The Vital Force Archive
Forty years of The Vital Force (1985-2025), the journal of the T’ai Chi Chih community. Search for a word, a teacher, a movement or a place, or browse by category and topic.
May 2023
The May 2023 issue returns again and again to the graceful conclusion, with Daniel Pienciak, Carmen Brocklehurst, April Leffler and Lorraine Lepine each describing the close of a movement. Justin Stone’s spoken word transcriptions recall the 1974 first class, and senior teachers Ann Rutherford and Tara Stiles answer questions about their years with him.
Teacher-trainer Daniel Pienciak breaks down Justin Stone's instruction to 'make a graceful conclusion,' describing the full weight commitment, the soundless setting down of the foot, and the pelvic girdle letting go into stillness.
Daniel Pienciak
Bradley Beach, New Jersey
Newly accredited, John Marquez compares himself to an artichoke shedding layers, and finds that demonstrating movements while talking, correcting, pacing and counting is harder than he expected.
John Marquez
Antioch, California