The Vital Force Archive

Dixie Adeniran quotes Justin Stone on the joy at the center of our being, then describes feeling joy released through Light at the Top of the Head and Joyous Breath.

Maggie Breimhurst describes avoiding the four Pulling Taffy movements, then connecting them to Justin Stone's writing on vashanas and samskaras, and cutting two to six repetitions to befriend them.

Dixie Adeniran lists the new beginnings of her first teaching year: training with Lisa Otero, accreditation in Santa Barbara with Pam Towne, first classes in January 2015, and practice turning from physical to energetic.

Anita Vestal, the only accredited teacher in Costa Rica, answers questions on teaching rural villagers in Spanish, loosening their tightened muscles, and leading her construction workers in fifteen morning minutes.

Jim Shorr counts three new students at his Wilsonville Joy with Movement group as a holiday gift, including a math teacher who calls the taffies and Working the Pulley a way to synchronize left brain and right brain.

Tish Jaramillo, an acupuncturist newly accredited as a teacher, identifies the Bubbling Spring as Yongquan Kidney-1, the first point on the kidney meridian, and explains its grounding function in Five Element theory.

Amy Tyksinski describes shifting from mechanics to feeling-sensing through the t'an t'ien, using weekly journal-dialogue and peer teaching with her high school students, and taking her first semester off in 20 years.

Sheryl Adair's morning sunlight cast a shadow partner on the floor, letting her watch and correct an egoless "student" whose weight shift was even but whose close was rushed.

Sandy McAlister's senior students named world peace as a New Year's wish, prompting her to watch her use of the word hate and, after singing Red River Valley to Bedouin hosts in Jordan, to ask practitioners to send peaceful vibrations outward.

Monica Campbell recounts a colleague's remark in a T'ai Ji practice group at The Marsh, "The aliveness is in the intention of the opposites," and how it reshaped her sense of grounding and flying in Light at the Top of the Head.

Daniel Pienciak, told a year after accreditation that his wrists needed more softness, shows where give belongs in the wrist joint using Bass Drum, Push Pull and Rocking Motion.

Nancy Jo Bleier recounts jamming her right leg on a house step in June 2014, the conference, retreat and Seijaku practices she had to cancel, and her slow return through seated T'ai Chi Chih.

Vicki Shroeder and Steve Stevens preview the August 6-9 teacher conference at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, with a peace and harmony theme, Seijaku sessions and reviews of Justin's writings.

Linda Sercarz came to T'ai Chi Chih for severe PMS, found it again after a lupus diagnosis in 1999, then admits she let her practice lapse for years before returning to it with gratitude.

M. C. Bauder credits a first community education class with Jean Katus for breaking loose stopped-up chi, ending a fear of going anywhere alone and easing stiff joints.

Judy Resele found a cable soundscapes station for her practice and used the eight panes of her window to track repetitions, freeing her mind and lengthening her Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Bonnie Schowalter dedicated her first practice to her sister, who died unexpectedly in October, and visualizes holding her heart in her hands during Around the Platter and Pulling in the Energy.

Lisa Otero, who runs the official T'ai Chi Chih Facebook page, gives practical guidance on starting a local page: naming without the apostrophe, including your state abbreviation, keeping other practices off it and posting daily.

Jean Katus relays what her monthly practice regular Carol reports: calmer nights, better sleep, lower blood pressure, and balance regained after knee replacements, plus dropping the Pulling in the Energy visualization before bed.

Marie Dotts organized an October 2014 retreat at Estes Park after only six months of teaching, and the seventeen students and Pam Towne's presence gave rise to a 100-day practice commitment, online groups and regular gatherings.

Linda M. Barrows recounts a few years of practice: tiring legs before Cosmic Consciousness Pose, her teacher Monica's shift from "most distant star" to "healing energy," and Six Healing Sounds under a backyard oak.

Deb Bertelsen recounts the weeklong accreditation course at Kings House Retreat Center led by Sandy McAlister, where seven Minnesota candidates formed a sisterhood, with their own words and pyramid poems.

April Leffler answers questions about why she teaches, recalling the woman in a wheelchair with an amputated leg who asked at a high-rise apartment presentation whether she could join a class.

Alice Holden remembers Texas teachers Renza Moscatelli Baker, who came to T'ai Chi Chih after cancer weakened her legs, and Richard Cutler, honored at his wake with nine rounds of Rocking Motion.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst names T'ai Chi Chih itself as the greatest gift, recalling her sister Corine's gratitude for the practice while working all day and spending evenings at her hospitalized husband's bedside.

Deb Bertelsen answers questions about why she teaches, describing Minnesota's "Accreditation Journey Framework" for guiding candidates, her reliance on email and phone to stay connected, and the divorce and rheumatoid arthritis that first brought her to T'ai Chi Chih.

Justin Stone's booklet excerpt gives the keys to six movements, from the full 180-degree waist turn in Working the Pulley to the ancient Chinese origins of the Six Healing Sounds and the ankle placement in Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Judy Hendricks returns to the Summer Solstice 1984 first issue, where Justin Stone vowed to keep TCC pure, and argues against regional variations, citing T'ai Chi Ch'uan's growth from 36 movements to 108.

Linda Jones recounts falling without warning, losing words to aphasia, and then a New Year's Eve brain scan that returned a diagnosis of global cerebral atrophy and coming dementia.

Justin Stone on vitality as chi, the six Indian darshanas, seed mantras and why he avoids chanting Om, ending with the woman who screamed from the heat when he did Around the Platter mentally while giving Johrei.