The Vital Force Archive

Ann Rutherford pairs Lao-Tzu, Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey and physicist David Bohm to teach the Matter and Substance sections of Seijaku, asking students to sense the congealed energy rather than resent it.

Nancy Werner-Azarski reports on the February 2004 Minnesota one-day workshop led by Judy George and Marie Dotts, where 12 teachers and 18 students drew movement and principle requests from a bowl.

In a letter to Justin Stone, Marilyn Irvin lists the changes of her first year of practice after fourteen years with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, including an acupuncturist who could not find her chi.

Debbie Cole's verse of thanks, written at the close of the last Seijaku teacher training weekend Ed Altman would lead, credits Justin Stone's original inspiration and Altman's years as conduit.

Margery Erickson, crossing 50 yards of iced-over walkway from her garage after teaching an evening class, told herself to think soft knees, sink down and move slowly and continuously.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recounts Joe, a student who arrived depressed and in a stocking hat, revealed an incurable cancer diagnosis at Week 7, and died months later happy, according to his wife.

Rebecca Busching practiced in the corner of a Los Angeles business seminar room, where one attendee swore the wallpaper waved above her hands and another offered to help with her tremors.

Kathy Grassel introduces the prize-winning poem of Paul G., a painfully shy twelve-year-old in her juvenile detention T'ai Chi Chih class who was tried for manslaughter after an alleyway fight.

Athene Mantle reports from Redwood Glen in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where Ed Altman led his final Seijaku teacher training for 27 candidates and 19 auditors, urging them to linger in softness.

Judy Tretheway asks the TCC community for prayers after lock-downs, budget cuts and an earlier cell-return time suspended her five-and-a-half-year Folsom prison class indefinitely.

Lisa A. Thorburn's pyramid poem pairs rolling fog, drifting mist and sunlit leaves with the refrain "Resisting, Releasing, Letting Go," naming Seijaku as serenity in the midst of activity.

Four pyramid poems from teacher Lisa Thorburn and her students James Braswell and Majori Fremont, naming quieted minds, released tension, mosquitos taught patiently, and chi moving soft through the body.

Holly Davis names herself as the obstacle that kept her from learning Seijaku for nine years, then describes the weekend workshop with Ed and Athene that finally dissolved her resistance.

Michael Isaacs sets out three aspects of spirituality in T'ai Chi Chih, "It", "Is" and "As", linking circularity, peace, stillness, joy, beauty and transcendence to specific movements from Rocking Motion to Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Debbie Cole's pyramid poem praises simplicity, flow and form, inner peace and the strength of a community strong in number and in spirit, calling on the world to hear it.

Judy Tretheway's prayer for a class, which came to her during Rocking Motion one early morning, asks to be emptied of expectations, regrets, wisdom and doubts so loving energy can flow through.

Pam Towne recounts reviewing Seijaku with fellow teachers, taking home Ed's image of the weight shift coasting onto the front foot like a boat approaching the dock, and explains who can learn the form.

Jan Arrott practices on her porches between the prairie and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, keeping binoculars nearby for passing wildlife, and describes snowfall, drought-thinned cattle and singing blackbirds.

Debbie Cole's pyramid poem praises a teacher whose soft hands and fluid, joint-deep movement inspire lasting integrity, concluding that whatever label he holds is beside the point.

Ruth and Sam write to Sr. Francis about a Mozambique campsite where both woke paralysed and suffocating, and did T'ai Chi Chih facing the ocean at 1:00 a.m. until the fear faded.

In a January 2004 letter to Justin Stone, Linda Braga describes auditing Ed Altman's Seijaku training in California, where 49 teachers gathered at a campground retreat reserved by Athene Mantle.

Sr. Francis A. Kay introduces an unedited account from Ruth and Sam, adding what they left out: the beautiful Indian Ocean beach where slaves were beaten and dragged onto ships still shows that energy.

Athene Mantle recounts hosting two house guests through back-to-back intensives, Ed's emphasis on softness and flowing chi, seeing chi at her seated classmates' feet, and star-like sparkles on a Santa Barbara beach.

Sher Dano describes being selected with Deanne Hodgson as one of about 20 facilitators in a 2004 National Council on Aging pilot bringing qigong, breath practice and self-massage to seniors.

Pam Towne reports on the first West Coast TCC Intensive at Mt. Calvary Retreat House, where Ed Altman led 24 participants in four days of refinement and marked the end of his tenure as community head.

Carolyn Perkins recounts taping a six-minute T'ai Chi Chih segment at Martha Stewart's Westport studio, persuading Stewart that her 89-year-old mother, recovering from hip replacements, should practise seated.

Sr. Antonia Cooper announces Pam Towne's appointment as Seijaku Trainer, explains how teachers can sponsor Seijaku trainings, and previews upcoming conferences in St. Louis, Albuquerque and Minneapolis.

Pam Towne collects comments from teachers and students who attended the TCC Intensive, including Jan Kovac feeling chi flow for the first time and Holly Sanders describing breakthroughs in moving from the t'an t'ien.

Carolyn Perkins recounts how she and her husband Michael drove twelve hours through the High Atlas Mountains to Meezouga, then climbed the highest Sahara dune so she could practise on New Year's Day.

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.