The Vital Force Archive

Linda Braga read a podiatrist's brochure on plantar fasciitis and found its recommended lunge stretch and heel-walking exercises already present in the Six Healing Sounds, Anchor Taffy and Rocking Motion.

Terry Jennings passes along Elizabeth Tyler's teaching image of the pelvic area as a fruit bowl that spills if you rock too far forward or back, plus her own Rocking Motion one-liners.

Barbara Kristoff recounts the 50th teacher conference, from April Leffler's "walking the dog" image for Rocking Motion to small group sharing, and the grounding she carried home.

JB describes how an intuition arriving during Rocking Motion reminded her that TCC itself holds the patience she needed while her partner faced repeated hospitalizations for severe emphysema.

Two student assignments collected by Donna McElhose: Nancy L. maps the electrical, magnetic and heat sensations she feels movement by movement, and Bryan F. describes chi radiating from the t'an t'ien like ripples in a pond.

Lorry Marcketta recounts Janet Oussaty's afternoon workshop on teaching beginners, with five points including ocean-wave imagery for Rocking Motion, energy balls held between the hands, and avoiding analysis paralysis.

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.

Sak's paired poems, TCC Feet and TCC Hands, trace rocking from heel to toe, stepping side to side, palms gathering and letting go, and the healing sounds Ho, Hu, Szu, Hsu, Hsi, Chui.

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.

Laurie Jacobi led a class devoted entirely to Rocking Motion and foot awareness, then shares student Patricia Blakely's email describing how the stone-like neuropathy pain in her right foot vanished by class end.

Hannah Hedrick works through the principles she took from the four teacher trainers' presentations at the international conference, from pressing dimes into the floor to using wrists rather than arms in Working the Pulley.

Sharon Sirkus collects four moments of classroom comedy, from an over-achieving teacher candidate over-rotating her waist to a student whose cracking joints sounded like clicking castanets.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst gives practical instruction for seated practice in a straight-back chair, working the weight shift through the sits bones in Rocking Motion and Around the Platter.

Jim Shorr collects student responses, including Becky F on climbing through clouds in Working the Pulley, Tom O on releasing worries in Passing Clouds, and a palliative care patient's new stability.

JJ Johnson describes cutting to three repetitions per movement, drawing on Daniel Pienciak, Jim Hecker and Bill Moore's pine needle exercise, and finds the hands gathering and releasing chi.

Verla J. Klassen's poem traces earth's energy entering through the soles of her feet: Rocking Motion on a Pacific beach, bare feet on ancient Minnesota gneiss, swans on a stream.

Daniel Pienciak compares learning to use an electric razor without pressure to finding softness in T'ai Chi Chih, recommending 27 or 36 Rocking Motions and Seijaku to keep the t'an t'ien charged.

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.

Caroline Guilott compares old photos of her Rocking Motion with Justin Stone's videos, discovers he barely bends the elbow, and finally understands his remark to her in the Albuquerque circle: there is nothing to do.

Rick Davis writes during the pandemic and civil unrest, finding emotional footing in the Bubbling Spring at the soles of the feet during Rocking Motion, Justin Stone's noonday shadow image, and the 13th century mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg.

Justin Stone's point-by-point reminders for the movements a beginner has just learned, from loose arms and flat landings in Rocking Motion to drawing energy from the most distant star in Pulling in the Energy.

Hannah Hedrick, at 81, argues that TCC benefits are relative rather than absolute, describing her wheelchair class at Life Care Center and doing Rocking Motion in a bank line while stressed about a deadline.

Rachel Rilinger, a music therapist covering for a recreation therapist on an inpatient acute psychiatric unit, led Rocking Motion and watched pacing, blanket-covered and muttering patients join staff in flowing practice.

Daniel Pienciak recalls his accreditation trainer's disappointment at a sloppy Anchor Taffy repetition, and how doing thirty-six Rocking Motions at the start of practice brought a new grounded feeling through every weight shift.

Sheryl Adair writes from her grandfather's rocker with coffee and the latest Vital Force in hand, thanking KG and contributors, followed by eight Pyramid Poems on Rocking Motion.

Linda Jones spent over an hour on Rocking Motion at Carmen's September retreat in Albuquerque, and argues the wider community should stay open to the subtle differences Albuquerque teachers bring.

Diana Bahn describes teaching Rocking Motion to chemotherapy patients with foot neuropathy at a Mt. Sinai cancer center, using Realization Process methods to locate the heel centers and Kidney 1 points.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst distinguishes softness from limpness, comparing it to the confident strength of lifting a baby, then guides Rocking Motion through heavy air and shares words her Albuquerque group felt while practicing.

Sheryl Adair describes leaning on T'ai Chi Chih through births, illness, death and divorce, including doing Rocking Motion in hospital waiting areas for both her grandchildren's arrivals, plus a Pyramid Poem.

Judy Chancey, a lifelong breath-holder, describes how exhaling into the soles of the feet and Rocking Motion brought her a conscious relationship with breath, and calmed her fear during divisive times.