The Vital Force Archive

Guy Kent recounts Justin cutting short his accreditation presentation for comparing TCC to "T'ai Chi in the park," a lunch about stock charts and guilt, Saturday teisho readings, and Justin's tears over a critic who renamed the movements.

Lisa Otero counts the hundred-plus students who have come through her five classes in 15 years, including a new athletic student she misread completely, followed by Annie Braudy's discovery of soft hands.

Lisa Stroyan describes locating her tan t'ien lower and deeper than expected during April Leffler's online accreditation, and A.B. of Albuquerque finds Bass Drum and Around the Platter blurring the boundary between self and cosmos.

Connie Shaw recounts a class in which teacher Marie Dotts urged students to practice with soft eyes and follow where the Chi led, and Shaw felt the room dissolve into light.

Two student assignments collected by Donna McElhose: Nancy L. maps the electrical, magnetic and heat sensations she feels movement by movement, and Bryan F. describes chi radiating from the t'an t'ien like ripples in a pond.

A sequence of pyramid poems by Beverly Miles, moving from passing clouds and softness that beckons chi to an ode to Seijaku and a closing poem on conference connection and flowing gratitude.

Daryl Isenberg describes her twice weekly practice group in Ajijic, and Hannah Hedrick recounts how Theda Gillespie sold her the book in 1985 only on the promise she become accredited.

Excerpts from Spiritual Odyssey in which Justin Stone credits the growth of T'ai Chi Chih to teachers' teh, or inner sincerity, warns against treating it as a business or as exercise, and insists movement come from the center.

An invitation to the 50th anniversary TCC Teacher Conference in Albuquerque, July 25-28, 2024, with registration at $495, followed by Sharon Sirkis's five class anecdotes from senior centers and a college group.

Seven subscribers, among them Sue Bitney, Michelle Crow, April Leffler, Beverly Miles, Carolyn Pogwist and Guy Kent, wrote whatever surfaced after practice, from Passing Clouds and the water cycle to the t'an t'ien's glide in Working the Pulley.

Rebecca Paulson describes the February 24th gathering at the Windsor Recreation Center, where more than 30 people from eight towns, some practicing in person for the first time since the pandemic, completed a full silent practice.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recounts a friend being told about T'ai Chi Chih for high blood pressure by someone who did not know she already knew, and urges a post-Covid return to daily practice.

KG recalls Justin Stone quietly pushing her photography career forward: buying a print he did not want, sending her to find a Belgian fine-art book publisher, and posing for the Photo Text.

Anna Vaith, who once found writing pyramid poems as enjoyable as a dentist visit, describes how Carmen Brocklehurst's guidance at the summer teacher conference produced a poem she loved.

Sandy McAlister calls on teachers to fund travel and hotel costs for overseas colleagues attending the 50th anniversary Teacher Conference in Albuquerque, and to sponsor candidates at in-person Intensives and Accreditations.

April Leffler traces the "three-part harmony" of soles of the feet, softening knees and t'an t'ien in her practice, then asks how that same sense of connection applies to relationships in life.

Pam Towne, accredited in 1984 and present at every teacher conference since Asilomar in 1985, urges teachers to come to Albuquerque in July for the first in-person gathering in five years and TCC's 50th birthday.

Four intuitive writings after practice: Dora Wiemann basking in a peaceful bubble, Dixie Adeniran finding the Cosmic Rhythm in kelp and swings, Terry Gay Puckett's Monday circle, and Daniel Pienciak surrendering a tight shoulder.

Three practitioners write in: Parker Reynolds practiced TCC mentally while coming out of hip surgery anesthesia, Sherry Corson found relaxing hands and belly deepened her Chi, and Lynne Roberts keeps teaching while awaiting back surgery.

Justin Stone's own definitions of koan, mantra, prajna, samadhi, satori, teh, T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Zen, drawn from two of his books and showing how his emphasis shifted over time.