The Vital Force Archive

Meg Scinto's flight home from the 2017 conference seated her beside a man whose nephew took his life after Afghanistan, strengthening her plan to start a class for veterans.

Justin Stone gives three reasons for keeping the concentration in the soles of the feet, citing the Buddha and Hakuin Zenji on bringing heart fire down to the t'an t'ien, then defines karma.

Nancy Jo Bleier recounts the 2017 Boulder teacher conference through the hunt for a usable hotel bathroom at altitude, drinking water all day, swollen ankles, and gratitude for chi and laughter.

Dora Wiemann's conference talk asks where we actually are while practicing, urging presence in the feet and t'an t'ien, gratitude to the teachers who came before, and attention to what Around the Platter Variation reveals.

Judy Hendricks noticed the 2017 conference community practice was unusually grounded, crediting Sandy's announcing of each movement and "last one," the format Justin used at Albuquerque teacher practices.

Marie Dotts guides teachers through a rededication ceremony at the 2017 conference, quoting Justin Stone on teh, inviting Sky Young-Wick to read on sharing, and having each teacher pour yin and yang sand into a large Tao symbol.

Diana Bahn recounts hiking to Bear Lake after the Boulder conference, meeting KG and Lisa Otero, and sitting by the Big Thompson River imagining her stress carried off to the sea.

Lisa Otero names the Core Planning Committee and Northern Colorado volunteers behind the 2017 Boulder Teacher Conference, from the raffle and vocal auction for the scholarship fund to the rededication ceremony and video recordings.

Hannah Hedrick treats impatience as an attack thought and gratitude for "therapeutic irritations" as practice, recalling Justin's corrections to her Joyous Breath and Working the Pulley and explaining why she rarely corrects nursing home or newly released students.

Prompted by David Parrish's conference talk on brain imaging research, Sandy McAlister asks her students whether TCC is a mindfulness practice, and finds that relabeling her class sign "Moving Meditation" stopped the interruptions.

Adabelle Rychtarik recounts the business basics covered at her 2013 Albuquerque accreditation, then describes calling 911 when a new seated student lost consciousness in class and later needed a pacemaker.

Pam Towne recaps the 2017 conference along Boulder Creek and summarizes her talk on grounding: resting until the Chi settles, shifting weight like sand in an hourglass, and counting repetitions in the soles of the feet.

An announcement that the 2018 conference will take place near Philadelphia in the summer, hosted by April Leffler and Kathleen McAllister, with the place and date still to come.

Daniel Pienciak, with Sandy and Pam, passes on the movement corrections they gave at conference: releasing the knees in Rocking Motion, bending the back leg fully, and keeping the hips from swinging side to side.

Kent Jarratt rides a four-hour local bus home from his April accreditation in Aston, sizing up every passenger as a future student, then watches his enthusiasm turn to fear until his barber becomes his first weekly student.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recalls seeing Justin Stone carrying laundry to the car as Joy embodied, and teaches grounding through the soles of the feet, the t'an t'ien, and feeling rather than thinking the movements.

Ev Hanson-Florin and Nancy Werner-Azarski gather comments from attendees of Sandy's May 2017 intensive, who describe breaking each movement apart and rebuilding it, including a weight shift insight for Bird Flaps Its Wings.

Caroline Guillot's conference presentation on feeling the chi through Rocking Motion, Daughter in the Valley and Pulling Taffy, letting go before and after each movement and noticing polarity between the palms.

Sharon Sirkis recounts three classroom mishaps and puns, including a student who insisted she had taught only variations of the Six Healing Sounds and a Working the Pulley question that turned into a Supremes singalong.

Jessica Lewis, once the only accredited teacher in Delaware, lays out practical promotion tactics: a logo and business cards, a website, free newspaper coverage, short free presentations, doctor contacts, and a local TV interview.

Dr. David Parrish draws on Richard Davidson's neuroplasticity research to argue that T'ai Chi Chih, as an evidence based moving meditation practicing attention and letting go, trains the brain for well-being.

In a transcribed lecture, Justin Stone contrasts changing the Chi directly through T'ai Chi Chih with the harder path of mind control, and explains how free-flowing Chi erases habit energies and the seeds of Karma.

A conference presentation on lifting the palms slightly from neutral, hinging at the wrist, to open the meridian channels in Around the Platter and Push Pull and strengthen the flow of Chi.

Dorene Krause traces a T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classics quotation she copied down as a new student in 2001 to her 2017 conference breakout session on letting the t'an t'ien lift the body in vertical movements.

JoEtta Heck prints the lyrics of the conference parody of John Denver's Rocky Mountain High, telling how Marie Dotts brought the Chi to Colorado, complete with cues for welcome signs.