The Vital Force Archive

Linda Robinson of Seattle kept teaching through hip and knee discomfort, and four of her Monday morning students describe how Zoom practice sustained them during the pandemic lockdown.

Rebecca Paulson recounts the four-day teacher retreat hosted by Pam Towne and led by Sandy McAlister, reworked from in person to Zoom, where teachers brainstormed how future trainings might continue.

Trish Winger struggled with a hymn's vow to live each moment in peace until her minister's explanation of Shalom gave her the same meaning she already knew in Seijaku: serenity amid activity.

Judy Hendricks describes the move of the Albuquerque TCC Center to Osuna Road, with two classrooms, an office, Justin Stone's paintings on the walls, and the free practice schedule for visitors.

Jeneth Rundle traces her attraction to statues of Kuan Yin and Amida Buddha, then describes the sudden urge during the pandemic to return to daily Seijaku practice alongside Nei Kung recitation.

Linda Minor recounts playing prescriptive harp for a dying friend and being engulfed by a yellow light and overwhelming peace, then finding words for it years later in TCC, Anton Grosz and Rachel Naomi Remen.

Amy Moody rafted 200 miles through the Grand Canyon over 11 days and found the chi so strong that simply standing and centering set her fingers fluttering, teaching movements to fellow passengers along the way.

Rick Davis finds time in the subtle pressure against the soles of the feet, arguing that each weight shift, settling and return marks one moment from the next during pandemic uncertainty.

Benjamin Brisjar describes how Zoom transformed his class of isolated senior citizens in Pittsburg, California, into a community practicing six times a week with Carmen Brocklehurst, Lisa Stroyan and Lorraine Lepine.

Sharon Sirkis collects three classroom moments: a student telling her late, flustered teacher to get grounded, a class inventing its own Six Healing Sounds, and Howard's jigsaw puzzle Show and Tell.

A gathering of Pyramid Poems by Nathalie Miller, Monica Cejudo, Linda Jones, Rene Stramwasser and others on doing Nei Kung at night, trusting the blue sea, silence, and chi received in the t'an t'ien.

When COVID-19 closed her senior center and gym classes, Nancy Rolph-Johnson moved practice onto the grass of two Long Beach and Bellflower parks, masked and ten feet apart, with student comments included.

KG announces a 10-day asynchronous course drawn from Justin Stone's DVDs, streaming instruction and writings, starting January 1 with the first five days free and a private Facebook discussion group.

Justin Stone lays out the musts of moving correctly, from the effort of no effort and tailbone posture to bringing the Heart Fire down, plus three confirming signs of progress.

Justin Stone argues provincialism outranks greed as our defining trait, recalling a German traveler pitying healthy children in a walled village near the Hong Kong border and an English couple in Benares.

Dr. Pauline Quimson-Miller, a medical doctor, psychologist and clinical hypnotherapist, describes weaving T'ai Chi Chih, Seijaku and Nei Kung into customized wellness programs for clients recovering from trauma, abuse and addiction.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst answers a friend whose practice had not shifted his pile of problems, using Hurricane Rita's aftermath in Louisiana to show how TCC opens the eyes to good amid destruction.

Connie Shaw describes hearing the Chi Sound and feeling two warm torsion-rings encircle her t'an t'ien and heart during Pulling Taffy in Marie Dotts' Johnstown class, plus TheLea Brooks' vision of the sharing circle as a many-colored bonfire.

Caroline Guilott compares old photos of her Rocking Motion with Justin Stone's videos, discovers he barely bends the elbow, and finally understands his remark to her in the Albuquerque circle: there is nothing to do.

KG reports on the 350+ teacher webpages now live at taichichih.org, how to get listed or edit one, and asks readers what they need The Vital Force to be.

Dorene Krause set up a Zoom class in April and invited her students to write for a booklet she called "Students Speak," collecting five accounts, among them a woman who found her old notes in a drawer during the pandemic.

Anne Braudy, a Boston pianist with no local teachers, describes how COVID-19 stay-at-home orders ended her group yoga classes and revived the near-daily morning T'ai Chi Chih she had learned from Carmen Brocklehurst's video.

Eric Schoenfeld recalls the spirit of oneness at retreats at the now-sold Franciscan Spiritual Center in Pennsylvania, and finds that same warmth in Sandy McAlister's Tuesday noon Zoom practice.

Caroline Guilott describes the hop of Seijaku, light on the feet with the waist turning internally, as the point where thought disappears and awareness becomes total and glorious.

Barbara Kristoff walks California's Old Tiburon Trail using Justin Stone's Satipathana mindful meditation, then describes the Zoom class she co-teaches with Linda Prosche and Tom Rothenberger, closing with pyramid poems from their park practice.

Mary Ann Benner found T'ai Chi Chih at the Mayo Clinic during her husband's three months of cancer treatment, then carried it home to Lorraine Lepine's church group and daily Zoom sessions through COVID-19.

Sandy McAlister traces the Intensive from Ed Altman's 3 1/2-day prep course to the first Zoom Intensive she led in August, and announces that from 2021 teacher candidates must attend one.

Laurie Jacobi, listening to Taoist master Waysun Liao during the pandemic, treats TCC as a moving art and traces the axle of stillness in the Anchor variation of Pulling Taffy and Six Healing Sounds.

Pam Towne recounts the August Zoom TCC Intensive she led with Sandy, where participants from both coasts and the United Kingdom felt strong Chi flow, and offers practical tips on breaks and breakout rooms.

Nancy Werner-Azarski recounts a Tuesday Zoom practice in which Sandy paused at Light at the Top of the Head to have everyone notice and relax their tense feet.