The Vital Force Archive

Amy Tyksinski gathers six UNM college students' written responses to the Softness passage in Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey, from bamboo and oak temperaments to jaw clenching, political argument and caring for a crying baby.

Two excerpts from Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey equate energy with wisdom and describe Prana's physical work, citing Krishnamurti, Gopi Krishna and Rinzai, plus Paul Reps' ten minutes of quiet receiving.

Accredited in November 2024, Joan Sheehan describes the intention she set during accreditation week, the absorbed attention she now brings to mashing potatoes, and the clarity of practising at the Poudre River.

Excerpts from Spiritual Odyssey in which Justin Stone takes up non-attachment within family life, Buddha's answer that he is awake, the poet Tao Yuanming, and why all healing is finally self-healing.

Excerpts from Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey on why a teacher who does not practice is "somewhat of a fraud," teaching beginners to flow slow motion in a dream, and self-clinging as the root of suffering.

JJ Johnson traces Walt Whitman's phrase through Ray Bradbury to the 2024 Teacher Conference, where a group practice of more than 130 teachers seemed to move as one Mind.

Seven excerpts from Spiritual Odyssey in which Justin Stone argues that enlightenment and softness come from letting go rather than trying harder, warns teachers against special breathing techniques, and names TCC an inner discipline.

Excerpts from Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey recall the 1989 Albuquerque conference and its silent sunrise practice at Old Town Plaza, the first 1974 class, and his warning to keep T'ai Chi Chih unmixed with other traditions.

Excerpts from Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey on attenuating the pleasure principle, enlightenment hidden behind habit energies like clouds over the sun, why softness cannot be forced, and his 75th birthday verses.

Aphorisms Justin Stone collected in Spiritual Odyssey, insisting T'ai Chi Chih is not exercise but movement from the center, alongside Paul Reps on vinegar, Bodhidharma's vast emptiness, and posture as character.

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.

Excerpts from Spiritual Odyssey in which Justin Stone credits the growth of T'ai Chi Chih to teachers' teh, or inner sincerity, warns against treating it as a business or as exercise, and insists movement come from the center.

Fusun Sulzbach traces her on-again off-again practice from her 2002 accreditation presentation through a divorce, retirement, a gym class closed by COVID, and a June retreat in Oceanside that renewed her daily routine and ended her sleep medication.

Monica Motyka Ganzer noticed, while adding dated margin notes to her copy of Spiritual Odyssey, that her once-alarming handwriting had become fluid and even, evidence that peace was no longer something she controlled.

Caroline Guilott recounts her 1999 Albuquerque accreditation, Justin Stone telling her "Higher dear, higher" and "There is nothing to do," and the roadside open house that began it all.

Laurie Jacobi recounts how pandemic isolation in Minnesota opened a fruitful emptiness, drawing on Lao Tzu, Japanese flower arranging and the slowed transitions between movements, followed by readers' Pyramid Poems.

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.

Marie Dotts maps three stages of TCC unfoldment, journey to, with and as Center, quoting Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey and students who found the tan t'ien through Pulling Taffy and moving from center.

Becky Shinas draws on passages from Spiritual Odyssey and Climb the Joyous Mountain after the 2021 conference, asking whether humankind's present task is recognizing its own divinity united with human form.

Rebecca Paulson recounts the four-day teacher retreat hosted by Pam Towne and led by Sandy McAlister, reworked from in person to Zoom, where teachers brainstormed how future trainings might continue.

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.

Jeannette Stotts describes how her senior class moved to Zoom during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place, with teacher Benjamin Brisjar opening each session with Spiritual Odyssey readings and Justin and Carmen videos.

Writing under stay-at-home orders, Carmen Brocklehurst retells the parable of the Plague and its companions Fear and Doubt, then quotes Justin Stone on chi and on voicing the Six Healing Sounds from the t'an t'ien.

Lisa Stroyan writes from the early weeks of the pandemic, disoriented by fear and media, deaths at her father's former nursing home, and finds grounding in Zoom practices, Justin's books and the Nei Kung.

S. Becky Shinas draws on Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey to argue that the disrupted, uncertain time of COVID-19 is Kairos time, and that kindness in ordinary acts reveals our own divinity.

Nancy Werner-Azarski reports on nineteen Minnesota teachers gathering in November 2019 to practice, read from Spiritual Odyssey, watch Mary Strom's conference video, and thank outgoing leaders Mary Weddle and Susan Sobelson.

Sandy McAlister recounts the storytelling session at the 2019 conference, Justin's challenge to perform a generous act and never mention it, and why his corrections left no room for emotions.

Dan Pienciak lists six awareness points drawn from Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey: natural breathing, releasing tension in the joints, feeling the t'an t'ien, continuous knee movement, waist and wrists moving as one, and even weight in the soles.

Sandy McAlister asks what legitimately follows the graceful conclusion, naming gratitude, sitting quietly and the community's palms-together bow as the only traditions Justin Stone handed down.

Justin Stone's writings paired here: verses from Spiritual Odyssey on impermanence and non-attachment, and a taped lecture comparing T'ai Chi Ch'uan's 108 movements with the quick results of T'ai Chi Chih, including the priest who regained his sense of smell in the 1974 first class.