The Vital Force Archive

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.

Ardi Baker, in her seventies and left depressed and listless after an illness, found T'ai Chi Chih through a newspaper article and turned her practice time into prayer.

Ann Rutherford taught all 19 movements in six consecutive two-hour days over a December break, surveying her students afterward and finding sore muscles, vivid dreams and unanimous preference for the intensive format.

Mary Case, who noticed her own sudden hearing loss ten years ago, offers practical adjustments for students who cannot hear you: face them, seat them discreetly up front, lower the music, and use a waist amplifier.

Marian Massman gathers written comments from students at the end of her Wisconsin classes and retreats, reporting eased shoulder tension, steadier balance after a stroke, lower blood sugar and first full nights of sleep.

Julie Buffalo describes a second year of teaching a well-attended class in a green park on the hospital campus where she works, where the earth seems to rise up to meet practitioners' feet.

Judith Schwartz describes her three classes at Laguna Honda Hospital, including the Zen Hospice Floor, where she rings a singing bowl, plays Mbira and chant recordings, and leads patients in wheelchairs.

In a 1991 Albuquerque talk, Justin Stone defines nonattachment through a dying Zen master's exchange with his disciple, arguing that recognizing impermanence, like a traveler at an inn, is the starting point of a spiritual life.

Mark Moloney recounts a caseworker at a children's psychiatric inpatient facility who stayed centered through a shouted, threatening family conference, crediting the 40-minute T'ai Chi Chih class held that morning in the same room.

Cynthia Madonna describes seated practice at Laguna Honda Hospital, where residents calm down, insomniacs nearby fall asleep and one stroke patient left his anger in the Wellness Center, plus her own recovery from a back injury.

Justin Stone describes prajna, the innate wisdom covered over by vashanas or habit energies, warning against guru worship and spiritual materialism and recalling the Sufi master who asked, "Are you ready to learn?"

Sr. Patty Campbell gathers comments from Sisters aged 80 to 93 who practice with her at their Motherhouse, describing eased arthritic joints, calmed anxiety, prayerful focus, and moving from wooden soldier to Raggedy Ann.

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.