The Vital Force Archive

Excerpts from Justin Stone's book in which he recounts telling Paul Reps in Seattle that there is nothing to be done, quotes Dogen and Pai Ch'ang, and repeats his Roshi's advice about wine, women, song and religion in proper amounts.

Carmen Brocklehurst recounts how Justin Stone handed her a tape of his 1990 Teachers' Conference lecture and asked how others would hear it, leading to the booklet Evolution Through Chi.

Robert Montes de Oca describes seven years of volunteer classes in psychiatric acute care units, including an inmate who learned all the movements over 18 months and read Justin Stone's Abandon Hope.

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.

Robert Montes de Oca's list of thanks for the Collegeville conference: the Minnesota teachers' efforts, the tea ceremony and gift teacups, YouTube recordings of the movements, April Leffler on prajna, and KG on social media.

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.

Amy Tyksinski recounts being rejected then accepted as a TEDxABQ speaker on "Innovations in Education," paired with KG's summary of Lisa Otero's talk on insurance, waivers, taxes and trademark use for teachers.

Packing Good Karma Publishing catalogs for a conference, Carmen L. Brocklehurst realized the catalogs serve the students waiting for Justin Stone's materials, and argues his DVDs convey a purity words cannot.

Jean Markey and her students spotted a praying mantis on a park bench before practising on the labyrinth at Bon Secours, prompting her to look up its meaning in Ted Andrews' Animal Speak.

Excerpted from Justin Stone's book Gateway to Eastern Philosophy & Religion, this lecture material covers Indian Buddhism's three truths, the hindrances to meditation, practicing loving-kindness toward oneself first, karma and non-attachment.

A step-by-step guide to setting up Instagram on a smartphone, cropping and filtering photos, tagging them #TaiChiChih, and following instagram.com/taichichih to spread T'ai Chi Chih images widely.

Good Karma Publishing and The Vital Force launched a public Pinterest page with boards on TCC movements, health benefits, news articles and Justin Stone quotes, plus links to hundreds of Flickr photos.

Larry Bloom, who never met Justin Stone, builds an imagined interview by pairing his own questions with excerpts from Stone's book Heightened Awareness on habit energies, Consciousness, retreat-hopping and circulating Chi.

Sheryl Adair, after sharing T'ai Chi Chih with nearly 50 women at a retreat, takes up the Yiddish word pekele from Rabbi Pamela Jay Gottfried's book and applies it to setting down our bundle of troubles during practice.

Betty Dobberstein thanks Jean Katus for reviewing the movements and orders the Joy Thru Movement photo text, noting that old knee stitches, hernia surgery and spinal curvature limit her while flexibility grows.

Dotty Hoepner recounts reading a chapter of Climb the Joyous Mountain before each session of Donna McElhose's intermediate class, drawn to Justin Stone's travels in the East and the chapter "Provincialism."

Stephen Thompson, who fell ill during the 2012 teacher conference, found some of the presentations he missed archived online, among them Sara Nelson's talk on approaching health professionals and students with physical problems.

Judy Hendricks recalls Justin Stone through his books and paintings, from his answer to a schoolboy's question about Daughter on the Mountaintop to his advice to meditate every day.

Justin Stone retells two Zen stories about death and Chao Chou's instruction to throw out emptiness, then turns to yoga as a science, the Gayatri Mantra and remaking oneself by changing tendencies.

Stu Goldman, whose high-pressure career ended after life-saving surgery left him with neurological changes and depression, describes finding T'ai Chi Chih through a 2010 AARP article and now pursuing accreditation.

Excerpted from Justin Stone's book Gateway to Eastern Philosophy & Religion, four short pieces: the greedy businessman's dying words, Ramamurti Mishra on mistakes, a Roshi's five fingers, and Zen's life-affirming earthiness.

Margery Erickson describes returning from the 2012 teacher conference and re-reading booklets of Justin Stone's talks published by the Albuquerque center, hearing his voice again in the words.

Sr. Antonia Cooper sets down the revelations Justin Stone entrusted to her and shared at the Portland conference, among them countless universes, time as illusion and gratitude, with Pyramid Poems appended.

Justin Stone pairs Professor Huang's account of Yin and Yang with the story of Lynette pushing away a Sacher torte in Laurel Canyon, then turns to yoga's circular time and the Yoga Sutras.

Sr. Antonia Cooper counts the nine different names Justin Stone gave the rest pose in the T'ai Chi Chih Photo Text, notes his openness about how and when to practice, and prints the 2011 mission statement.

Justin Stone unpacks the Indian formula Sat-Chit-Ananda and the workings of karma, then tells how Paul Reps greeted Japan with "Tea Ceremony stinks!" to jolt people out of habit energies.

A rundown of the new taichichih.org features: a chronological, hyperlinked "In The News" archive of TCC press and research, a blog of Justin's writings, comment threads, and integrated Facebook and Flickr feeds.

Donna Aldous describes reading Justin Stone's photo textbook and circulating copies of The Vital Force in class, then passes on end-of-series comments from students on Push Pull, connectedness and wholeness.

Hannah Hedrick reviews a Respiratory Care pilot study of T'ai Chi for COPD patients, praising its 61-item bibliography and two T'ai Chi Chih citations, then previews the 2011 Ohio teacher conference at Sawmill Creek Resort.

Sheila Leonard collected testimonials from her Newfoundland students, including relief from torn rotator cuff pain, night knee pain and migraines, plus a lunchtime employee wellness session and an NTV news segment featuring Sharon Snow learning TCC.