The Vital Force Archive

Charles Grantham, new to T'ai Chi Chih and a leadership development teacher of twenty years, draws parallels between circulating chi, the serenity of Seijaku, and the presence future leaders will need.

May Swanson recounts eight years of donated teaching at The Wellness Community in Phoenix and the Veterans Hospital, including a dying student who sat through class and felt the energy.

Anthony Pagliarulo recounts directing chi to his wife during her lung cancer treatment, learning at retreats that TCC's innate intelligence made the effort unnecessary, and later returning to teach at the Phoenix Wellness Community that first helped him.

May Swanson recalls Justin Stone's joy song and finds joy in her Cancer Wellness Community class in Phoenix, where a student named Grace, living with Alzheimer's, remembers every movement.

Janie Dick breaks her practice into its parts in verse, moving from softness through form, rooted feet and the imaginary string, circular movement, breathing at the Bubbling Spring and T'an T'ien, to tingling fingers and well-being.

Asked to teach at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Center, Sher Dano was required to carry professional liability insurance and reports finding affordable coverage through the Tai Chi Arthritis Association of America.

Sher Dano reports the results of the National Council on Aging qigong and tai chi pilot: 349 participants at 18 sites, mean age 73, with significantly reduced perceived stress and plans for a more rigorous study.

Sher Dano recounts a student telling her, after class, how her family gathered at her dying mother's hospital bed and did Rocking Motion, the mother's favorite movement, as she slipped away.

Evan Hammond recounts nearly quitting the Albuquerque Intensive after Justin's corrections felt harsh, and how dinner with fellow students, softened hands and a quote on the Center whiteboard changed him.

Don and Tori Fiore write an open letter urging fellow teachers to set aside criticism of uniqueness and of how movements are done, and to unite in the flow of Chi at this year's convention.

Tori Fiore of Phoenix sets down a message on being a humble vessel: judge not, claim no greatness, and let stillness rather than scheming increase one's power.

Lee Campbell reports a student who left her first TCC class pain free and, after six months of daily panic attacks, had none since, rocking many times a day and videotaping herself to check her movements.

Lee Campbell gave back issues of The Vital Force to a Buddhist monk studying toward accreditation, and notes the Joy Thru Movement ad in The Empty Vessel and her gift of the book to Qi editor Michael Tse.

Torie Fiore describes the Divine Unity that encompassed ALL before the Beginning, and the sacred moments when judgments are suspended and one feels united with all of life.

Lee Campbell met Barbara, newly moved to Phoenix from Calgary, while she walked her dog, and invited the former student of Sharon Melvin to her Wednesday night Share the Form.

Ruth Marie Arguello-Sheehan, a retired RN, describes her Sun City classes for students aged 9 to 96, watching for unsafe movement after reports of knee, hip and back injuries from other T'ai Chi classes.

A week after her October 1995 teacher training in San Diego, Penny Navis-Schmidt thanks Justin Stone, Steve Ridley, Susan Patterson, Joy Barbour and her fourteen fellow candidates.

Lee Campbell recounts a 6 a.m. practice in a park across from her Lucerne hotel, where a bell clock chimed and a stranger practiced his own form of T'ai Chi behind her.

Janie Dick describes practicing and meditating beside a lake while traveling home from Conference, and the wordless merging she felt when a passing fisherman greeted her.

Carole Jordan's short poem binds past, present, future and eternity into one serene unity of body and mind, with yin and yang encircling youth and gossamer age forever.

Dan Fiore recounts Don Fiore's third T'ai Chi Chih retreat in the high desert above Tucson, where twenty-five people practised, discussed lasting relationships, hiked to petroglyphs and heard thirty Tibetan bells.

Ruth Marie Arguello-Sheehan and Brandon hosted a three-day Arizona retreat for ten couples and five singles, practising all the movements three times daily and holding evening "Sharing the Fire" gatherings.

Marilyn P. Harrison's letter renewing her subscription, welcoming the switch to bi-monthly issues, naming Justin's encouragement as the best part, and describing herself as an ambassador of Joy Through Movement rather than a future accredited teacher.

Mrs. Marilyn P. Harrison, learning from Justin Stone's book and video in Sasabe, Arizona, writes to Corinn Codye about relief from a 2 1/2 year disc injury and asks for reading recommendations.