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.
November 1991 (Tribute Issue)
The November 1991 Tribute issue marks Justin Stone’s 75th birthday. Steve Ridley pairs chapter 15 of the Tao Teh Ching with the home-recorded jazz cassettes Justin mails him, and Virginia Shilson casts him as a gardener planting T’ai Chi Chih seeds across the United States and Canada. Judy Murphy recounts teaching a student with multiple personality disorder, and Lia Ridley remembers their 1977 meeting in Los Angeles.
Steve Ridley of Denver honors Justin Stone at 75 with chapter 15 of the Tao Teh Ching, the home-recorded jazz cassettes Justin mails him, his paintings, books and workshops.
Students and teachers across the United States and Canada send greetings for Justin Stone's 75th birthday, including poems, a Zen tale of ripples from a thrown stone, and memories of accreditation-day cake.
Carmen Brocklehurst's open birthday letter thanks Justin Stone for his 75 years, for teaching the preciousness of self by word and action, and for saying students should surpass the master.
Carmen Brocklehurst
Albuquerque, NM
Virginia Shilson casts Justin Stone as a gardener who travels the United States and Canada planting T'ai Chi Chih seeds in soil prepared by Teacher Training Courses, leaving the cultivation to teachers.
Virginia Shilson
Albuquerque, NM
Jeanne C. Linscott addresses Justin Stone directly in a short tribute, calling him a bridge over troubled water and closing with "Mi gwitch," Assiniboine for thank you.
Jeanne C. Linscott
Bemidji, MN
Jean Katus marks Justin Stone's 75th birthday with an acrostic on his name, thanking him for Joy thru Movement, unlimiting ourselves, and spreading the chi.
Rosalind Braga offers a litany of blessings naming Justin Stone as the man who found The Way through art, music, philosophy and T'ai Chi Chih, marking his 75th birthday.
Rosalind Braga
Castro Valley, CA
Lia Ridley recalls meeting Justin Stone in Los Angeles in December 1977 during her accreditation, and names spiritual integrity and generosity as the qualities that marked their friendship.
Judy Murphy recounts teaching a student diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, whose separate "parts" emerged one by one during the form until a farewell note arrived signed by all of them.
Judy Murphy
Colorado Springs, CO