The Vital Force Archive

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.

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.