The Vital Force Archive

A transcribed lecture in which Justin Stone traces the Yin and Yang Chi back to the Tao, compares T'ai Chi Chih with Zen meditation, Hatha Yoga and T'ai Chi Ch'uan, and recounts early student results from 1974 onward.

Kathy Grassel interviews Tyler, a retired Episcopal and Byzantine Rite priest leaving her Albuquerque gym class for Chicago, on how the Tao Teh Ching, yin and yang, and bodily worship shaped his three years of practice.

Greg Berg, who writes free verse himself, examines Justin Stone's Pyramid Poetry form from Climb the Joyous Mountain and reads its seven lines as an ascent of yang and descent of yin.

Terry Jennings answers questions on feeling grounded in resting pose, moving on without disrupting Chi flow, and her favorite Cosmic Consciousness Pose saying: embrace everything, all 10,000 things.

Justin Stone's own definitions of koan, mantra, prajna, samadhi, satori, teh, T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Zen, drawn from two of his books and showing how his emphasis shifted over time.

From a spoken word CD, Justin Stone recounts the 1974 first class where a priest regained his sense of smell, the tingling and heat students feel, and the stage when T'ai Chi Chih can be done mentally.

Judy Hubbell, three years into teaching Mind Body Health classes including ones for Chinese seniors, responds to the JustinStoneTCC.com newsletter and asks about Justin's link to Wen-Shan Huang.

Transcribed from his spoken word CD, Justin Stone contrasts changing the Chi directly with working through the mind in Zen or Hatha Yoga, and traces Yin and Yang back to the Tao in Chinese cosmology.

Justin Stone argues that accepting death, baldness, and the unchangeable ends their power over us, drawing on Lao Tzu's losing a little each day, Chuang Tzu's Fasting Mind, and Hakuin's enlightenment.

Sandy McAlister explains why Justin Stone wanted teachers to educate themselves rather than take formal courses, and how conference talks on Taoist philosophy, grounding, meditation and Justin's own travels deepen a teacher's understanding.

Rebecca Paulson's pyramid poem "One" grew out of re-reading Chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching in Stephen Mitchell's translation, and her note on yin, yang, grounding and the dynamic Chi.

Justin Stone describes human beings as shifting yin and yang energies, explains that blood follows chi and chi follows thought, and argues that T'ai Chi Chih balances energy before illness arises.

Justin Stone recounts his first voyage to Japan, a chance train meeting with Reverend Takahashi, and the Chinese volume on the I Ching that Mr. Tung insisted he carry around the world.

Justin Stone contrasts Indian Buddhism's escape from suffering with the Taoist love of life and longevity, concluding that daily contemplation and gratitude serve most people better than asceticism.

Jessica Lewis recounts a 90-minute virtual meeting with David-Dorian Ross and TaijiFit instructors about the Free T'ai Chi for Veterans program, the Fang Song principle, and how teaching Vets with few words changed her view of other T'ai Chi styles.

Janet Oussaty's 2018 conference paper on Flowing from Emptiness draws on Alma Zerboni clearing her mind in a park between classes, a student who complained there was nothing to hold onto, and the Tao Te Ching.

Carmen Brocklehurst unpacks the name T'ai Chi Chih as "knowledge of the Supreme Ultimate" and recalls her clumsy first classes with Helen Brungardt Pope before discovering the feeling of chi.

In a transcribed lecture, Justin Stone contrasts changing the Chi directly through T'ai Chi Chih with the harder path of mind control, and explains how free-flowing Chi erases habit energies and the seeds of Karma.

Tish Jaramillo identifies the tingling warmth in the palms as Heart Protector 8, the acupuncture point called Palace of Weariness, and traces the Pericardium meridian from heart-center to fingertip.

Justin Stone, in a taped lecture, defines Chi through Lao-Tzu and Sri Aurobindo, describes the reciprocal character of mind and Chi, outlines a maximum Chi program for athletes, and names the seven emotions.

Justin Stone traces his study of spiritual healing from the Japanese Healing Church to Chinese and Indian teachers, arguing that illness is imbalanced Chi and that the best healing is self-healing.

Tish Jaramillo, a Chinese Medicine practitioner, locates Middle Palace, the first point on the Lung meridian, at the front shoulder crease, and links relaxing the shoulders back and down to releasing grief.

Tish Jaramillo, an acupuncturist newly accredited as a teacher, identifies the Bubbling Spring as Yongquan Kidney-1, the first point on the kidney meridian, and explains its grounding function in Five Element theory.

Lisa M. Otero argues that Justin Stone deliberately left no hierarchy to govern TCC after his death, recalling his warning that organizing a spiritual movement corrupts it, and resolving to take individual responsibility for the practice's integrity.

Justin Stone recounts the Hua-Yen candle and mirrors demonstration, the gilded lion, sayings of Confucius, Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, a Zen master living under a Kyoto bridge, and Tat Tvam Asi.

Maureen Purves recalls teaching a weekend T'ai Chi Chih course in an Edmonton river valley recreation center, where a Chinese family on snowshoes stopped outside the glass walls to watch.

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.

Joe Michaud's poem moves from moment-to-moment dying and returning to life, to Master Chang's butterfly dream, to the two dark and light fish chasing each other's tails, ending with a koan-like demand.

Justin Stone contrasts Tagore's unanswered "Who am I?" with Tako-san's bright moon over water, traces Chinese cosmology back to the Uncarved Block, and explains how each mood carries a corresponding prana.

Justin Stone links karma to the habit energies built by the Chi, raises the dichotomy of Grace versus cause and effect, and cites Hakuin's Yassenkana on sinking heart fire below the navel.