The Vital Force Archive

Justin Stone, in a piece reprinted from September 1999, quotes Sri Nisargadatta on the Life Force and argues that T'ai Chi Chih exists to circulate and balance Chi, not to entertain or defend.

Claire Whalen replaced dwindling eight-week beginner classes with weekend and one-day intensive formats at her convent retreat center, paired with a Harvard Health Letter report on UCLA's T cell study.

Linda Braga hands her Tibetan singing bowl to students, who discover that a tense grip yields only a thud, and Stephen Thomson urges teachers to bring awareness down from the head into the body.

Judy Hendricks on Carmen Brocklehurst's Seijaku workshop amid June cottonwood snow, Connie Hyde on Sister Antonia Cooper's Albuquerque retreat, and Lois Arrigotti on World T'ai Chi Day in Golden Gate Park.

Rita Otis describes hosting Antonia Cooper's March 2008 Omaha workshop for forty participants, where a double pane window shattered mid-practice, and links her idea of "creating space" to Meister Eckhart and the Tao Te Ching.

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.

Carol Mockovak reports on Pam Towne's April teacher training in St. Paul, where 11 candidates presented to audiences from an artists' cooperative to senior housing, plus Susan Kissinger's account of Antonia Cooper's St. Louis retreat.

Editor KG walks through what taichichih.org offers teachers, students and journalists, explains why The Vital Force will not link to individual teacher sites, and asks that unaccredited teaching be reported.

Francesco "Mondo" Mondini, newly accredited in Mantova, practices on a hillside facing Mount Baldo and describes how softer, freer movement carries into his mountain climbing and competitive skiing.

Michael S. Isaacs practices reluctantly during a flight delay and finds effortless flow by Around the Platter, followed by Seth Ambrose's account of recovering from a suicide attempt and craniotomy with TCC.

Betty J. Roberson credits daily practice with easing stress and improving her sleep after a sedentary life of caregiving, while Maybelle Filler recounts a snowy Saturday outdoor session in Sitka and her wordless first classes.

Carmen Brocklehurst recounts Justin Stone's sudden move from Taos to Albuquerque, where two students found him in a bookstore, and Catherine Fedewa describes teaching a few classes yearly as ministry.

Paula Rivers describes taking Sharon Sirkis's ten-week class at Tai Sophia Institute, using the movements to calm a headache after witnessing a highway accident, and practising morning and evening for sleep and patience; Larry Bloom likens Rocking Motion to a rower's effortless swing.

Robert Montes de Oca lists his volunteer work at an animal clinic, a retreat center and a jail psychiatric unit, where wearing a TCC t-shirt draws more participants.

Sr. Antonia Cooper contrasts branded "T'ai Chi for Health" programs with TCC's all-inclusive simplicity, recalls Justin Stone's caution against promising cures for specific ailments, and prints pyramid poems written by twelve women, eleven of them religious sisters, at a Jersey Shore retreat.

Sandy McAlister compares the rest between movements to bread dough rising, explaining how yin and yang Chi reintegrate in stillness, with Pam Towne inviting teachers to host trainings.

Rhonda St. Martin, RN, introduces T'ai Chi Chih to nurse life care planners, citing the Journal of Gerontological Nursing balance study and the UCLA shingles immunity trial alongside her own experience since 1986.

Jean Katus teaches Daughter on the Mountaintop by synchronizing hands with the weight shift and keeping fingertips pointed upward, followed by Carmen's account of the torus of energy formed as the hands cross.

Ev Hanson-Florin gives step-by-step instruction for Daughter on the Mountaintop, from the heel-forward weight shift to the hands crossing at center, followed by Carrie Schapker's poem for her mother Mary.

Good Karma Publishing announces the second edition of Justin Stone's Climb the Joyous Mountain, with excerpts from his introduction on lessons from Ramamurti Mishra, Priest Ogata and the Himalayas, plus Carmen Brocklehurst's foreword.