The Vital Force Archive

Pam Towne links softness to letting go of muscular tension and self-critical thoughts, and recommends Seijaku after a year of practice as the way to feel release after resistance.

Daniel Pienciak describes the stillness that arrives when grounding in palms-down position and in the fleeting pause at the end of each weight shift, where the pelvis fully releases weight into the feet.

Marie Dotts previews two discussion topics for the 2017 conference: giving and receiving correction as an expression of teh, and whether teachers came to T'ai Chi Chih for physical or spiritual reasons.

After 33 years of practice, Sandy McDonald describes paring each movement down to two or three key points, using Daughter in the Valley as her example, and quotes Justin Stone on teaching without rote or dogma.

Sandy Roerig, newly accredited two years after her first class, credits Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey and its echoes of her own Baha'i Faith with drawing her into teaching.

Lisa M. Otero explains why Justin Stone opposed a formal continuing education requirement, then describes how seven teachers in her community meet monthly for silent practice and member-led presentations.

Christine Moore traces her path from childhood theology reading through a dark night of the soul in her forties to Ron Barker's community education class and Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey.

Barb Shambach audited the November 2015 Albuquerque accreditation with trainer Dan Pienciak, Carmen Brocklehurst and Dora Wiemann, recounting a candidate steadying himself with Bass Drum, the "random sacks" mix-up, and a reading of "Shadows."

Jeff Hoepner argues that T'ai Chi Chih has no spiritual benefits in the transactional sense, matching Justin Stone's six aspects of spirituality to the practice and quoting Spiritual Odyssey on getting the 'I' out of the way.

Carol Mockovak recounts the July 25 gathering at Hannah's Bend Park in Cannon Falls, where 28 Minnesota-area teachers and students practiced beside the Cannon River, then shared a potluck.

Maggie Breimhurst describes avoiding the four Pulling Taffy movements, then connecting them to Justin Stone's writing on vashanas and samskaras, and cutting two to six repetitions to befriend them.

Alice Holden remembers Texas teachers Renza Moscatelli Baker, who came to T'ai Chi Chih after cancer weakened her legs, and Richard Cutler, honored at his wake with nine rounds of Rocking Motion.

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.

Deb Bertelsen recounts how Marie Dotts' conference talk on habit energies and April Leffler's presentation on Prajna, followed by her father's sudden death, led her to leave a 17-year job.

Bruce Eisenmenger, newly accredited in May 2013, describes his first T'ai Chi Chih conference in Collegeville as a reunion and a homecoming, opening with Justin Stone's words on gratitude from Spiritual Odyssey.

Linda Watson links Antonia's conference remarks on Impermanence and Pam's Seijaku accreditation opening to her own turn at 52, saying no to lifelong activities and returning to writing and studio work.

Deb Bertelsen outlines the recommended path to accreditation, from the website's Overview and Guidelines to workshops, retreats and an intensive, followed by Marie Dotts on Justin Stone's habit energies and Essence.

Daniel Pienciak connects Justin Stone's "Love Energy" to the mechanics of the weight shift, noting that candidates who fail to sink fully onto one leg produce little yinning and yanging.

Pauline B. Quimson, a physician from the Philippines and wellness program director, traces how Justin Stone's line "we do not heal symptoms; we become whole" shapes her practice and her work with at-risk teens and women leaving abuse.

Antonia Cooper recalls Justin Stone's quip about organized religion and his 2003 invitation to become Guide of T'ai Chi Chih, while Sandy McAlister remembers a silent look that took twenty years to understand.

Minnesota teachers including Judy George, Deb Bertelsen, Leslie Keith, Laurie Jacobi, Ron Barker and Sue Bitney recall Justin Stone's corrections to their wrists and waist, and quote lines from Spiritual Odyssey.

Sr. Antonia Cooper takes a student's remark about effort and no effort as a starting point for going deeper, drawing on Justin's koan in Spiritual Odyssey and on attentive awareness of how each movement begins, ends and feels.

Judy Chancey passes along her student Marilyn Morrison's gratitude for Justin Stone, and her discovery, after a year of practice and a new copy of Spiritual Odyssey, that hard work is not the only way.

Peter Gregory plays carnival barker, pitching chi as free renewable energy with no pills or ruby slippers required, then steps the reader into Rocking Motion and quotes Justin Stone's Spiritual Odyssey.

Quotes on gratitude collected during the 2010 conference, including Justin Stone's 2005 Albuquerque talk on gratitude as the secret of a happy life, Paul Reps, Meister Eckhart and the Dalai Lama.

During the closing practice at the 2010 conference, Cleo Roemele saw the circle of teachers as a living cell, with membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus and organelles mapped onto bracelets, bowl and carpet.

Sr. Antonia Cooper recounts the gratitude-themed international conference at Lied Lodge and lists the nine dreams teachers voiced for TCC's future, plus an invitation to the 2011 gathering at Sawmill Creek.

Sr. Antonia Cooper traces Justin Stone's fondness for Paul Reps' line "How grateful I am with no thing to be grateful for" through Spiritual Odyssey, and links gratitude to the coming Lied Lodge conference.

Sr. Antonia Cooper recounts the opening ritual at Lied Lodge, where 90 teachers poured soil from their home practice grounds into one bowl, and previews the 2010 and 2011 conferences.

Caroline Guillot includes Justin Stone's T'ai Chi Chih: Joy Thru Movement in her class fee, assigning homework from it and quizzing students orally in the final session.