The Vital Force Archive

Justin Stone examines the Buddha's teaching on dukkha, arguing that suffering springs from our own habitual desires and that only a disciplined mind, honest introspection and emptying of old patterns can change it.

Richard Karasik recalls Justin Stone telling him "Softness AND continuity IS the essence of T'ai Chi Chih," and uses symphonies, rests and punctuated circles to unpack that unnamed whole.

Concluding "Who Am I?", Justin Stone moves from Shinran's Pure Land faith to the Buddha's five hindrances to meditation, Ramana Maharshi's verses on breath and absorption, and Hakuin Zenji's "Song of Dhyana".

Victor Berg announces that Good Karma Publishing is closing, with remaining funds paying KG to convert Justin Stone's books, DVDs and CDs into free online versions, and inventory discounted meanwhile.

Maya Campana Caudill writes that she and her husband, in their late 70s and early 80s, still lead free twice-weekly T'ai Chi Chih and Qigong practice in the park for about 16 people.

Dora Wiemann's beginner class sank into moving meditation during Daughter on the Mountaintop and stayed there through Daughter in the Valley, emerging only when Carry the Ball to the Side's instructions intervened.

Susan Kenney remembers Clifford, a student of 44 who traveled by skateboard, called out the movements while stooping to read them off the page, and lived in a monastery-like studio apartment.

Lisa M. Otero, a yoga instructor, recounts how studying the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita after Justin Stone's death revealed the Raja Yoga roots behind his seemingly obscure teachings.

Lorraine Lepine describes a Stone Circle in Kenmare, Ireland, where a beam of light through the center stone became a recurring practice vision of Justin Stone at the heart of the TCC community.

Justin Stone gathers Zen anecdotes with his own encounters: Joshu Sasaki telling a lawyer to remove an imaginary coat, a silent hour before a yogi in samadhi at Baroda, and Honen's father's dying request.

Sheryl Adair practices outdoors in Sarasota on the fourth anniversary of Justin Stone's death, while visiting her nearly 97-year-old uncle, and finds herself carrying all of life during Carry the Ball to the Side.

Justin Stone on vitality as chi, the six Indian darshanas, seed mantras and why he avoids chanting Om, ending with the woman who screamed from the heat when he did Around the Platter mentally while giving Johrei.

Richard Karasik draws on conversations with Justin Stone about art, music and stocks to argue that the spaces between TCC movements are alive, and recalls Justin's insistence on staying true to the form.

Sheryl Adair recalls Justin Stone talking oddly about his belt in his living room until she realized he wanted her own tight elastic belt loosened before meditation, an indirect lesson in paying attention.

Carmen Brocklehurst recounts how Justin Stone handed her a tape of his 1990 Teachers' Conference lecture and asked how others would hear it, leading to the booklet Evolution Through Chi.

Packing Good Karma Publishing catalogs for a conference, Carmen L. Brocklehurst realized the catalogs serve the students waiting for Justin Stone's materials, and argues his DVDs convey a purity words cannot.

Sheryl Adair returns from visiting a friend facing another round of chemotherapy, and a Mark Nepo line about thinking sends her back to her daily T'ai Chi Chih; five Pyramid Poems follow.

Maxime Wan recalls meeting Justin Stone in Edmonton in 1989, staying with him in Pacific Grove and Albuquerque, and being called out in 2006 after three years practicing Falun Gong instead of TCC.

Judy Hendricks marks the first anniversary of Justin Stone's death with a joyful teacher-led practice in Albuquerque, lunch at India Palace, a Ruth Fuller Sasaki quote, and a dream invitation into oneness.

Sky Young-Wick admits he avoided Justin Stone out of fear of his blunt feedback, then describes sensing his presence during practices in Kansas City, including one his student Jack felt too.

Ann Rutherford recalls Justin Stone's Turiya meditation retreats in Albuquerque's South Valley and his two lessons, then shows how Seijaku's resistance section and weight shift help release karmic attachments.

More than twenty Pyramid Poems by students and teachers, including Caroline Guilott, Dora Derzon and Nancy Frost, honor Justin Stone a year after his death, alongside captions for two new Good Karma Publishing CDs.

Larry Bloom, who never met Justin Stone, builds an imagined interview by pairing his own questions with excerpts from Stone's book Heightened Awareness on habit energies, Consciousness, retreat-hopping and circulating Chi.

Judy Hendricks recalls Justin Stone through his books and paintings, from his answer to a schoolboy's question about Daughter on the Mountaintop to his advice to meditate every day.

Linda Braga recalls a five-day meditation retreat Justin Stone led at Green Gulch Farm nineteen years ago, when the zendo proved so cold he ended the first sitting early.

Judy Hendricks recounts a vivid dream in which Justin Stone motioned her to sit beside him and said, "Come join me in the oneness," words she now hears when practicing or meditating.

Jerry Granok recalls the five-day meditation retreat Justin Stone led at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in April 1993, from the nail-free Japanese guesthouse to the cliff paths above the Pacific.

Pete Gregory hears Justin Stone's "practice, practice, practice" as both a teacher's instruction and a friend's plea, linking regular practice to circulating and grounding the Chi and to empirical knowing, or Chih.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst thanks the TCC community for the messages of love sent to New Mexico after Justin's death, and quotes a summer student who feels close to him through his DVD.

Students and teachers from Humboldt to Las Cruces send short messages after Justin Stone's death, recalling accreditation week meetings, dedicated morning practices, healing from scoliosis, and a line from Spiritual Odyssey about letting go.