The Vital Force Archive

Liz Humphrey recounts practising T'ai Chi Chih before, between and after three 45-minute Gamma Knife radiation sessions for a suspected returning brain tumor, and her neurosurgeon calling her a miracle.

Three Pyramid Poems by Illinois students of Donna McElhose: Ramona Zalapi's "A Spirit Enlightened," and Jan Kirch's "Passing Clouds" and "Dandelions," which finds impressionist gold in a green field.

KG introduces herself as the new editor after Victor Berg's resignation, lists the publishing and writing work she brings to the job, and sets out submission guidelines, word counts, deadlines and quarterly themes.

Ann Rutherford's gathered quotes from the Albuquerque retreat, including Justin Stone on sinking down and letting the arms fall off, Sister Antonia on present reality, and participants on stillness and caring.

A page-by-page list of the editor's final corrections to the May 2007 issue, covering dotted leader lines in the table of contents, typos, hyphens and dashes, the capitalization of T'an T'ien, and a note distinguishing Good Karma Publishing from the journal for tax reasons.

Marilyn Birchfield, diagnosed with breast cancer, took Donna McElhose's class at the Cancer Wellness Center of Northbrook and found Rocking Motion rising in her body on the rocks at Lake Michigan after a hospital stay.

Responding to Justin Stone's question about why so few accreditation courses are held, Sr. Antonia Cooper outlines how teachers can identify, invite, support and organize serious students toward accreditation.

Judy Tretheway, teaching three days a week in the yards of New and Old Folsom prisons, collects students' accounts of moving as one heartbeat and closes with her poem "Currents of Consciousness."

An invitation to the annual teachers conference as a gathering of people on a spiritual path, paired with passages from Justin Stone's Heightened Awareness on loneliness, compassion and Joy.

Nancy Jo Bleier's journal of recovery from her second hip surgery, from seated practice and holding a bookcase to a Seijaku without support, plus Sitka's monthly TCC-by-the-Sea waterfront gatherings.

Dorene Krause describes what total immersion in T'ai Chi Chih feels like, letting go of ego and mechanics, and invites teachers to four days of it at the 2007 conference at the Hilton Woodcliff Lake.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst argues that service is the basic intention of the T'ai Chi Chih community, quoting Justin Stone on balancing and circulating the Vital Force and citing a teacher who felt cheated at not learning sooner.

Judy George walks through her teaching of Rocking Motion from the ground up: grounding, stacking ankles, knees, hips and shoulders, floating arms, and massaging the nerves in the soles of the feet.

Margo Carpenter, sitting down to write about service, notices that writing is like knitting and builds an extended comparison between a ball of yarn and a life shaped stitch by stitch, rip-backs included.

Dorene Krause's short poem on waves at Silver Beach opens Siobhan Hutchinson's account of the Sea of Chi Teachers Retreat, where Sister Antonia and Dan Pienciak helped her readjust a practice gone off track.

Ev Hanson-Florin describes launching three beginner classes in the West Sussex village of Sidlesham after her January 2007 accreditation, and how students' own clear explanations of the movements deepen her practice.

Sharon Sirkis recounts three encounters: an adult daycare student's quip about wine, a UMBC student demonstrating Around the Platter with her legs on the floor, and a skeptic in back pain who conceded she had a point.

Ann Rutherford retells Justin Stone's story from Gateway to Eastern Philosophy and Religion about a roadside ascetic doing visible penance, and argues real service is done in a business suit, unseen.

Sandy McAlister names knowing your material inside and out as the mark of a good teacher, recalling the night she first answered a student's question in her own words rather than repeating others'.

Jim Shorr, a financial advisor in Wilsonville, describes the monthly community practice at Portland's Rose Gardens, the coming Northwest Retreat at Menucha, and a health fair demonstration at a farmers market.

Sandy McAlister urges precise cueing, saying "Bass Drum, left foot forward" rather than "on the left side," and describes a class exercise focusing on the downward-moving top arm in Pulling Taffy.

Gail Terriff traces her path from her first class with Maxine Wan to teaching after her 2005 Edmonton training, with practical advice on class length, fees and covering costs.

About 50 people filled Bookworks, an independent Albuquerque bookstore, on April 17 to hear Justin Stone talk about T'ai Chi Chih and the India and Japan travels behind his book Gateway to Eastern Philosophy & Religion.

Pam Towne urges newly accredited teachers to start teaching immediately, give a presentation a week to fill classes, audit a Teacher Training within a year, and keep their own daily practice at the center.

An announcement for a September 27-30 retreat led by Carmen Brocklehurst, a TCC teacher of 27 years, at the Spiritual Renewal Center in the bosque along the Rio Grande, for those who already know the movements.

Pam Towne's report on two four-day retreats at Mt. Calvary Retreat House above Santa Barbara, where Sister Antonia Cooper led the theme "Flowing from the Center with Joy," with participants' own comments.

Pam Towne, accredited in 1984 and present at every conference since the first at Asilomar in 1985, recalls group practice with over 100 teachers and urges colleagues to come to Woodcliff Lake.

Doug Harned explains that donations supply 30 to 35 percent of the Albuquerque T'ai Chi Chih Association's income, and recalls Justin Stone tearing up checks the first teachers offered him from their class profits.

Amy Tyksinski walks through her step-by-step approach to teaching Rocking Motion, from hands on the t'an t'ien and very slow weight shifts to softening knees and keeping arms as responders rather than leaders.

Justin Stone recalls Himalayan Yogis who left the icy Ganges undried, his own two years developing inner heat and its bleeding side effects, and names TEH as the teacher's essential.