The Vital Force Archive

In a letter addressed to Justin Stone and then to colleagues, Sherry Corson asks whether the hip swivel is something teachers do or simply allow, finding it arises from relaxed hips and full weight shifts.

M. C. Bauder credits a first community education class with Jean Katus for breaking loose stopped-up chi, ending a fear of going anywhere alone and easing stiff joints.

Jean Katus relays what her monthly practice regular Carol reports: calmer nights, better sleep, lower blood pressure, and balance regained after knee replacements, plus dropping the Pulling in the Energy visualization before bed.

Betty Dobberstein thanks Jean Katus for reviewing the movements and orders the Joy Thru Movement photo text, noting that old knee stitches, hernia surgery and spinal curvature limit her while flexibility grows.

Rebecca Laughhunn took a class with Jean Katus in 2010, bought the DVD, practiced daily through the summer, and lost ten pounds along with gaining energy and peace.

Carol Houtkooper's poem, offered at the 2010 conference, moves from centering and sinking into Mother Earth through letting go of chaos and buried dreams to the flowing Chi and the refrain that the circle of life goes on.

Jean Katus shifted her emphasis in Pulling Taffy from the tan t'ien to the side movements, picturing a fine filament from the center and recalling Justin's marionette image.

Carol Houtkooper recalls a conference correction revealing she had turned "shift the weight, turn the waist" into two separate moves in Carry the Ball to the Side, and how she now teaches the flowing principle first.

Jean Katus teaches Daughter on the Mountaintop by synchronizing hands with the weight shift and keeping fingertips pointed upward, followed by Carmen's account of the torus of energy formed as the hands cross.