The Vital Force Archive

April Leffler rereads Justin Stone's letters to her after accreditation and feels the loving chi in them, while Jim Kaib describes auditing accreditations to keep a beginner's mind.

After a fall left her with a fractured ankle and an Aircast boot, Margery Erickson practised seated Seijaku and TCC from a stool, feeling energy gather at the t'an t'ien.

Cleo Royal links the give and take of Pulling In The Energy to the American Indian Potlatch tradition, and suggests TCC teachers host their own giving events.

Fran Kaib describes how years of T'ai Chi Chih widened her narrow emotional range at age 63, bringing jealousy, tears, anger and unexpected fun, and making conscious what was unconscious.

Richard Bethke, a college student closing out his course journal, admits he probably will not keep practicing T'ai Chi Chih, yet credits the class with opening him to unfamiliar things.

Stacey Moore poses a string of questions about how we know what to do next and why some days fall apart, answering that consistent T'ai Chi Chih and Seijaku practice teaches her to breathe, trust and let go.

Host April Leffler gathers comments from candidates and auditing teachers at the May 2014 accreditation with trainer Daniel Pienciak, including two pyramid poems and Jack Weaver's account of struggling to absorb tweaks.

April Leffler replaced two cancelled university classes with an assignment to research T'ai Chi Chih on social media, and three students report what they found on Facebook and Twitter, from the bubbling spring and trembling fingers to studies on depression in the elderly.

After a conference talk on social media, April Leffler assigned her university students to research T'ai Chi Chih on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube; three students' papers on bubbling spring, seated practice and daily habits follow.

April Leffler assigned her university students a one-page paper on what they could learn about T'ai Chi Chih from Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, and prints excerpts from three of them.

April Leffler assigned her university students a one-page paper on what they could learn about T'ai Chi Chih from Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and YouTube, and prints three of their write-ups.

April Leffler traces an inner directive that arrived during sudden hearing loss in her second ear, from surrender and returned hearing to joining Facebook and, after KG's conference presentation, using social media to spread T'ai Chi Chih.

April Leffler recounts preparing her 2013 teachers conference talk on Prajna by asking Prajna itself what she would say, and opening with a disclaimer inviting listeners to discard whatever did not ring true.

B. Clouser was taken to a first class by her friend Tracy on her birthday in January 2012, doubted her coordination, and has since gone on to Seijaku and a Tuesday evening group.

Pauline Pike, partway through a Seijaku course, found that adding hardness made softness something to welcome rather than strive for, and steadied her long-troublesome Rocking Motion; Pyramid Poems follow.

April Leffler describes eleven years of drop-in classes at a YMCA, learning to teach to whoever shows up, giving cues to her "frequent fliers," and adding a Seijaku class in June.

Jean Markey and her students spotted a praying mantis on a park bench before practising on the labyrinth at Bon Secours, prompting her to look up its meaning in Ted Andrews' Animal Speak.

Jack Weaver recounts how a workplace survey flagging rage and depression led him to T'ai Chi Chih while his wife was permanently hospitalized, and how practice lowered his blood pressure, eased shingles pain and carried him through his dog Cody's death.

Mrs. Stough, unable to do yoga after back surgeries, found TCC through an online search for relaxation, and describes falling asleep easily, lowered pain, and feeling grounded for the first time in her first Seijaku class.

Margery Erickson describes the grounding calm she carries through days spent with energetic teenagers and quiet evenings alone, crediting maturity, experience, T'ai Chi Chih and redirected habit energies.

Mary Lou Kilgore spilled a tube of wood stain on her living room carpet and, hearing her teacher April's words about staying in the here and now, cleaned it up calmly with dish soap and cold water.

Margery Erickson describes returning from the 2012 teacher conference and re-reading booklets of Justin Stone's talks published by the Albuquerque center, hearing his voice again in the words.

April Leffler collects metaphors written by her Spring 2012 Widener University students, who compare T'ai Chi Chih to a heartbeat, storm clouds releasing rain, invisible air carrying chi, and an ocean wave lifting stress away.

April Leffler recounts a dream in which a frail, legless Justin Stone stood in a rehab room, clasped her hands, spoke in a foreign language with glowing eyes, and said he could not find his way home.

April Leffler collects her students' metaphors for T'ai Chi Chih: sun melting a snowball of stress, wind rippling a lake, and trains passing a porch while the mind travels, plus Desiree A.'s list of life's paired energies.

Carolyn and Dennis, one week into their first TCC lessons, began home hemodialysis and found that doing a few movements dissolved the nervousness and jitters of a difficult treatment day.

April Leffler, diagnosed with Meniere's Disease, describes canceling classes and waking to a spinning room, and how dropping her attention to the soles of her feet loosens her white-knuckled grip on fear.

Cleo Roemele links the give and take of Pulling In The Energy to the American Indian Potlatch tradition, and proposes generous giving as a collective goal for the TCC community.

Margery Erickson recounts hosting a 1997 accreditation in her converted weaving studio and now invites TCC teachers traveling through Pennsylvania or Maryland to stay, walk the six acres, and practice together.

April Leffler likens the tan t'ien to a built-in GPS, recounting how a gut feeling steered her out of being hopelessly lost on Long Island after even the police could not help.