The Vital Force Archive

Justin Stone, writing in 1988, describes balancing the yin and yang aspects of chi as one of life's great secrets, drawing on Hua Yen Buddhism, Indian prana and acupuncture to argue that all healing is self-healing.

A short note congratulating the teachers certified at the October 1992 Chicago course, crediting Steve's instruction and the cooperative effort of Lia and visiting teachers, with new names listed in the enclosed Teacher Directory update.

Amy Hackenberg's poem follows a heavy oak door that will not open to weak knocking, until the speaker leans full against it, stops struggling, and is carried inward by the swinging arc.

Hannah Hedrick reports that the Chicago area now has 29 certified instructors, a listing in the Directory of Self-Help and Mutual Aid Groups, and plans for a shared group brochure.

Ellen Tatge's letter to Justin Stone after Seijaku training, in which his instruction to feel the resistance became a metaphor for her own inner resistance, followed by dreams of practising and of being swept by an ocean current without fear.

Hannah Hedrick reports on the third Chicago instructor certification course, held at the American Medical Association headquarters, where Steve and Lia accredited ten new teachers planning to serve people with cancer, HIV, MS, schoolchildren and seniors.

Ralph Garn of Denver, a runner for 20 years who always wore down the outsides of his heels, found that after a month of TCC footwork his shoe wear evened out.

Drena Delaney learned to run the equipment to produce a Chicago cable access program featuring Steve and Lia, while local teachers launched the T'ai Chi Connection newsletter and monthly Sunday meetings to refine the movements.

Marlene Brown, newly accredited in Cincinnati, describes teaching at the Procter & Gamble and GE fitness centers and the 14-year-old student whose mother noticed the sparkle return to her eyes.

Steve Ridley's open letter to newly accredited teachers urges them to begin teaching at once, approach community colleges and recreation centers, practice faithfully every day, and stop teaching if that daily practice lapses.

A four-point checklist teachers can walk through with prospective candidates, covering Steve Ridley's preparation expectations, clearing the week of training dates, sending half the course fee as a deposit, and submitting a letter of recommendation.

Justin Stone traces T'ai Chi Chih's spread from a single class at Albuquerque's Open Mind Bookstore to more than 500 accredited teachers, recalling the Indian renunciate who secretly bought cigarettes.

Ralph Garn's pyramid poem traces the shift from believing he shaped himself as a 'little learner' to sensing that the chi is now shaping him.

Ralph Garn of Syracuse hears a timeless 'new' song of love sung within him one morning, and an inner voice answers that this is only a sample.

Steve Ridley announces his new book Spiritual Poetry, introduced by Liz Salada and available directly from him, with three sample poems on paired opposites, ocean fog over oak hills, and autumn's first snow.

Jean Katus passes along her sister's goofy puns drawn in a Wisconsin kitchen, including "T'ai Chili," "T'ai Kiwi" and a "T'ai Chickin" flapping her wings around the platter.

Joanne Sultar describes her drop-in Saturday class in a Berkeley school yard, her Alameda Parks and Recreation series, and students including a woman with chronic fatigue syndrome who gained energy in one week.

Jean Katus draws on a Minnesota Public Radio interview with Lakota musician Kevin Locke, whose work with the Native flute preserves oral-tradition courtship songs and restores dignity to a dispirited people.

Justin Stone defines karma as action and its fruit rather than blind destiny, and argues that circulating and balancing the chi through TCC fades habit energies, burning the karmic seeds.

Rosa Santamaria, a teacher candidate preparing for Bay Area training, describes how Steve Ridley's "Just Do It" prompted her daily morning practice and how refining Pulling Taffy felt like relearning everything.

Ralph Garn describes his early morning ritual in Syracuse, beginning with coffee and stretching, then Rocking Motion at the open deck door until the chi takes over and gratitude follows.

Readers thank the editor for the conference issue, Lisette Tingesdahl sends Justin Stone a belated "unbirthday" greeting, and Jamie McDonald argues that too many words and symbols deter her from learning T'ai Chi Chih.

Michael Merriman's pyramid poem traces an accreditation course from the apprehensive arrival of candidates through five long evenings to Saturday's completion, when the Chi becomes the new teacher.

Four quotations from Steve Ridley, including a passage from his book PERSPECTIVES in Motion & Stillness, on awareness released from mind-body exclusiveness and meditation as acute listening-surrender rather than conceptual excursion.

Justin Stone tells teachers to correct how a student moves rather than what they move, after seeing teachers at the Summer Conference stand rigidly with feet anchored instead of yinning and yanging through legs, hips and waist.

Viola Moriarty's pyramid poem, written after a Monday night T'ai Chi Chih practice at Steve's house, describes positively charged atoms and soft energy gently effecting Constant Creation.

Marcia Jones, a massage therapist and student of Liz Salada, describes her chronically cold hands growing warm, her body signalling which foods disagree, and T'ai Chi Chih making her a cleaner vessel for healing energy.

Steve Ridley describes a stage of practice where, once the movement principles are effortless and chi circulates freely, chi itself prompts adjustments in timing, alignment, emphasis or shaping.

Judy Hughes and Mike Merriman describe how Colorado grew from five certified instructors to twenty-one after the June and October teacher trainings, with monthly practices, brown-bag lunches and hopes of hosting the 1995 Conference.

Chapter eight of the Tao Te Ching, likening the highest good to water that gives life without striving, followed by a brief note defining shen as the spirit ruling body and mind.