The Vital Force Archive

Students in Sue Bitney's Minneapolis classes describe why they came and stayed, from rheumatoid arthritis and post-stroke practice to using Rocking Motion, physically or mentally, to steady themselves under stress.

Dale Koistinen credits resuming T'ai Chi Chih with his wife, three times a week, for going 15-0 at the World Champion Horseshoe Pitching Tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Vanjie Bratt and Carol Mockovak describe teaching at the Becketwood Cooperative since 2003 and the seventh summer of outdoor practice at Hidden Falls park beside the Mississippi, herons and jumping fish included.

Kendelyn Beck credits nine years of continued T'ai Chi Chih practice, sometimes seated when her energy was low, through chemo, breast surgery and brain radiation for Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, with scans now showing no active disease.

TCC Guide Sr. Antonia Cooper recalls the Portland conference practice in the Chinese Garden, announces Daniel Pienciak as a new teacher trainer with the qualifications she looks for, and previews the 2013 gathering in Collegeville.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst describes leading a Pyramid Poetry session at the 2012 Teacher Conference, laying out Justin Stone's seven-line syllable form and posting teachers' poems on a bulletin board.

Dan Pienciak recounts being announced as a new teacher trainer at the Portland conference, the panic and self-doubt that rose up, and the framed Chinese brush painting of Chi he won at auction.

Margery Erickson describes returning from the 2012 teacher conference and re-reading booklets of Justin Stone's talks published by the Albuquerque center, hearing his voice again in the words.

Pam Towne recalls Justin Stone calling his discovery of Seijaku the most important event of his life and a turning point for his health after triple bypass surgery, then advises when and how to learn the form.

Donna Aldous came home from the teacher conference realizing how great it was only when friends asked, and describes the Seijaku accreditation course she completed as putting a tiger in your tank.

Bobbie Weichman rereads the letter she wrote to Donna McElhose, Justin Stone and Carmen Brocklehurst after three months of classes, measuring twelve years of practice against fibromyalgia, cranky joints and shorter, sometimes seated, sessions.

Sandra Freda visited Jerry Bumbalough's twice-weekly class at a Salinas adult day health center, where he teaches seated TCC to Spanish-speaking students with Alzheimer's beginning with "Copy me."

Stephanie Bass traces how a friend's offhand mention of a T'ai Chi class at the Y led her to Maggie Peltier, to teaching despite her doubts, and to trusting the inner knowing Justin Stone called Prajna.

Pat Moseley collected answers from two conference sessions asking how T'ai Chi Chih affected participants' personal growth, from ending the desire to drink to grief work, PTSD, inner ear incidents and recovery after leg cancer surgery.

Chris Norkus reprints her reply to a woman with no teacher nearby, recounting flying from Charlotte to Washington for her first lessons, eleven years of solo practice, and accreditation in Albuquerque in 2001.

Ann Rutherford recounts Justin Stone confirming Seijaku is a heightened awareness practice, and describes placing a hindrance such as fear in the resistance section so the weight shift deepens letting go.

Diana Daffner reprints her July 1992 meditation on what teachers do for students, and adds testimonials from Maia Shafer and Philippe Blanc about twenty years of sunset practice on Siesta Key Beach.

Patty Clement's prose poem watches koi and lotus blossoms in the Chinese Garden, followed by dozens of pyramid poems on joy written by 2012 conference attendees and compiled by Roberta Taggart.

Justin Stone's collected aphorisms on wind and rain being neither good nor bad, Hakuin's enlightenment, the one Energy moving through worm and bird and tree, and death as another birth.

Stu Goldman, whose high-pressure career ended after life-saving surgery left him with neurological changes and depression, describes finding T'ai Chi Chih through a 2010 AARP article and now pursuing accreditation.

Cynthia Winland describes meeting a relentlessly cynical fellow attendee at the Fall 2012 retreat, the family habit of "stink bombs" she left behind, and her dismay at squabbles over keeping the knees bent.

Jackie Kingsbury describes how a snowbird visiting Florida for six weeks phoned for a refresher lesson, leading to private sessions in her living room that revived her own practice.

Larry Bloom, awake after a thunderstorm with his thoughts racing, describes redirecting attention to his breathing until "no thought" emerged, and credits three years of T'ai Chi Chih for the inner stillness he now calls home.

Linda Braga recalls a five-day meditation retreat Justin Stone led at Green Gulch Farm nineteen years ago, when the zendo proved so cold he ended the first sitting early.

Laurie Jacobi notices how fourteen years of practice have changed her: calm about a business trip lodging crisis, hurt rather than amused by a friend's put-down humor, trusting an inner voice about her body.

Judy Hendricks recounts a vivid dream in which Justin Stone motioned her to sit beside him and said, "Come join me in the oneness," words she now hears when practicing or meditating.

Rick Chasin describes his first year of T'ai Chi Chih, from the level-one class to a daily practice that leaves him lighter, more fluid and grateful to his teachers.

Jerry Granok recalls the five-day meditation retreat Justin Stone led at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in April 1993, from the nail-free Japanese guesthouse to the cliff paths above the Pacific.

Silvia recounts falling in love with T'ai Chi Chih in her first class and likens the effortless weight shift to the bamboo leaf in Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery, where snow slips off on its own.

Excerpted from Justin Stone's book Gateway to Eastern Philosophy & Religion, four short pieces: the greedy businessman's dying words, Ramamurti Mishra on mistakes, a Roshi's five fingers, and Zen's life-affirming earthiness.