The Vital Force Archive

Rosalind (Linda) Braga recalls a private lesson where telling a nervous teacher candidate what she was doing right made her cry, and offers wording for positive group corrections.

Sue Kenney recounts how a 2001 Vital Force article led her to teach at Folsom Prison, walking the metal detectors, gold coin checkpoints, cell blocks and yard to reach a chapel class of thirty men.

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.

Rebecca Paulson recounts April 29th World T'ai Chi and Qigong Day in northern Colorado, where 35 people from seven cities met at a community college while 26 more joined by Zoom from Belize onward.

Jim Shorr gathers statements from five practitioners in the five-year-old Saturday standing and seated class at Creekside Village for Seniors, who name Passing Clouds, Rocking Motion and Light at the Top of the Head as the movements that release old habits, steady balance and raise consciousness.

Julie Heryet reports on the Folsom State Prison class after a 15-month lockdown gap, including a student talked out of suicide, poet Lawrence's release, and inmate-assistant Stephen's death from cancer.

Judy Kistler-Robinson turned shut-down recreation center classes into Zoom sessions that drew friends across the country, and she still offers a free monthly online practice from Albuquerque, including one student's husband with Parkinson's.

Hannah Hedrick expands on the constellation idea born during Linda Prosche's stay in the Hawaii rainforest, inviting comments on a Prime Mover graphic with Justin as North Star for the 2024 conference.

Ivonne Begue se Benzo describes the weekly practice she began shadowing with the sisters of Assisi Heights in Minnesota, and how moving meditation lets her respond rather than react.

Marcella Box introduces Lovena Warren, an 86-year-old accredited teacher whose free weekday Zoom practice restored her daily habit, and who led hurricane evacuees in T'ai Chi Chih from a shelter stage in 2005.

Joanne Howell recaps the Second Saturday discussion of Sandy McAlister's four practice types - formal, working, play and tailored - with teachers' examples of connected forms, imagery and staying true to Justin Stone's original.

Sue Bitney said yes to teaching outdoors at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in September 2020, and when fifty students asked to learn every movement, she began walking them through all nineteen in a single thirty-minute session.

Carmen Brocklehurst links everyday acts of kindness, including a boy who unbuckled his seat belt to save a cat, to the wholeness felt when a group ends a movement together and Justin asked, "Did you feel that?"

Linda Prosche travels to Hilo for two weeks with her former teacher Hannah Hedrick, whose question about "Freedom Quotient" leads her to examine the decades-old habits, likened to Pele's hair, standing between her and effortless practice.

Patty Stupca reports the January Second Saturday discussion of seated practice, including Kay Rydeen's caution to rock from the sitz bones rather than the lower lumbar spine, and chair placement for unsteady students.

Sandy McAlister recounts the second Saturday teacher Zoom gatherings, including September's discussion of TCC polarity and which movements have it, October's swap of class handouts, and tips on Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Donna McElhose collected thank-you letters her Illinois students wrote to Justin Stone, describing asthma-friendly movement, circle meditation, a Folsom Prison video, and the struggle to practice alone at home.

Daniel Pienciak, a conservatory-trained musician, compares solo piano practice and choral singing to TCC, arguing that group flow delights but daily solo practice carries the inner discipline Justin Stone described.

Lisa Stroyan admits she has never practised steadfastly alone, and describes how Zoom group practice and a Seijaku class question from Carmen gave her the phrase "supportive cohesiveness."

Trish Winger names the commitment that a daily group practice creates after 20 years of putting her own practice last, alongside the freedom of solo practice to choose movements and pause.

Denise Alire found joy in worldwide Zoom practice during years of solitude, favors practicing alone along the beach until a place invites her to stop, and still loves the stronger cosmic vibrations of moving as one in person.

Drawing on three decades as a Special Education teacher, Linda Braga argues that partner practice, where classmates observe each other and trade feedback, should be a standard part of every TCC class.

Sue Bitney describes the beginning class she started at a senior co-operative housing building during COVID, where a core of eight practise twice weekly and one man moving only one hand practises with them.

Lorraine Lepine describes the four-days-a-week Zoom practice she has led since March 2020, letting the Chi teach during silent practice, with testimonials from Melissa, Steve Geer, John Marquez and Nicky Mendenhall.

Diana Daffner describes how she and her husband Richard included T'ai Chi Chih in twenty-five years of couples coaching, finding that partners facing each other while moving developed a heartfelt connection.

Guy Kent compares solo and group practice after the 2022 teacher conference, recalling forty-minute sessions with Justin in Albuquerque and suggesting practitioners time their own practice against that mark.

Joyce Kanyuk credits her teacher Oreann with bringing students into peace and calm, and describes looking forward to the camaraderie of Monday morning class and feeling the energy of the movements; Pyramid Poems by Johnnie Lee Marquez follow.

Judy Chancey and Sky Young-Wick outline the 2022 International Teachers' Conference on Zoom, themed Cultivating Wisdom, from the Friday Around the World Practice to Sandy McAlister's opening words, Seijaku mornings and breakout rooms.

Jim Shorr describes how Creekside Village senior housing uses Margie, a longtime student, as a seated demonstrator whom wheelchair and walker participants follow, with Wayne and Bob explaining what it gives them.

Monica Motyka credits her teacher Donna McElhose, who led mixed standing and seated group practices, with the confidence to now teach seated T'ai Chi Chih in every location she teaches.