The Vital Force Archive

Mary Strom recounts a Minnesota gathering for T'ai Chi Chih's 50th anniversary, where watching the leader's wrists during Around the Platter showed her the difference between softness and the collapse she long mistook for flexibility.

Terry Gay Puckett was practicing Around the Platter on her deck when a large cat appeared balancing along a twelve-foot fence, teaching her to move slowly and attend to the soles of her feet.

Lisa Stroyan describes locating her tan t'ien lower and deeper than expected during April Leffler's online accreditation, and A.B. of Albuquerque finds Bass Drum and Around the Platter blurring the boundary between self and cosmos.

Laurie Jacobi arrived at the 2023 teacher conference convinced 24 years of practice had taught her all there was to know about body mechanics, then came away with new refinements in Bird Flaps Its Wings, Around the Platter and the Six Healing Sounds.

Amy Tyksinski uses Around the Platter Variation to teach polarity between the palms, suggesting the base of the palms come slightly closer to activate the wrist meridians and awaken felt Chi.

Daniel Pienciak explains why he teaches Bass Drum before Around the Platter and Pulling in the Energy, breaking each into hand circle, weight shift, then both, with eyes forward for balance.

Christeen McLain recalls recognizing an alpha brain wave state while going Around the Platter with her teacher Jean Katus in 1975, and later dropping a grounding exercise that made students fall over.

Sharon Sirkis of Columbia, Maryland collects classroom moments: two seniors interlocking fingers during Around the Platter, one wanting to push away worries, and a student pulling taffy at red lights.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst gives practical instruction for seated practice in a straight-back chair, working the weight shift through the sits bones in Rocking Motion and Around the Platter.

Jim Shorr collects student responses, including Becky F on climbing through clouds in Working the Pulley, Tom O on releasing worries in Passing Clouds, and a palliative care patient's new stability.

Justin Stone's point-by-point reminders for the movements a beginner has just learned, from loose arms and flat landings in Rocking Motion to drawing energy from the most distant star in Pulling in the Energy.

Dixie Adeniran uses the weightless pause at the top of a child's swing to describe T'ai Chi Chih transitions, tracing them through Around the Platter, Carry the Ball to the Side and Passing Clouds during COVID-19 solitude.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst noticed she had cut short the arm curve in Around the Platter during Seijaku practice, repeated it fully, and drew from that completeness a lesson about awareness in daily life.

Judy Kistler-Robinson, teaching a Saturday class at a 55-plus retirement complex, found herself telling students to pick up a burden from the shoulder, carry it forward and release it.

Eliza Fulton pairs the Aramaic Lord's Prayer, meant to be embodied and intoned, with the TCC movements from Rocking Motion through Passing Clouds, finding new meaning in the Around the Platter variation.

Stephen Thompson's conference notes give three partner exercises: a paper plate shared between Pulling in the Energy and Around the Platter, mirrored Working the Pulley, and a hand-hovering energy circle with weight shifts.

Sharon Sullivan moves through the form one movement at a time, casting Around the Platter as a cosmic Eucharistic chalice, Bass Drum as an invitation to the feast, and the Six Healing Sounds as amen.

Dora Wiemann's conference talk asks where we actually are while practicing, urging presence in the feet and t'an t'ien, gratitude to the teachers who came before, and attention to what Around the Platter Variation reveals.

A conference presentation on lifting the palms slightly from neutral, hinging at the wrist, to open the meridian channels in Around the Platter and Push Pull and strengthen the flow of Chi.

Pyramid poems by Leya Cragin, Veronica Fleming, Brock, Jerry G., Larry Saun, Corine, Joyce Veerkamp and Donovan on Rocking Motion, Bird Flaps Its Wings, Bass Drum and Around the Platter.

Christine Weber, 66, found that completing the weight shift in Around the Platter surfaced the fear from a childhood fall down an earthen dam, and her teacher Lisa Otero told her to keep going.

Bonnie Schowalter dedicated her first practice to her sister, who died unexpectedly in October, and visualizes holding her heart in her hands during Around the Platter and Pulling in the Energy.

Justin Stone on vitality as chi, the six Indian darshanas, seed mantras and why he avoids chanting Om, ending with the woman who screamed from the heat when he did Around the Platter mentally while giving Johrei.

Justin Stone gives teachers the keys to the first five movements, from flattening the feet before raising the toes in Rocking Motion to keeping the hands a steady distance apart in Bass Drum.

Diana Daffner recounts meeting Dr. Alan Dattner at her weekly sunset practice on Siesta Beach, where he described how Around the Platter Variation warmed his cold, constricted fingers and now helps his Raynaud's patients.

Kathy Starrick describes presenting T'ai Chi Chih to an osteoporosis support group, demonstrating Around the Platter, Carry the Ball to the Side and Push Pull as models for vacuuming, sweeping and clearing snow.

Judy Chancey draws on circularity, continuity and softness as life-management tools, turning to Around the Platter during an upheaval that shook her sense of security, and finding gratitude beyond naming blessings.

Pam Towne lays out how to prepare for Seijaku accreditation: daily practice sandwiching three Seijaku movements between TCC repetitions, repeated viewing of Justin's Seijaku DVD, six months of practice, and work with an accredited Seijaku teacher.

Pam Towne asks practitioners to check their circularity in a mirror, movement by movement, from the "D" shaped platter and Bass Drum to wrist circles, Working the Pulley and Passing Clouds.

Judy Hendricks and Dora Derzon gave one-hour demonstrations for Presbyterian Hospital leadership at Ghost Ranch, following Justin's advice to teach Around the Platter, a Daughter and the Cosmic Consciousness Pose.