The Vital Force Archive

Sr. Antonia Cooper advises teachers to work one-on-one with serious students rather than rely on class attendance, using Justin Stone's Six Principles of Movement and three key points per movement.

Sheila Leonard, accredited to teach Seijaku in 2004, describes auditing the Seijaku accreditation again after the 2010 Nebraska conference and finding the form arrives when she stops trying.

Robert Montes de Oca bought artwork by Justin Stone's friend Ou Mie Shu at a Spiritual Renewal Center silent auction and donated it to the TCC Association in gratitude.

Sandy McAlister recalls offering students a long list of things to visualize during Pulling in the Energy, and Justin Stone's flat reply that it is simply energy from the most distant star.

Sky Young-Wick recounts coordinating the 2010 Teacher Conference despite never having helped with a TCC event, and describes the 40-plus volunteers, deepened relationships, and unexpected joy that resulted.

Daniel Pienciak recounts Sandy McAlister's four-day New Jersey intensive, listing the questions she raised about letting go, grounding, the t'an t'ien and Nei Kung, along with participants' own comments afterward.

Pam Towne collects pyramid poems written at a retreat, including a set composed after Justin Stone's visit that praises his paintings, his handshake and the chi students felt in his presence.

Roseann Heinrich reports from the three-person Cleveland planning committee preparing the 2011 conference on Lake Erie, crediting Lucinda Kutsko's registration spreadsheets and inviting readers to register and recommit.

Kyrita Shannon recalls traveling from Seattle to Albuquerque in October 2000 for accreditation, drawing Light at the Top of the Head to lead before Justin Stone and calling it her Happy Happy Joy Joy Movement.

Mariann Jacobson, a cancer survivor who relies on group energy, describes joining classes led by Carol Wong in California and Carla Grant in Texas while travelling, finding the same movements with different personalities.

Cleo Roemele links the give and take of Pulling In The Energy to the American Indian Potlatch tradition, and proposes generous giving as a collective goal for the TCC community.

Carol Spicer found deeper softness in a silent group practice led by Antonia in Ringwood, and describes how her teachers now lead music-only practices at student request.

Amy Tyksinski's two-line note on Joyous Breath describes bringing the heart fire down and the yin of the kidneys up, calling the resulting mixture the elixir of life.

Dorene Krause's poem traces her move from a cacophonous, spinning life to hearing the quiet inner ballad her body demanded she slow down and listen for.

Carmen Brocklehurst answers the question of purpose through the words T'ai Chi Chih themselves, knowledge of the Supreme Ultimate, and describes the state of emptiness the movements and Justin Stone's example open up.

Ruth Alsobrook-Hurich pairs a pyramid poem on flight and innocence with verses about standing still while life spins on, finding the free child in herself returning.

Larry Bloom, a scuba and free diver of forty years, connects Justin Stone's instruction on forceful inhalation and exhalation in Joyous Breath to vital capacity, tidal breathing and the oxygen that builds ATP.

Charles Grantham, new to T'ai Chi Chih and a leadership development teacher of twenty years, draws parallels between circulating chi, the serenity of Seijaku, and the presence future leaders will need.

Rachel V. Alvarado of Crown Point, diagnosed with Lupus 43 years ago, credits a year of daily T'ai Chi Chih with improved joint flexibility, better bone density and her doctor discontinuing three medications.

Donna Aldous describes reading Justin Stone's photo textbook and circulating copies of The Vital Force in class, then passes on end-of-series comments from students on Push Pull, connectedness and wholeness.

Four pyramid poems by Gary Swanson, Mary Purnell, Christina Wilson and Mary Meier move from dreaming and waking to breath, timelessness, the restless thinking mind, and body and spirit made one.

Peggy Koch read a newspaper article about T'ai Chi Chih in February 2010 and began classes; her husband Larry followed in January 2011 and found the movements stopped his anxiety attacks.

Deanna Shapiro learned T'ai Chi Chih at a senior center in Charlotte, Vermont, and with no teachers in her state she gets her TCC fix during twice-yearly visits to Albuquerque.

Excerpts from Justin Stone's "The Impersonal" assert that the Life Force has no beginning, end or individuality, that only transformation exists, and that ambition, envy and the refusal of impermanence cause suffering.

Barbara Pence offers a rhyming poem announcing that Northwest Indiana is not just cows and corn now that T'ai Chi Chih has arrived, pitching it to anyone short on balance or energy.

Rebecca Laughhunn took a class with Jean Katus in 2010, bought the DVD, practiced daily through the summer, and lost ten pounds along with gaining energy and peace.

Linda Braga taught a crowded Hayward class where half the students spoke only Chinese, using gestures, one-on-one silent demonstration and the Six Healing Sounds to teach without shared words.

Theresa Brown's rhyming verse traces her first eight awkward weeks of class through nine months of weekly sessions and park practices, with thanks to her instructor Pete Gregory.

Donna Dittmer, 73, took up T'ai Chi Chih after serious surgery left her with problematic breathing, and felt the energy in the first movements her class learned with Bev Chandley.

Judy Hubbell teaches an Excelsior District outreach class through San Francisco City College where student translator Janet Yeong renders softness, continuity and weight shift into Mandarin and Cantonese while Judy keeps moving.