The Vital Force Archive

Colette Hertz describes the exhaustion and deepening after her November 2024 accreditation, teaching seated TCC to her 95-year-old neighbor Roberta, and feeling chi in her fingertips while her right hand was in a cast.

Lisa Stroyan describes how seated T'ai Chi Chih amplifies awareness of the t'an t'ien and feet, with guidance on soft seated weight shifts, chair choice, and letting students sit, stand or rest as needed.

Christian E. Gunning's poem, written out of the November 2024 teacher accreditation course, moves through circle sharing, magpies and mule deer, snow past a west-facing window, and pealing bells.

Marie Dotts gathers reflections from the fifteen candidates accredited with Sandy McAlister at the Franciscan Retreat Center in Colorado Springs, on inner sincerity, finding the t'an t'ien, and community during a divided pre-election week.

Greg Berg recounts his first eight-class beginner course, crediting written class plans, co-teaching with Jim Eagle, Justin Stone readings and closing stillness, while admitting 14 students was too many.

Lanni Lantery recounts a 2003 TCC presentation where built-up Chi made her karate demonstration so fast she split her student's groin cup, plus a beginner's George Clooney remark during Pulling in the Energy.

Greg Berg, who writes free verse himself, examines Justin Stone's Pyramid Poetry form from Climb the Joyous Mountain and reads its seven lines as an ascent of yang and descent of yin.

Tara Stiles recounts coaxing travel companions into doing T'ai Chi Chih in airports before long flights to Australia, and choosing grounding movements like Bass Drum in a cramped courtroom corridor.

Rod Nakayama recounts becoming accredited in November 2024 after seven years as a student, and teaching a class of thirty-plus at his Senior Center, including a seated session.

Marilyn Griffin describes co-leading a bi-weekly open practice at her YMCA with fellow new teacher Russell Stith, building her confidence while navigating the Y's rules about who teaches what.

Reprinted from November 2006, Justin Stone describes Chi as the Cosmic life principle vibrating through all things, and credits consistent T'ai Chi Chih practice for his undiminished health at nearly 86.

Catherine, accredited in November 2024, took the training to deepen her own practice, then found herself teaching when three friends asked for classes in her home.

Lisa Stroyan summarizes a November teachers' Zoom discussion on how referring teachers prepare accreditation candidates, with advice from Marie Dotts, Caroline Guilott and others on one-on-one work, leading practice, weight shifts and when to teach Seijaku.

Excerpts from Spiritual Odyssey in which Justin Stone takes up non-attachment within family life, Buddha's answer that he is awake, the poet Tao Yuanming, and why all healing is finally self-healing.

Carmen Brocklehurst breaks down the hip swivel used in the side-to-side movements, from the slight curve of the hips to Justin's reminder "nose to the front" and grounding the Chi.

Ann Rutherford quotes Justin Stone's Photo Textbook and Heightened Awareness on enlightenment experienced in the body, then asks fellow teachers whether they tell students the deeper meaning of the Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Guy Kent, a Vital Force board member, makes the case for recurring monthly donations to the T'ai Chi Chih community, noting the 2017 tax law's effect on itemized charitable deductions.

JJ Johnson, a self-described novice, describes feeling chi flow like honey from the fingertips, carrying it between movements, and noticing a slight finger flutter at the yin-to-yang weight shift.

After 26 years of practice, Laurie Jacobi questions a rule she thought sacred and begins dropping her hands between movements, finding it releases wrist tension and helps ground excess energy.

In a letter addressed to Justin Stone and then to colleagues, Sherry Corson asks whether the hip swivel is something teachers do or simply allow, finding it arises from relaxed hips and full weight shifts.

Tina Wells devoted a class to resting longer between the 19 movements, and the group concluded that pausing lets chi settle, grounds the feet, and mirrors nature's cycles of activity and stillness.

A letter to future students from one of Donna McElhose's students, K. L., who began T'ai Chi Chih in 2005 after a breast cancer scare and urges beginners to persevere through the awkward first weeks.

Sandy McAlister pairs a Rick Hanson quotation found in her filing pile with Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" to reframe moral outrage over humanitarian and planetary crises as a form of love.

Three of Donna McElhose's College of Lake County students write letters to future beginners, describing bad knees, ankle and wrist ligament injuries, the switch to a seated class, and the fear of being the only man in the room.

April Leffler tries ending each movement both ways, palms facing the earth or hands dropped completely, and finds that attention to the four corners of the feet matters more than the choice.

Terry Jennings answers questions on feeling grounded in resting pose, moving on without disrupting Chi flow, and her favorite Cosmic Consciousness Pose saying: embrace everything, all 10,000 things.

Daniel Pienciak connects the Winter Solstice online retreat he hosted on December 21st to the elliptical yin-yang cycle of practice, describing the hairpin turn between weight shifts as continuous, not frozen.

Judy Hubbell describes teaching T'ai Chi Chih outdoors and at senior centers in the Castro, South Sunset and Ocean Beach, with City College classes for older adults and YouTube sessions for isolated students.

Steven Huskey recounts the teaching that found him after accreditation, from filling in for his own teacher to classes for Parkinson's patients and a brain injury support group, and the lesson plans he abandoned for flexibility.

Lorraine Lepine traces how natural breath, emptying, and slowed movement lead to subtle vibration and inner light, citing Paul Reps and Justin Stone's statement in 20th Century Psalms that we are the product of sound vibration.