The Vital Force Archive

B. Ryan offers six pyramid poems written in chronological order instead of a journal, moving from a wish to transcend empirical reality to a prayer and a dream of swimming in the sea.

Gregg Bradley offers four pyramid poems titled Outlook, Sensations, Thoughts and Aftermath, tracing life before T'ai Chi Chih, vibrating hands, a calm clear mind, and solid steps afterward.

Daniel Pienciak recalls Justin Stone's rehab center sign, "Habit is the enemy of old age," and asks why so few students and teachers venture beyond their own teacher to conferences and intensives.

Pam Towne recounts the conference's renewed interest in Seijaku, describing Prajna as the wisdom aspect of Chi and the four formats presented by Carmen Brocklehurst, Ann Rutherford, Dan Pienciak and herself.

Pam Towne returns to Justin Stone's reminder that T'ai Chi Chih is done primarily below the waist, tracing how the t'an t'ien and weight shift move the hands for us.

Daniel Pienciak found that a year of teaching on Zoom demanded keener focus and heightened awareness, and argues that according with impermanence, rather than clinging to the familiar, moves practice forward.

Daniel Pienciak compares learning to use an electric razor without pressure to finding softness in T'ai Chi Chih, recommending 27 or 36 Rocking Motions and Seijaku to keep the t'an t'ien charged.

Pam Towne takes up Justin Stone's promise that befriending the Chi brings a long, healthy life and an easy death, offering practical ways to do it: softness, continuity, relaxed wrists, freer waist turns and quiet sitting afterward.

Pam Towne recounts the August Zoom TCC Intensive she led with Sandy, where participants from both coasts and the United Kingdom felt strong Chi flow, and offers practical tips on breaks and breakout rooms.

Daniel Pienciak recounts the panic episodes and hypervigilance he faced during COVID-19 quarantine, and how Justin Stone's Maximum Chi Program, Seijaku and forty minutes of daily meditation restored him.

Daniel Pienciak recalls two earthquakes during a Santa Barbara TCC Intensive, then explains how a low, appropriately wide stance keeps practitioners grounded, including a chair-supported exercise for seniors.

Pam Towne recounts setting up Zoom, a new router and a persistent call to her internet provider so she could teach online, then turning the Prescott springtime retreat into a four-day online gathering.

Pam Towne cites research on bi-lateral rhythmic movement calming the amygdala and a UCLA study showing raised T cell activity, explaining why TCC practice steadies people during COVID-19.

Daniel Pienciak describes the expansion and contraction he feels in the t'an t'ien during weight shifts, using shadows, Peter Pan and rooted trees, and credits TCC and Seijaku with steadying a recently recognized case of PTSD.

Pam Towne recommends Seijaku as a next step after a year of T'ai Chi Chih, describing how it deepens softness, increases Chi flow, and recalling Justin Stone's 1986 teaching of the form.

Daniel Pienciak recalls his accreditation trainer's disappointment at a sloppy Anchor Taffy repetition, and how doing thirty-six Rocking Motions at the start of practice brought a new grounded feeling through every weight shift.

Daniel Pienciak answers a student's complaint about wandering thoughts with Justin Stone's advice to return attention to the soles of the feet, plus guidance on sinking the mind into the t'an t'ien.

Justin Stone recounts the Buddha answering "I am awake!" and names habit energies behind compulsive behavior, followed by Sarah Riley's note on Daniel Pienciak's Seijaku retreat.

Pam Towne, accredited in 1984 and present at every conference since 1985, recounts the Minnesota gathering: the Veterans Administration T'ai Chi program, brain research on bilateral rhythmic movement and PTSD, and Sandy McAlister's grounded closing practice.

Dan Pienciak lists six awareness points drawn from Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey: natural breathing, releasing tension in the joints, feeling the t'an t'ien, continuous knee movement, waist and wrists moving as one, and even weight in the soles.

Pam Towne lays out the practical differences between a three or four day TCC retreat, open to anyone, and the four and a half day intensive for teachers, candidates and year-long practitioners.

Daniel Pienciak defines softness as lack of tension and continuity as movement without abrupt starts, stops or slippery spots, naming the lunge-and-return habit in Daughter on the Mountaintop and offering the basin-of-water image for an even weight shift.

Dan Pienciak returned to teaching after three family deaths, and used Gene Kelly's remarks about being grounded to the earth and dancing from the waist down to re-focus his classes on grounding, softness in the upper body, and surrender.

Dr. Janet Oussaty reports from the inaugural International Medical Tai Chi and Qigong Association conference at Massachusetts General Hospital, where researchers proposed grandfathering accredited T'ai Chi Chih instructors into new standards.

Daniel Pienciak lists practical lessons from years leading two senior memory loss groups: speak loudly, repeat movements six or eight times, walk to each person, and return to favorites like Six Healing Sounds and the Joy Song.

Pam Towne looks back through her saved folders from every teacher conference since the first two-day gathering at Asilomar in 1985, recalling Justin's stated twofold purpose and the silent group practice of 100 teachers.

Daniel Pienciak compares the forward and back weight shift to shifting a car through neutral, using Sandy McAlister's phrase "glide and arrive" to show that stillness on one foot does not break continuity.

Pam Towne links softness to letting go of muscular tension and self-critical thoughts, and recommends Seijaku after a year of practice as the way to feel release after resistance.

Dan Pienciak, who learned Seijaku from Justin Stone in 1997 and needed ten years to feel its benefits, argues the advanced form belongs to the essence of TCC rather than a fringe few.

Daniel Pienciak takes Marley's warning to Scrooge, "Save yourself," into the new year, naming the darker reactions and the fear, including fear of trusting a leg to support you, that block Chi and keep students from teaching.