The Vital Force Archive

Sandy McAlister recounts walking barefoot through the pagodas of Myanmar, where flashing electric halos behind Buddha statues and footprints in the earth led her to ask what imprint her own speech and actions leave.

Four short poems by Sharon Sirkis, Nicholas Johnson and Mercedes Randall, each taking one element, fire, body, air and ground, down to a few lines about being present.

Pam Towne announces the T'ai Chi Chih International Foundation, incorporated in New Jersey in June 2013 and granted 501(c)3 status, ending the practice of individual teachers personally guaranteeing conference facility contracts.

Tiffany Anne Mangalindan, juggling two jobs, summer courses, an internship and wedding planning, recounts how a summer TCC class eased her anger, sharpened her focus and reduced her asthma inhaler use.

Daniel Pienciak describes moving away from insisting on a full daily practice, citing Justin Stone's own suggestions of shorter programs and personal selections, and finding his classes fuller because of it.

Michele R. Dapelo of Baltimore strings the names of the movements, from rocking motion through the taffy variations to the Cosmic Consciousness Pose, into a narrative of one ordinary day as a memory aid for the sequence.

Carmen Brocklehurst recounts how Justin Stone handed her a tape of his 1990 Teachers' Conference lecture and asked how others would hear it, leading to the booklet Evolution Through Chi.

Bayleigh Oberlander, who found T'ai Chi Chih during college, describes the balanced energy, greater peace, physical steadiness and improved body temperature regulation she noticed after beginning to practice.

Robert Montes de Oca describes seven years of volunteer classes in psychiatric acute care units, including an inmate who learned all the movements over 18 months and read Justin Stone's Abandon Hope.

Roseann Heinrich recounts the 18 months from her son Joe's brain tumor diagnosis in May 2012 to his death in October 2013, and the daily practice she did in hospital waiting rooms to find peace and courage.

Jackson Rains compares Good Karma's two Justin Stone instructional DVDs, the 2005 four-teacher filming and the 1994 solo re-release, on mirroring, music, chapter breaks and picture quality, and recommends the solo version.

Sue Bitney recounts the five months between her husband Jim's lung cancer diagnosis in October 2012 and his death in March 2013, and how practice, Sandy's seated DVD and a visit from Antonia sustained them both.

April Leffler replaced two cancelled university classes with an assignment to research T'ai Chi Chih on social media, and three students report what they found on Facebook and Twitter, from the bubbling spring and trembling fingers to studies on depression in the elderly.

Mary Wichmann traces in a list of short unpunctuated lines how she opened the Mary Sullivan box, faced the sadness and fear inside it, forgave herself and others, and began to sing again.

Social work student Lauren Robson and a classmate review the TCC health benefits page and Twitter feed, noting claims about migraines, chi flow, depression and the discovery of seated practice for wheelchair users.

Pia Knighton traces her path from a Houston retreat center brochure to accreditation in 2011, and describes teaching weekly 30-minute TCC classes to adolescents on the Menninger Clinic psychiatric unit.

After a conference talk on social media, April Leffler assigned her university students to research T'ai Chi Chih on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube; three students' papers on bubbling spring, seated practice and daily habits follow.

Diana Daffner recounts meeting Dr. Alan Dattner at her weekly sunset practice on Siesta Beach, where he described how Around the Platter Variation warmed his cold, constricted fingers and now helps his Raynaud's patients.

Aphorisms from Justin Stone on contraction and expansion, the unhappiness he observed among the monied people of the financial world, and the need to balance Yin and Yang or face trouble.

Social work students Lauren Robson and a classmate review the TCC health benefits page and Twitter feed, noting claims about migraines, chi flow, seated practice for wheelchair users, and lifting depression.

Terry Jennings passes along an exchange in which a student with MS and vertigo practices lying down or on the couch, with Sandy McAlister and April Leffler advising effortless movements and both feet.

Caroline Guillot recounts how Dora Derzon's advice at a Minnesota conference to really ground at the end of Rocking Motion turned her 'Hovering Conclusion' into a 'Landing Conclusion' and cleared her headache.

April Leffler assigned her university students a one-page paper on what they could learn about T'ai Chi Chih from Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, and prints excerpts from three of them.

Adabelle Rychtarik recounts her November 2013 accreditation week in Albuquerque with trainer Pam Towne, the early morning practices with visiting teachers, and seeing the film of Justin at Folsom Prison.

Dorene Krause practices on a windy October morning at Dennisport on Cape Cod, anchoring her feet against the gusts, matching her movements to the sea, and watching a gliding seagull that offered no resistance.

Two social work students report on the TCC health benefits page and Twitter feed, with Lauren Robson noting migraine and blood pressure claims and another discovering seated practice for wheelchair users.

Dana Diller calls accreditation week both the greatest and most trying experience of her life, and credits the intensive she attended beforehand, plus the teachers' insights, for preparing her to teach.

Ann Rutherford recounts being thrown to the ground and hospitalized after grabbing the feet of an ungrounded teacher prep student at a retreat, and Justin Stone's warning afterward.

April Leffler assigned her university students a one-page paper on what they could learn about T'ai Chi Chih from Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and YouTube, and prints three of their write-ups.

Barb Shambach names her accreditation week enjoyable, humiliating and encouraging by turns, thanks Pam Towne and the auditors, and lists her plan to organize notes, study Justin Stone's DVDs and teach at a Michigan Y Center.