The Vital Force Archive

Sandy McAlister announces a six-month Mentoring Program, with April Leffler and Stacey Moore as the first mentors for May's new teachers, plus a Continuing Education Program awarding 27 hours for intensives.

Judy Hendricks recounts the grounding she felt in the conference group practices and the realization that T'ai Chi Chih belongs to no one person, closing with a line from Swami Prajnanpad on love.

Donna McElhose recounts organizing an After Conference Workshop for area teachers who could not attend, sorting her notes on the teacher trainers' comments, KG's media talks and the YouTube presentation videos.

Daniel Pienciak breaks down grounding with two mnemonics from his conference break-out circles, "Sink, Shift, Hands, Heel" for beginning a movement and five S's for closing, plus three weight points under each foot.

Bruce Eisenmenger, newly accredited in May 2013, describes his first T'ai Chi Chih conference in Collegeville as a reunion and a homecoming, opening with Justin Stone's words on gratitude from Spiritual Odyssey.

Hannah Hedrick, prompted by conference discussion, began organizing "T'ai Chi Chih Connections" with contact people and home-based centers in Chicago, Vigo County, Matsu Valley and Big Island, followed by reader-submitted jokes.

Deb Bertelsen, co-chair of the annual conference, recounts the bruised hearts, venue changes and deaths in the planning group, and the lessons in teh and staying grounded that followed.

Julie Schuster's first conference, which she helped plan with fellow Minnesota teachers, gave her a deeper grasp of prajna, the ability to ground in Seijaku, and ACE continuing education credit through Pam Towne.

Judy George, writing as a conference planner, names what she learned holding an intention through the ups and downs of two families, and thanks Deb Bertelsen, the trainers and the Minnesota community.

Donna McElhose recounts the 2013 conference at St. John's University, from Kimiko Gunji's tea ceremony and the Dances of Universal Peace to KG expanding a 20-teacher video shoot to 45 slots.

Lisa M. Otero takes up a question Daniel Pienciak raised at the conference: whether to hold the closing position between movements or straighten the knees and stand relaxed, as she recalls Justin doing.

Monica Campbell almost skipped her first TCC conference, then found a breakout session with Bill that reversed her unease with Seijaku, leaving her grounded, taller and heading to Tupelo for more.

Mary Wichmann's early morning walk against a strong southeast wind becomes the heavy air analogy in practice, and an argument for starting fresh with a new season rather than waiting for New Year's.

April Leffler traces an inner directive that arrived during sudden hearing loss in her second ear, from surrender and returned hearing to joining Facebook and, after KG's conference presentation, using social media to spread T'ai Chi Chih.

Nancy Jo Bleier describes the lunchtime debate at the conference over the "Albuquerque resting position," and how watching Caroline Guillot demonstrate it led her to try pausing, grounding and "breathing in the spaces" between movements.

Carol Mockovak describes the Friday night Dances of Universal Peace at the conference, where leader Francis Gurtz taught a dance on a Rumi poem and teachers chanted, turned and were reluctant to stop.

Hannah Hedrick searched more than a decade of Vital Force issues and found no support from Justin Stone for the pronounced pressing down and rising up between movements discussed at the 2012 and 2013 conferences.

Beverly A. Ward traces her path from first classes with Stan Corwin and Vicki Schroeder through a retreat, intensive and accreditation, then a 2050-mile drive to conference.

Ron Richardson recounts practising on shifting Florida sand at sunset, then a conference session where Daniel Pienciak's altered resting position, hands hung at the sides, provoked objections about changing Justin Stone's form.

Linda Watson links Antonia's conference remarks on Impermanence and Pam's Seijaku accreditation opening to her own turn at 52, saying no to lifelong activities and returning to writing and studio work.

Linda Watson describes traveling to the "Encircled in Chi" conference in Minnesota and returning home to make a handmade journal of sewn painted paper, stamped marks and an old map.

KG reports on Good Karma Publishing's year: new CDs, e-books, print-on-demand editions, the discounted conference bundle, quotation cards, and 37 YouTube videos filmed with 46 teachers at conference.

Sherry Corson traveled to conference with a cane while recovering from a shattered hip, and Bill Moore's introductory Seijaku class left her leg stronger and Seijaku at her practice's core.

Two dozen Pyramid Poems from practitioners including Mary Stine, Bonnie Cundiff, Maggie Smith and Ann Hampton, each thanking Justin Stone for T'ai Chi Chih and the flowing chi it brought them.

Editor KG's conference report on journal business: credit card payments, multi-year renewals, a $1300 balance, declining subscriptions, the end of earmarked scholarship funds, and donations that paid for postcards and back-issue archiving.

Judy George, accredited in Seijaku since 1999, describes letting the form lapse until Bill Moore's post-conference class clarified holding fast and letting go, and she began teaching longtime students.

Amy Tyksinski recounts how copying Justin's habit of standing up between movements at the Albuquerque Tuesday teacher practice changed her, and describes her twenty years of finger fluttering and grounding.

Laurie Jacobi thanks the conference presenters, from April Leffler's talk on prajna and Marie Dotts' session on habit energies to Kimiko Gunji's tea ceremony and Judy George's "Happy Feet."

Judy George follows up her conference presentation on foot care with questions for teachers about rolling a ball under the sole, grounding before practice, and effects on weight shift and alignment, pointing to her online handout.

Julie Heryet's account of the Minnesota conference, from April Leffler's group exercise where she was the "dreamer" to leading Sunday practice and Carmen's corrections to her weight shift, Wrist Circles and Light at the Top of the Head.