The Vital Force Archive

April Leffler recounts her travels to meet UK, Italian, Dutch and German teachers, the UK conference presentations that drew accreditation candidates, and the EU teachers' monthly Zoom practices open to Americans.

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.

April Leffler recounts practicing T'ai Chi Chih abroad, from the 2003 Banff teacher conference to workshops in England and Italy and supporting Beverly Miles, Belize's only teacher, at her new open-air platform.

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.

April Leffler describes noticing the aging and homogeneity of the TCC community at the 50th Anniversary Teacher Conference in Albuquerque, and how her alarm gave way to trust when she responded from grounded stillness rather than emotional reaction.

Susan Corey describes the seniors she teaches, whose stories of sorrow and hilarity are woven into their unhurried practice, and likens them to the light-filled mystics of The Dark Crystal.

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.

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.

April Leffler traces the "three-part harmony" of soles of the feet, softening knees and t'an t'ien in her practice, then asks how that same sense of connection applies to relationships in life.

April Leffler recounts an intuitive nudge to focus on the Taffies at her YMCA class, and the fellow teacher who arrived that morning with a box of salt water taffy, as evidence of prajna at work.

Susan Corey rereads her notes from Laurie Jacobi's "Embracing Emptiness" talk at the 2022 Teacher Conference and finds that waiting inside the pauses brings her weight shift into palpable harmony.

April Leffler describes imagining three coins under each foot, two at the ball and one at the heel, to track the weight shift and finally understand Justin Stone's reminder to bring a movement to a graceful conclusion.

April Leffler describes how allowing space under the armpits, rather than letting the upper arms hang, dropped her shoulders and freed the Chi, and how she taught it using the Goldilocks Method.

April Leffler uses Justin Stone's image of teachers as the jewel of T'ai Chi Chih to recount the 2022 conference rededication ceremony and her own resistance to seeing teachers stand up after grounding.

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.

April Leffler compares the t'an t'ien to a dog walker and the arms to the dogs, then describes trying the analogy in class, including students whose hands reached up Daughter on the Mountaintop before the center moved.

Margery Erickson recounts a former student, Sandy, rejoining her drop-in YMCA class and producing the worn list of TCC movements she once used to practice before craft shows.

April Leffler describes the phrase "present time awareness" surfacing during a morning practice, the small mental check-outs it gently interrupted, and how returning attention to the soles of the feet carries over into daily life.

Denise Alire practices T'ai Chi Chih barefoot on the sand by the bay, fretting over unfinished shopping and no cash, then finds two rolled twenty dollar bills at her feet.

April Leffler introduces the ten teachers accredited in the fourth Zoom course with Pam Towne, with their mission statements and reflections on grief, letting go and finding softness during the week.

Mary Cerullo substituted for Sr. Christa's seated Zoom class at the Franciscan Spiritual Center in Aston, and found the familiar main room empty of spirit before the center closed in June 2021.

Margery Erickson traces a career in juvenile detention outreach, crisis intervention, sheltered workshops and special education that preceded her TCC accreditation, then lists community settings where she now hopes to volunteer.

Bruce Lee likens group practice to an orchestra, with the teacher as conductor and group t'an t'ien, where individual chi blends into a group chi greater than the number of people present.

Susan A. Corey describes taking up Seijaku and Fast Track at the Zoom conference Continuing the Connection, likening her first Seijaku practice to falling gracefully into cool water.

Host April Leffler collects participant accounts from Sandy McAlister's four-day Zoom intensive, including breakthroughs in the front and back weight shift, breakout group feedback, and one student's tearful Rocking Motion.

Bruce Lee proposes that each person carries a unique vibration, a harmonic of the one universal vibration, which practice stimulates and which teh, or inner sincerity, moves us to express and share.

Susan Corey applies the Laban and Bartenieff Effort/Shape Method, with its continua of flow, weight, time and space, to T'ai Chi Chih instruction, identifying the practice as a light, sustained, direct glide.

Kathleen McAlister describes Sunday morning group practice in a Philadelphia-area park through 2020, where flags, bees, motorcycle rallies, a political road rally and a track meet all tested her focus.

Bruce Lee describes how moving softly and slowly as though flowing in a dream draws attention out of the head into the body, letting thoughts float by and revealing the divinity within.

Margery Erickson's poem asks when the strong women, imprisoned in their homes and paralyzed by fear of invisible attackers, will march forward again, acknowledging that some never will return.