The Vital Force Archive

A brief anonymous verse from the 50th T'ai Chi Chih Teacher Conference, declaring love for practising together and a cherishing that carries from yesterday into today.

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.

Joan Weaver's pyramid poem marks the 50th T'ai Chi Chih teacher conference, naming the Zoom connection to Albuquerque, the small-group storytelling, and those remembered in absence.

Rebecca Paulson recounts how her son's London conference on the circular economy led Lesley Nell to lead global economists in T'ai Chi Chih, and meeting Tina Wells and Adam Lacey in Albuquerque.

Attendees at the 2024 Albuquerque conference answer five questions about why they came, what surprised them and what they carried home, from small-group talks to refinements in grounding and roundness.

Linda Prosche reports how Marin teachers reconvened over lunch after the 50th conference, summing it up in four words - community, expansiveness, unexpectedness and joy - with quotes from Katy Cole, Barbara Kristoff and Tom Rothenberger, plus a Big Island retreat plan.

Sandy McAlister recounts the 50th anniversary teacher conference in Albuquerque, from Skip Whitson's memories of publishing Justin's books to a raffle and auction that raised $6,974 for scholarships.

Written before the 50th anniversary teacher conference in Albuquerque, April Leffler finds unity in flowing from the t'an t'ien and in the "Chi-mails" teachers send each other with their thoughts.

Dorene Krause describes a June evening event for her students, with shared TCC stories and a practice in two concentric circles, and prints the words she wrote on the unity a circle creates.

Edwin Beatty recounts taking a T'ai Chi class in Carmel with a friend decades ago, then realizing at the 2024 conference community practice that his early teacher had been Justin Stone.

Lisa Stroyan collected the praise voiced at Sandy McAlister's August 2024 Second Saturday Zoom practice, from the spheres presentation and Laurie Jacobi's video to scholarships, Karen K's emergency surgery, and a call for future conference committee volunteers.

Adabelle Rychtarik recounts the 50th anniversary conference in Albuquerque: practicing in the new TCC Center, John Marquez teaching pyramid poetry, hot air balloons over morning practice on wet grass.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst, a member of the program committee, recounts the first in-person conference since COVID, held at Albuquerque's Marriott Pyramid for TCC's 50th year, and Judy Hendricks' rededication ceremony.

Daniel Pienciak recounts the July 28 Zoom practice he led for teachers who could not travel to the 50th anniversary conference, with comments from participants across the country.

Sue Kenney frames T'ai Chi Chih as a web of relationships: with her aging self, with fellow practitioners, with a Sacramento parish's Wednesday Taize service, and with George Manning's class at HOPE Cooperative.

Amy Tyksinski invites undecided teachers to the July 25-28 Albuquerque conference marking 50 years of T'ai Chi Chih, noting deferred payment until June and the theme "There is Only One Thing Going On."

June Calende describes a weekly hour at the senior center: shoes off, chairs against the wall, Debby counting reps barely audibly, nineteen movements done beside an east window of trembling leaves and a kettle pond.

Lisa Stroyan details how she, Doriane Tippet and Belize-based Zoom anchor Beverly Miles run a simultaneous in-person and online class, from webcam setup and lighting to the surprising arrangement of students standing behind the teachers.

Pam Towne, accredited in 1984 and present at every teacher conference since Asilomar in 1985, urges teachers to come to Albuquerque in July for the first in-person gathering in five years and TCC's 50th birthday.

Four intuitive writings after practice: Dora Wiemann basking in a peaceful bubble, Dixie Adeniran finding the Cosmic Rhythm in kelp and swings, Terry Gay Puckett's Monday circle, and Daniel Pienciak surrendering a tight shoulder.

Daryl Isenberg describes her twice weekly practice group in Ajijic, and Hannah Hedrick recounts how Theda Gillespie sold her the book in 1985 only on the promise she become accredited.

Rebecca Paulson describes the February 24th gathering at the Windsor Recreation Center, where more than 30 people from eight towns, some practicing in person for the first time since the pandemic, completed a full silent practice.

Bruce Childs borrows Pamela Adelstein's definition of sacred space to recall the quietude of the T'ai Chi Chih Center in Albuquerque, then asks his friend June, who answers with a poem about weekly open practice.

June Calende describes a weekly 3:00 practice at a senior center, shoes off, windows facing a kettle pond, Debby naming the nineteen movements in a barely audible voice.

Catherine Fedewa, who co-chaired the 2023 online Teacher Conference, names what Zoom gave the community and what it could not, and looks ahead to the in-person anniversary gathering in Albuquerque in 2024.

Julie Schuster's class at Friendship Village of Bloomington spent weeks practicing a single chosen movement, and students recorded what came of it: Push Pull turning into a mantra, Six Healing Sounds cleansing breath, and Daughter on the Mountain Top easing anxiety at bedtime.

Sandy McAlister describes the first California teacher's retreat since COVID-19, held in Oceanside with 20 teachers, and its theme of coming home to community, to practice, and to Prajna, the inner voice heard in silence at the tan t'ien.

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.

Judy Smith walks past saguaros and the Garden Bistro to Laura Star's class under an adobe ramada at Tohono Chul in Tucson, correcting a movement and remembering family members Justin taught.

George Manning describes letting chi guide his teaching, moving side by side with students, slowing movements with the breath, and carrying the practice to settings where souls are forgotten.