The Vital Force Archive

Daniel Pienciak suggests imagining three dimes under each foot, two at the balls and one at the heel, as a way to test even weight distribution and complete the weight shift.

Monica Campbell answers her students' questions about "the pause," describing how Resting Pose after nine repetitions balances yin and yang, gathers chi into the t'an t'ien, and opens a moment of stillness.

Richard Karasik draws on conversations with Justin Stone about art, music and stocks to argue that the spaces between TCC movements are alive, and recalls Justin's insistence on staying true to the form.

Judy Hendricks noticed at the 2003 Banff conference that she had stopped standing up between movements, and her knees hurt; returning to Justin's practice in Albuquerque cured it.

Jackson Rains tried dropping the rest pose between movements in his own practice, found it broke the flow, and then learned from a student with arthritic wrists why holding it during instruction hurts.

Lisa M. Otero takes up a question Daniel Pienciak raised at the conference: whether to hold the closing position between movements or straighten the knees and stand relaxed, as she recalls Justin doing.

Nancy Jo Bleier describes the lunchtime debate at the conference over the "Albuquerque resting position," and how watching Caroline Guillot demonstrate it led her to try pausing, grounding and "breathing in the spaces" between movements.

Hannah Hedrick searched more than a decade of Vital Force issues and found no support from Justin Stone for the pronounced pressing down and rising up between movements discussed at the 2012 and 2013 conferences.

Ron Richardson recounts practising on shifting Florida sand at sunset, then a conference session where Daniel Pienciak's altered resting position, hands hung at the sides, provoked objections about changing Justin Stone's form.

Amy Tyksinski recounts how copying Justin's habit of standing up between movements at the Albuquerque Tuesday teacher practice changed her, and describes her twenty years of finger fluttering and grounding.

Daniel Pienciak breaks down grounding with two mnemonics from his conference break-out circles, "Sink, Shift, Hands, Heel" for beginning a movement and five S's for closing, plus three weight points under each foot.

Responding to Sandy's "Even In Pauses" request, Tina Wells devoted a class to resting longer between movements, and lists the group's conclusions about settled chi, grounding and nature's own transition times.

Sandy McAlister asks teachers to honor the brief pauses in Carry the Ball to the Side and Pulling Taffy, and offers the cue "glide, arrive" for fully receiving weight.

Sandy McAlister describes the phrases she is trying in a new eight-week series, asking students to feel the weight settle evenly into both feet and to flow back to rest between sets.

Hannah Hedrick asks fellow teachers for written guidance on three refinements raised at the 2012 Portland conference: trembling hands, sinking into pause position, and natural pelvic movement when yinning and yanging.

Stephen Ryter describes the 6:45 a.m. T'ai Chi Chih class he teaches to Blue Cross of Idaho employees, from a November sunrise over the foothills to the closing Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Judy Chancey traces Justin Stone's beginner instruction to focus on the soles of the feet from her first lessons to the rest position she used to steady herself while launching a business.

Sr. Antonia Cooper counts the nine different names Justin Stone gave the rest pose in the T'ai Chi Chih Photo Text, notes his openness about how and when to practice, and prints the 2011 mission statement.

Susan Kissinger describes noticing at the 2010 conference that other teachers transitioned between movements differently than she did, and returning to Seijaku after six years away from it.

Amy Tyksinski's teaching tip for the Anchor variation of Pulling Taffy: check the heels before the forward step, quoting Justin's warning about an unanchored back heel, and grounding through conscious attention rather than holding the resting pose longer.

Susan Kissinger hosted Antonia Cooper's April 2009 retreat for nine teachers and fourteen students near St. Louis, where a quiet voice guided review of all nineteen movements, grounding, weight shifting and stillness.

Amy Tyksinski gives point-by-point corrections for Carry the Ball to the Side: spiraling down, turning waist and hips together, finishing the circle in front of the chest, and the trailing hand's 45-degree push.

Sandy McAlister compares the rest between movements to bread dough rising, explaining how yin and yang Chi reintegrate in stillness, with Pam Towne inviting teachers to host trainings.

Three takes on Bass Drum: retreat notes on feeling chi between the hands and rolling over at 4 o'clock, Ev Hanson-Florin's warm-bath abandonment and UK "Water Wheel" nickname, and Stephen Thompson on holding the stillness.