps practice grounded while softness stays shaped rather than limp.

April Leffler describes imagining three coins under each foot, two at the ball and one at the heel, to track the weight shift and finally understand Justin Stone's reminder to bring a movement to a graceful conclusion.

Sandy McAlister questions Justin Stone's phrase "graceful conclusion," recalls how he ended repetitions with a downward thud, and asks teachers who studied with him to respond in the next issue.

Sandy McAlister recounts the second Saturday teacher Zoom gatherings, including September's discussion of TCC polarity and which movements have it, October's swap of class handouts, and tips on Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Sandy McAlister explains why Justin Stone wanted teachers to educate themselves rather than take formal courses, and how conference talks on Taoist philosophy, grounding, meditation and Justin's own travels deepen a teacher's understanding.

Sandy McAlister explains why she left Anchor Taffy and Working the Pulley out of her seated TCC DVD, and why she now believes both belong in the practice with safe adaptations.

Sandy McAlister climbs out of the dent in her couch and returns to a two-mile woodland trail, finding in the walk, its mile marker ritual and lighter return a parallel for restarting a lapsed practice.

Sandy McAlister, in a piece reprinted from 2008, describes how unfocused attention lets the Chi rise into headaches and giddiness, and how attention below the waist keeps softness anchored in grounding.

Sandy McAlister, in a piece reprinted from August 2008, likens the rest between movements to dough rising, the stillness where yin and yang Chi reintegrate before letting go and moving again.

Sandy McAlister announces that intensives become a prerequisite for accreditation, recalls Justin's change of mind about conference breakout sessions, and moves the Tuesday Zoom teacher practice to monthly Saturday discussions.

Sandy McAlister rereads an account she wrote 35 years earlier of teaching her first T'ai Chi Chih class, when 21 students arrived, nervousness became excitement, and fear turned to curiosity.

Sandy McAlister retells Justin Stone's story of the unlettered mantra practitioner who ran across the water, and uses his shrugged answer about hand height in Pulling in the Energy to argue that correctness is found by feeling.

Sandy McAlister traces the Intensive from Ed Altman's 3 1/2-day prep course to the first Zoom Intensive she led in August, and announces that from 2021 teacher candidates must attend one.

Sandy McAlister describes her own holding pattern during the COVID-19 shutdown, the nudge from Pam Towne that ended it, and how teachers turned to parks, mailed lesson plans and Zoom.

Janet Knapp Starr invites accredited teachers to the T'ai Chi Chih Teacher Circle Facebook group, where members have traded advice on Zoom teaching and pandemic class agreements.

Sandy McAlister writes from the first weeks of COVID-19 lockdown, taking John Lennon's Imagine and two Mayo Clinic doctors' viral performance as a way into Justin's teaching on impermanence and her own admittedly false surrender.

Ann Rutherford describes how her New Mexico review group kept its regular practice times apart during the stay-at-home order, practising by shared intention in the Energy Sea rather than on Zoom.