The Vital Force Archive

Newly accredited teacher Vicki Webb thanks the Intensive and her trainers, and compares loose teaching standards to photocopying a copy of a copy until the map becomes a fuzzy distortion.

Teachers' responses to the 18th International Conference at Banff, where praise for the breakout sessions on softness, groundedness and yielding was overtaken by the retirement announcements from Ed Altman, Noel Altman and Jean Katus.

Three retirement letters: Ed Altman steps down as Head of the T'ai Chi Chih Community, citing Justin Stone's lack of support, while Noel Altman leaves The Vital Force and Jean Katus leaves Good Karma Publishing.

Dan Page summarizes a UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute trial, published in Psychosomatic Medicine, in which 36 adults over 60 took 15 weeks of T'ai Chi Chih classes and saw shingles-suppressing immunity rise 50 percent.

Beverly Weil's pyramid poem calls for trust in Prajna and the Intrinsic Force, urging surrender, stillness and alignment with the Eternal Light reflected where mountain meets sky.

Debbie Cole's pyramid poem thanks a teacher who stretched their comfort zone, made them laugh and think, and spoke from the stillness that is the source of the Vital Force.

Christeen McLain offers teachers the maxim "place principles above personalities" for handling conflict with a student or one's own teacher, recalling the lineage introductions at the early California conferences.

Kathy Albers steps down as the journal's Information/Outreach Coordinator to be with her baby daughter Natalie and in protest at published disrespect toward Ed Altman, thanking Ed and Noel.

Ted Fleischman's open letter to Justin Stone and the TCC community resigns as webmaster of taichichih.org effective October 1, 2003, protesting the lack of support that he says drove Ed Altman's retirement.

Justin Stone's letter responding to Ed Altman's resignation as Head of T'ai Chi Chih and Jean Katus's departure from Good Karma names Kathy Grassel as the new Vital Force editor.

Sandy McAlister and Pam Towne look back on the 18th Annual Teachers' Conference in Banff and the announcement that Ed Altman, Noel Altman and Jean Katus were retiring, with both women continuing as teacher trainers.

Michael S. Isaacs was the only candidate deferred at the October 2002 Ringwood accreditation weekend, and the last ever deferred, until Pam Towne recommended him fifteen days later in Washington, D.C.

Karen Silva, after fifteen years of practice, describes finding her center through relationship break-ups and news of the war in Iraq, and accepting what she cannot fix.

Leslie Keith puzzles over a typo in the back-page poem and Justin Stone's Folsom remark that "we are all living the same life," while April Leffler credits an unknown San Antonio conference speaker for the yinning/yanging teaching tool attributed to her.

Richard Brier, accredited by Justin Stone in Mill Valley in December 1980, counts over 4000 students and 23 years of daily practice, finding each movement new and faith awakening.

Nancy Jo Bleier recounts the June 2003 workshop led by Sandy McAlister in Sitka, where 21 Sitkans and five Petersburg students who came 14 hours by ferry worked on stance, flow and a Teacher's Prep class.

Six anecdotes from Sharon Sirkis, Jean Katus and Debbie Cole, including a plumber husband annoyed by waterfall music, a student who equated the t'an t'ien with the bowels, and a teacher candidate joking about the KGB.

Donna McElhose hosts the first teacher training course in Lake County, Illinois, with Ed Altman leading candidates through alignment, stance and weight shift, and candidates adding their own reflections.

Linda Braga's pyramid poem from September 2003 moves from phantom mountains, thundering waterfalls and a ruby moon to the T'ai Chi Chih conference where every participant was a mighty one.