The Vital Force Archive

Rebecca Busching squeezed Rocking Motion into every break at a Los Angeles finance seminar, and in a far corridor a passing stranger told her, "Ah, you are aware, little Grasshopper."

Seon Keun Oh recounts the teacher accreditation course in Ringwood, New Jersey, the gift book signed by every candidate, and his resolve to carry T'ai Chi Chih back to Korea.

Virginia Shilson describes an outdoor practice in which she released intruding thoughts, became unusually immersed in the chi, floated indoors, wrote a celebration of life, and danced around the room.

Becky B. Watkins records two images from her accreditation course: Dan Pienciak's teaching of Seijaku as serenity in the storm, and Sr. Antonia's gentle giant imagery after Taffy wrist circles.

Kathy Grassel, teaching at a juvenile detention center, finds a warden performing flawless T'ai Chi Chih, learned from Ron, a quiet former student now serving time in adult prison.

Freddie Solomon tells newly accredited teachers that accreditation marks the start of learning to teach, and that finding your own voice, personality and laughter matters more than what you say.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst describes the every-other-month Saturday review class that draws students of all levels back to basics, including a video-taught beginner who drives four hours and traced the chi's path exactly as Justin taught it.

Nancy Beck and Larry Sava report on West Texas's first T'ai Chi Chih workshop, where Pam Towne taught fifty students at HealthPoint Wellness Center, honored Justin Stone at dinner, and refined movements with five teachers.

Nancy Adams and Roseann Heinrich report on the accreditation course at Mount St. Francis Retreat Center, where Sandy McAlister led 11 candidates, 15 auditing teachers assisted, and new teachers headed for Korea, Newfoundland and the Dominican Republic.

Larry and Nancy secured TV interviews, a live radio broadcast, newspaper listings and a Women's Expo demonstration, with Larry advising teachers to send a press release and FAQs beforehand.

Justin Stone, writing for a health organization, cites the zero percent recidivism among T'ai Chi Chih practitioners at Folsom Prison, a Wall Street Journal report on shingles immunity, his unbroken bones after a fall at Needles, and his own blood pressure.

Dan Pienciak thanks those at the TCC Joy thru Movement events, credits Ed Altman's intensive and two-signature system for the best prepared accreditation class yet, and announces eleven new teachers.

Terry Gay Puckett recounts a two-day workshop at Health Point in Lubbock, where Pam Towne corrected about 50 participants, readings from Justin's books followed dinner, and teachers got Saturday afternoon alone with her.

Two letters, from Barbara Riley to Dr. Weil's wellness bulletin and from Kendelyn Beck to Time, asking both to name T'ai Chi Chih correctly in reporting the UCLA immune-response study of seniors.

Sheila Leonard, newly accredited and the first T'ai Chi Chih teacher in Newfoundland, Canada, describes effortless learnings bubbling up as her practice deepens, closing with a pyramid poem from her Ringwood accreditation.

Linden Royce recounts a weekend retreat at La Casa de Maria where seventeen teachers and students worked with Pam Towne on moving from the center, circularity and polarity, plus sacred circle dancing.

Sr. Antonia Cooper, OSF, newly named Guide of T'ai Chi Chih, recounts her mid-life crisis, learning the form in St. Paul, pairing it with Centering Prayer, and conservative sisters' fears she would become a Buddhist.

Becky Watkins recounts the gentle corrections and encouragement of Sandy McAlister and Dan Pienciak during a teacher accreditation week, where candidates dismantled and rebuilt their practice, and closes with a short poem.

Participants at the Santa Barbara retreat give their own words on what they took home: individual feedback on their practice, greater chi flow, and the feeling of a group moving as one organism.

Sr. Antonia Cooper thanks Ed and Noel Altman, Jean Katus, Kathy Albers, Ted Fleischman and Marjie Bassler for their behind-the-scenes work, closing with Justin Stone's words on impermanence and gratitude.

Becky B. Watkins wrote these pyramid poems on the plane home to Louisiana after a November 2003 Teacher Training week, on pulling taffy, sinking from center, chi, and trees rooting into the earth.

Carmen Brocklehurst led a three-day October meditation retreat at the Madonna Center in Justin Stone's style, and the traditional Saturday silence gave way when Justin himself arrived.

Margery Erickson gathers sayings about change and flexibility alongside quoted passages from Connie Hyde, Lisa Renee France and Melinda Menke on letting go of emotion, bending like bamboo, and clearing negativity that blocks chi.

Marian Demko describes her accreditation week with teacher trainer Sandy McAlister and host Dan Pienciek, where corrections were given quietly and teacher auditors offered fresh perspectives day or night.

Ann Rutherford recounts a PBS documentary shown at the October Meditation Retreat, where physicists stalled one second before the Big Bang, and answers with Sri Aurobindo's words on Prana as Chi.

Victor Berg defends Justin Stone's habit of criticizing students publicly, comparing it to the harsh methods of Zen teachers like Hakuin and Huang Po, and argues that those who blame Justin lack honesty about their own unwillingness to change.

Kristin Orwick thanks those who readied her for the T'ai Chi Chih teacher-training week, naming retreats, auditing teachers and candidates, Dan Pienciak and, above all, Sandy McAlister.

Ann Rutherford collects participants' answers to Carmen's closing question at the meditation retreat, including "I can feel the Universe breathing," and describes carrying "there is only one thing going on" back to work.

Lisa Jacobs recounts her September 2003 teacher training week with Ed Altman and auditing teachers, where correcting her movements left her seeing the outside world differently and called to change.

Becky B. Watkins offers a sequence of pyramid poems written in flight, moving from God's sigh and human oneness to gratitude, loving-kindness through the chi, and soft hands in Push/Pull.