The Vital Force Archive

Marie Dotts uses the pearl formed from an irritant to describe how her longstanding struggle with the forward and back weight shifts, and the gripping tension it caused, became her deepest gift to students.

Daniel Pienciak recounts studying Seijaku with Justin Stone in Albuquerque in 1997, the last course Justin taught, and argues that the Seijaku principle is the entree of a seven-course meal.

Lisa Stroyan recounts Marie Dotts leading September and October teacher practices on the t'an t'ien leading the weight shift, level pelvis, locked psoas muscles, and her "Kate Winslet on the Titanic" exercise for beginners.

Lisa Stroyan describes offering suggestions rather than corrections in ongoing classes, from a nervous newcomer discovering effortless rise in Light at the Top of the Head to catching her own unrolled right wrist in Bass Drum.

Nine new teachers were accredited by April Leffler in Leavenworth, Kansas, and candidates including Gilbert Pagat, Barbara Starke and Roksan Biktimir recount refinements, presentation nerves, PTSD healing and long delays.

April Leffler likens the almost imperceptible pause at the end of each weight shift to a wave receding or a swing at its apex, and Dan Pienciak explains the knee release that keeps the shift level.

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.

Richard Karasik takes up Justin Stone's puzzle of smoothness and continuity, arguing that whether you drop the hands between movements matters less than keeping the drop inside the practice rather than treating it as a coffee break.

Thirteen accredited teachers, among them Michelle Sarubbi, Pam Towne, Barbara Kristoff and Shirley Cross, name what teaching T'ai Chi Chih has given them: grounding, community, patience, creativity and companionship through grief.

Pam Towne uses Passing Clouds as a reminder to let thoughts drift by without following them, keeping the head facing forward while the waist turns, and describes extended repetitions as moving meditation.

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.

Marie Dotts traces her grounding from the soles of her feet to the t'an t'ien and the vertical core, describing how a level pelvic floor and slower pace deepened her root.

Laurie Jacobi, quoting Waysun Liao and teacher trainer April Leffler on thinking, works out how to cage the monkey mind by turning attention to feeling the weight shift millimeter by millimeter.

JJ Johnson describes how instructor Marie Dotts located the Bubbling Spring point below the ball of the foot, and how rooting the weighted leg before stepping out changed the start of every movement.

Daniel Pienciak traces how incomplete weight shifts left him wobbling and leaning in Perpetual Motion Taffy, and how finishing the knee bend, hip and heel placement corrected it for him and his students.

After 26 years of practice, Laurie Jacobi questions a rule she thought sacred and begins dropping her hands between movements, finding it releases wrist tension and helps ground excess energy.

April Leffler tries ending each movement both ways, palms facing the earth or hands dropped completely, and finds that attention to the four corners of the feet matters more than the choice.

Catherine, accredited in November 2024, took the training to deepen her own practice, then found herself teaching when three friends asked for classes in her home.

In a letter addressed to Justin Stone and then to colleagues, Sherry Corson asks whether the hip swivel is something teachers do or simply allow, finding it arises from relaxed hips and full weight shifts.

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.

Lorraine Lepine traces how natural breath, emptying, and slowed movement lead to subtle vibration and inner light, citing Paul Reps and Justin Stone's statement in 20th Century Psalms that we are the product of sound vibration.

Beverly J. Miles describes a year of practising Seijaku and the questions it raised for her, including whether to hold the breath while holding fast and how to dance the Joy Song.

A brief call from the 50th T'ai Chi Chih Teacher Conference, describing the practice as balancing, invigorating and circulating, and naming now as the perfect time to reach new depths.

Jim Shorr collects comments from four practitioners at Creekside Village in Beaverton, finishing their sixth year of Saturday morning sessions, on balance, joint tension, new friendships and Qigong warm-ups.

Connie Shaw recounts breakthroughs in seeing her own conditioning fall away, and lists what keeps her practice alive: posture, empty mind, returning to the t'an t'ien, and deliberate uncontrived laughter.

Lisa Stroyan describes a stiff early-morning practice easing into a new grasp of the Effort of No Effort, distinguishing doing from feeling and moving from knowing TCC to learning from it.

After more than four years of practice, Nancy Hellebrand Blood woke up to why attention rests in the soles of the feet: it leaves no room for habitual thoughts.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recounts the in-person teacher conference in Albuquerque, where 150 teachers gathered after COVID, and how letting go of her once-larger movements let her feel the flow Justin described.

Dan Pienciak recalls two stories Justin Stone told, about the Master who was simply awake and the student who saw mind moving, then likens nearly 30 years of practice to a road trip without a destination.

Pam Towne, after 38 years of Seijaku practice, describes the yin-yang alternation of softness and resistance, lists its massages, tonings, Jing and Joy Song, and quotes Justin Stone calling its discovery the most important event of his life.