The Vital Force Archive

Anita Vestal, Jessica Lewis, Adam Lacey and Greg Berg report on their Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale survey of over 400 practitioners, and an abstract submitted to the 2026 Osher Center conference.

Fred Lorch credits his ongoing T'ai Chi Chih practice with better balance, flexibility and strength as he ages, plus blood pressure averaging 20 points lower and improved coronary health.

Cristina Minelli adapts Italian meditation teacher Andrea Magrin's WhatsApp pairing system for TCC, where practitioners post a request like "10/10" and video call a partner, each leading half the movements.

Annie Braudy spent two weeks in Piraeus with a friend in deep grief, and her daily practice overlooking the city and the ocean kept returning her to grounding and flow.

Transcribed from Justin Stone's spoken word CD, Justin describes the tingling fingers, healing heat and three confirmatory signs of Chi flow, quotes Lao Tzu, and outlines a maximum Chi program for athletes.

Linda Braga lists how nutritionists, neuroscientists, astrophysicists and others define human beings, then cites Justin Stone's claim that regular TCC practice can speed up evolution and heighten awareness.

Tina Wells traces her path from a first class with Wendy Helms in California to teaching T'ai Chi Chih at Oxford's Restore charity and the Oxfordshire Recovery College, where students use grounding to interrupt panic attacks.

Chris McLain credits her daughter Carrie's recovery from an unexpected heart attack to more than 400 days of solo daily practice, and traces three generations of accredited teachers in her family.

Christian Gunning, accredited in November 2024, traces 25 years of practice from Athens, Georgia through a midlife reckoning to the Colorado accreditation week with Sandy McAlister, where a long-carried sense of not deserving to be lifted.

Gail Terriff describes the self-care habits that keep her replenished, from journaling and singing aloud to her morning T'ai Chi Chih practice, and quotes Thich Nhat Hanh's book Anger on mindfulness as the energy of being present.

Three of Donna McElhose's College of Lake County students write letters to future beginners, describing bad knees, ankle and wrist ligament injuries, the switch to a seated class, and the fear of being the only man in the room.

Tara Stiles recounts coaxing travel companions into doing T'ai Chi Chih in airports before long flights to Australia, and choosing grounding movements like Bass Drum in a cramped courtroom corridor.

Reprinted from November 2006, Justin Stone describes Chi as the Cosmic life principle vibrating through all things, and credits consistent T'ai Chi Chih practice for his undiminished health at nearly 86.

Steven Huskey recounts the teaching that found him after accreditation, from filling in for his own teacher to classes for Parkinson's patients and a brain injury support group, and the lesson plans he abandoned for flexibility.

A letter to future students from one of Donna McElhose's students, K. L., who began T'ai Chi Chih in 2005 after a breast cancer scare and urges beginners to persevere through the awkward first weeks.

Excerpts from Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey on why a teacher who does not practice is "somewhat of a fraud," teaching beginners to flow slow motion in a dream, and self-clinging as the root of suffering.

Christina Tillotson describes practicing daily near her 21-year-old cat Quanyin, conducting chi toward her as she purred, and continuing that practice at her death and over her ashes.

Holly Hershman passes along a student's note crediting T'ai Chi Chih with a 30% gain in movement and flexibility after hip and sciatic trouble, plus thank-you messages from JustinStoneTCC.com newsletter readers, including an opera singer who practices daily to warm up her breath support.

Richard Brier lists the reasons we practice, from awakening intuition to opening to cosmic Chi, and describes the "mind fasting" of the empty cup behind Joy Through Movement.

Linda Braga recounts writing "Blooming the Rose Within" during a silent retreat at Santa Sabina Center, where she led morning T'ai Chi Chih, and its 2020 first-place win in the International Dancing Poetry Contest.

JB describes how an intuition arriving during Rocking Motion reminded her that TCC itself holds the patience she needed while her partner faced repeated hospitalizations for severe emphysema.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recounts a friend being told about T'ai Chi Chih for high blood pressure by someone who did not know she already knew, and urges a post-Covid return to daily practice.

Carolyn Perkins, writing from Cyprus, managed one group practice and one of Carmen's workshops at the teacher conference despite the time difference, and does six repetitions daily since breaking her neck.

Patricia Winger describes how agreeing to teach her neighborhood seven days a week finally built a daily practice, breaking a 30-year habit within two months and speeding her recovery from total knee replacement.

Marcella K. Levie treats Justin's Graceful Conclusion between movements as a moment of coming home, followed by Sharron Gonzalez on the value of in-person accreditation courses over Zoom and on making daily practice a habit.

Linda Braga recalls an early morning practice on a Mt. Baldy patio where a Doberman, a grasshopper and a bumblebee gathered beside her, all facing east until she finished.

Lucy Hocking revisits the Asilomar grounds where she hosted the first International TCC Teacher Conference in August 1985, and admits that as a lapsed teacher she has stopped practicing daily.

Donna McElhose's students describe healing lower back pain and tennis elbow, feeling tingling energy, grounding in the t'an t'ien for balance, and combining silent group practice with meditation before and after class.

From a spoken word CD, Justin Stone links chi to breath and mood, cites Sri Aurobindo, and describes the maximum Chi program he would give athletes, including Nei Kung at bedtime.

Fusun Sulzbach traces her on-again off-again practice from her 2002 accreditation presentation through a divorce, retirement, a gym class closed by COVID, and a June retreat in Oceanside that renewed her daily routine and ended her sleep medication.