The Vital Force Archive

Alice Holden's account of the 40th anniversary conference at Kean University, where 102 participants heard Sandy McAlister refine the movements, Pam Towne present Seijaku, and Neal Roy's raffle raise over $2000 for scholarships.

Pam Towne announces the T'ai Chi Chih International Foundation, incorporated in New Jersey in June 2013 and granted 501(c)3 status, ending the practice of individual teachers personally guaranteeing conference facility contracts.

Sr. Antonia Cooper presents the two new T'ai Chi Chih vision statements drafted by twenty teachers under Frank Taylor's guidance, and announces the new T'ai Chi Chih International Foundation for conference and accreditation scholarships.

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.

Editor KG's conference report on journal business: credit card payments, multi-year renewals, a $1300 balance, declining subscriptions, the end of earmarked scholarship funds, and donations that paid for postcards and back-issue archiving.

Ev Hanson-Florin recounts her first TCC conference, from practices led by guide Antonia Cooper and teacher trainers Sandy McAlister and Pam Towne to talks on Seijaku, children and the scholarship raffle.

Robert Montes de Oca bought artwork by Justin Stone's friend Ou Mie Shu at a Spiritual Renewal Center silent auction and donated it to the TCC Association in gratitude.

Sky Young-Wick and the 2010 Conference Team invite teachers to the August teacher conference at Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, with registration deadlines, scholarship contacts, and a raffle funding future scholarships.

KG asks readers weighing year-end charitable giving to make a tax-deductible donation supporting The Vital Force and taichichih.org outreach, with the issue's contents and upcoming submission deadlines and themes listed.

Donna McElhose describes the 2009 International T'ai Chi Chih Conference in Nebraska, organized by teachers from many areas rather than one region, with a scholarship raffle and a barbeque songfest.

The editor announces secure on-line subscription renewals at taichichih.org, walks through the snail mail and email reminder cycle, and describes a teacher who asked 60th birthday guests to donate, raising $851.

Sr. Antonia Cooper marks the Year of the Rat with news of Justin Stone's November 17th Life Celebration, the new 17-minute DVD biography and poetry CD, and a planned international teacher training scholarship fund.

Justin Stone answers teachers' questions about T'ai Chi Chih after he passes away, confirming Sister Antonia as Guide, Sandy and Pam as the only Intensive teachers, and a proposed scholarship fund for candidates.

Editor KG announces the rebranding of taichichih.org, new Wikipedia entries, a YouTube clip of Justin Stone teaching Bird Flaps Its Wings, Ken Gray's Google Alerts instructions, and reader donations.

Doug Harned explains that donations supply 30 to 35 percent of the Albuquerque T'ai Chi Chih Association's income, and recalls Justin Stone tearing up checks the first teachers offered him from their class profits.

Judy Tretheway's web log entry on a week when three of four Folsom programs were cancelled, and she visited two locked-down students at their cell doors with handouts, meditation coaching and eye contact through a crack.

Pat Flynn recounts the third annual June Intensive at Mt St Francis Retreat Center with Sandy McAlister, where students and teachers hit an overload meltdown and learned Sandy's maxim, "Look for progress, not perfection."

Margo Carpenter recounts a snowy April weekend in Edmonton where Canadian students learned Seijaku with Pam Towne, joked about Bird Flaps Its Wings, and passed a basket to start a Canadian Teacher Training Fund.

Linda Braga describes how more than 20 Northern California Bay Area teachers collected videos, music tapes, cash and six reference binders for the T'ai Chi Chih classes Judy Tretheway started at Avenal Prison.

Judy Tretheway reports that 7,000 copies of her "Freedom Within" handout promoting contemplative programs are already inside prisons, and asks for sponsors to fund 5,000 more before the California Prison Chaplains conference in Visalia.

Catherine Millman recounts hosting the 2004 St. Louis conference, from the leaderless committee structure and the T-shirt auction and quilt raffle that funded scholarships to the Seijaku practice by the fountain.

Denise Clark describes teaching TCC to religious brothers and sisters at Holy Names College, and how Korean brother Seon Keun Oh was supported by Bay Area teachers toward accreditation.

Athene Mantle describes training Seon Keun Oh, a newly accredited teacher returning to Korea, whose immediate awareness of increased chi flow prompted Bay Area teachers to start a Teacher Training Fund.

Justin Stone names two worries about the proposed two-tier teachers' training: a cost of up to $2000 might bar good candidates or push them to teach unaccredited, and suggests scholarships and two recommending teachers instead.

Noel Altman reports that a last-minute room and board discount from the University of the Incarnate Word left the San Antonio Conference Committee with surplus funds, which the "San Antonio Six" donated to several TCC groups.

Justin Stone pledges that T'ai Chi Chih will stay free of bureaucracy, salaried positions and profit motives, proposing that the $100 in teacher-training honoraria go instead to a scholarship fund for needy candidates.

Sandy McAlister accounts for the 175-teacher 2001 Conference surplus, which funded nine teacher scholarships, seed money for the Texas and Canada conferences, equipment purchases, and a Bay Area class-listing website.

Ann Rutherford lays out the finances of Albuquerque's non-profit T'ai Chi Chih Center, from the $14,156 annual rent and Justin Stone's donated retreat and gallery proceeds to the new Search and Find and Presentation Committees recruiting off site classes.

James K. Hecker thanks Jean for donated Justin Stone books that keep Old Folsom inmates committed to TCC over other chi kung forms, and anticipates Ed Altman's June 22 visit.

Six teachers write in: Gordon Wade on Canadian exchange rates, Meridith Wilson thanking the scholarship fund that sent her to conference, Theda Gillespie moving to New Zealand, and Sr. Antonia Cooper's New Jersey accreditation waiting list.