The Vital Force Archive

Steve Ridley recounts resigning as head of T'ai Chi Chih after Justin Stone objected that two versions of the practice were being taught, and his attempts by letter, phone and videotape to resolve it failed.

Pat Huseby gives five guidelines for teaching seated Seijaku at a Danville retirement community, from sitting to the chair's edge to placing thought in the t'an t'ien, plus advice for fibromyalgia flare-ups.

Writing in response to a flyer for a TCC event, Jean Katus of Ft. Yates argues that teachers should not alter Justin's movements, likening them to notes a musician plays as written.

Justin Stone draws on his years with Himalayan Yogis and Zen monks in Japan to teach catching the moment before thought, repeating "MU" twice and resting in the empty space before the third.

Jean Katus notes that Justin Stone has refused and even returned money tithed by teachers, earning only book and tape royalties and a small share of the accreditation fee, and asks teachers to honor him by making his materials available to students.

A photo spread from the Seijaku and meditation retreat led by Ed Altman and Justin Stone at Santa Sabina Center, April 25-28, 1997, where 23 participants gathered and newly accredited teachers heard Stone speak.

A short passage from Justin Stone's 1991 book Abandon Hope, reminding practitioners that nothing happens without cause and that each word or act should be chosen for a desirable effect.

E. Boyd Tyler describes in a few lines the moment when time stops and practice becomes at-oneness with whatever is, its beauty or its pain, leading home.

Justin Stone describes the moment a sincere teacher realizes that T'ai Chi Chih is doing T'ai Chi Chih, and uses the case of a teacher accredited without proper yinning and yanging to argue for keeping standards high.

Host teacher Sandy McAlister recounts the March teacher training in Berkeley, Ed Altman's first as instructor, with auditing teachers Linda Braga and Pat Huseby praising Ed and Noel Altman's teaching team.

Justin Stone's short refrain, credited to him as an A.S.C.A.P. composer, repeats "Joy, Joy, Healing thru Joy!" and places that joy in the heart, the mind and the soul.

Ed Altman lays out a step-by-step approach for accredited teachers preparing candidates for a Teacher Training course, from the first class through repeating courses, preparation courses and auditing.

Carrie Kinsey of Concord, California offers a brief pyramid poem in which nurturing, struggle and constant joyful practice give rise to a bold red flower.

Justin Stone argues that Moving Meditation suits Westerners better than sitting still, since T'ai Chi Chih needs no special space, clothing or quiet, stills the mind and lets the chi flow.

Dottie Kappler, a student of Pat Huseby in Danville, offers a pyramid poem imagining love as invisible glistening webs that entwine and pulsate their message from one heart to another.

Marlene Brown's account of sponsoring an accreditation week led by Ed and Noel, dismissing worries that Ed was "too young" and crediting them with renewing her interest in Seijaku.

A Pyramid Poem of summer imagery: sunlight on dimpled ponds, bamboo swaying at sunrise, cherry blossoms giving way to green leaves and ripening fruit in fields of summer profusion.

Noel Altman answers the claim that Justin Stone is just an ordinary aging guy by recounting the 1995 Seijaku Training in San Diego, when he feigned losing his plane ticket and caught her in a nurse's condescending tone.

Cristina Minelli returned to her hometown of Mantova after 14 years in the US and, through a sport center owner named Beatrice, gathered 14 students for her first Italian classes.

Five readers write in, from Jackie Kingsbury spiral-binding her back issues to Mike Wavra asking what seated practice means for a man with MS: what do you do with the feet?

Christeen McLain-Horpedahl recounts teaching seated T'ai Chi Chih at Villa Maria Nursing Home in Fargo from 1985, her daughter Kathryn helping residents form circles, Gail Braaten's 12-week study, and two knee injuries healed without surgery.

Elizabeth Boyd Tyler recounts a five-day February 1997 wellness retreat on the big island of Hawaii where nineteen practitioners bonded, and describes how the practice deepened her work as a therapist.

Terry Jennings recounts how, meditating before an April 1997 demonstration, she suddenly relived the San Diego Conference candle lighting ceremony led by Sister Antonia Cooper and the teachers passing light outward.

Two lines from W. S. Wu's Essential Principles for Practicing T'ai Chi Ch'uan, submitted with calligraphy by Virginia Cepeda, hold that doing nothing wins over rushing and gentleness wins over strength.

Teacher notes from Gord Wade in British Columbia, Anna Martens-Janssens in Antwerp, Sharon Davis in Sedona, Jackie Kingsbury in Zephyrhills and New Mexico teachers planning the 1998 conference, plus Lois Mahaney's 80th birthday.

Corine Reeber joined the Tuesday group practice at the Albuquerque T'ai Chi Chih Center and was gently told she was not bending her knees enough, prompting her call to attend the yearly Teachers' Conference.

Roberta Taggart lays out the five-part hour she developed for seated T'ai Chi Chih with frail elderly students at two senior day care centers, from an opening reading through warm-ups, the form, and closing waterfall visualization.

Janice J. Arrott's New Mexico Magazine profile traces Justin Stone from Wall Street and study in Japan, China and India to the Living Batch Bookstore encounter that led to teaching in Albuquerque and the birth of T'ai Chi Chih.

A remembrance of Ken Ridley, the San Mateo man in a wheelchair who supported his wife Hope and son Steve from the sidelines at Practice in the Park, honored with a Japanese Maple planted in Central Park.

Don and Tori Fiore write an open letter urging fellow teachers to set aside criticism of uniqueness and of how movements are done, and to unite in the flow of Chi at this year's convention.