The Vital Force Archive

Sue Bitney draws on Justin Stone's writings about circulating and balancing the Chi to argue that practice heals the practitioner and the world, citing students' reflections at their final 2021 practice.

After an exhausting three-hour Seijaku teaching practice, John Marquez walks to a nearby park, lies barefoot under a tree, and finds Justin Stone's phrase about serenity amid activity coming true.

Lisa Stroyan's notes from Sandy McAlister's monthly Zoom teacher practice cover December's discussion of movement order and January's on drop-in classes, with Zoom tips and handout suggestions.

Paula Haraldson set four intentions for her accreditation course and found grounding the hardest, especially when fatigue from a brain injury left her unable to teach a movement she knew well.

Sandy McAlister climbs out of the dent in her couch and returns to a two-mile woodland trail, finding in the walk, its mile marker ritual and lighter return a parallel for restarting a lapsed practice.

Bianca Lee's poem traces the move from hiding fear and imperfection to trusting the group that caught her, closing with accreditation week as a beginning rather than an ending.

Daniel Pienciak takes Justin Stone's reminder that softness means lack of tension into the weight shift, suggesting practitioners feel the receiving knee lead and release rather than stiffen.

April Leffler introduces the ten teachers accredited in the fourth Zoom course with Pam Towne, with their mission statements and reflections on grief, letting go and finding softness during the week.

April Leffler describes the phrase "present time awareness" surfacing during a morning practice, the small mental check-outs it gently interrupted, and how returning attention to the soles of the feet carries over into daily life.

Sue Bitney recounts auditing the final days of a teacher accreditation course, describing the candidates' vulnerability and courage and the welcome she offered them in their last conversation together.

Lynne Roberts recounts moving from a dancing career and USO shows into TCC, her one-on-one preparation with Corinn Codye, and the 1988 Morro Bay accreditation where Justin interrupted her presentation.

Jessica Lewis, who teaches veterans in chronic pain for the Federal T'ai Chi for Veterans program, describes using very few words in a first class so students discover the Chi themselves.

Linda Braga recounts seeing a newspaper photo that led her to Valerie Lawson Smith's class, her 1985 San Leandro accreditation with Justin Stone, Partner Practice teaching, and the frigid Green Gulch retreat.

Patty Stupca's short poem urges practitioners to stop standing and fighting to make things right, and instead relinquish control so the T'ai Chi Chih energy can flow up, down and all around.

Pat Hill of Golden, Colorado recounts finding a T'ai Chi Chih class taught by Steve Ridley in 1985 after her marriage ended, her 1986 accreditation in Santa Clara, and the backyard training sessions she later ran for candidates.

Rebecca Paulson's pyramid poem "One" grew out of re-reading Chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching in Stephen Mitchell's translation, and her note on yin, yang, grounding and the dynamic Chi.

Denise Alire practices T'ai Chi Chih barefoot on the sand by the bay, fretting over unfinished shopping and no cash, then finds two rolled twenty dollar bills at her feet.

George Manning's prose poem urges readers to uncover the Chi already within and 'say Chi' to each new beginning, followed by pyramid poems from Elizabeth S. and Jan Kirch on ducks, spring trees, daffodils and mist.

Passages culled from Justin Stone's books, including Meditation for Healing, Gateway to Eastern Philosophy & Religion, Heightened Awareness and the out-of-print Abandon Hope, on posture, mantras, joy and the effort of no effort.

Donna McElhose asked her current students to write welcome letters to future beginners, and they describe bad knees and a seated class, being the only male in the room, and the daily practice that finally made the movements make sense.

Drawn from Justin Stone's spoken word CD, a Lotus Sutra passage, the Nasrudin tiger powder joke, Hakuin's enlightenment by broom and his Song, notes on purification, and a warning that a teacher who does not practice is a fraud.

Diana Daffner tripped on a curb, broke her elbow, and found she could approximate most T'ai Chi Chih movements with her arm in a cast, which came off after fourteen days.

Carmen Brocklehurst recalls her 1980 Albuquerque accreditation on Justin Stone's birthday, Justin correcting her Carry the Ball hip swivel, and learning TCC from Rev. Helen Brungardt Pope.

Dorene Krause takes four lines about the growth of certainty, heard in Daniel Pienciak's Seijaku course, and applies them to years of practice, including a student's account of returning to class thinking she knew the movements.

Ann Rutherford recounts a Tibetan Buddhist class where the lama, his translator and a sangha member warned that T'ai Chi was dangerous, and argues that holding the close position grounds circulating Chi.

Marcella Levie connects Marie Dotts's Zoom guidance about letting TCC do her with the Hebrew Letter Movements she teaches, tracing her path from a Siesta Key beach in 1991 toward accreditation.