The Vital Force Archive

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recounts how Justin Stone received T'ai Chi Chih without knowing its effects, from the woman whose narcolepsy eased to his own cure for writer's block.

Guy Kent, a Vital Force board member, makes the case for recurring monthly donations to the T'ai Chi Chih community, noting the 2017 tax law's effect on itemized charitable deductions.

Ann Rutherford opens a new column with three postcard-style letters to Justin Stone, asking colleagues whether they feel grounding in the palms during closing positions, whether standing up and pointing fingertips down disrupts Chi, and whether fingers flutter.

Mary Karpin recounts the in-person 50th teacher conference and Sandy McAlister's closing charge, suggesting ways to spread TCC: sharing newsletters and the Vital Force, and demonstrating movements for mothers at the playground.

KG describes how her two presentations at the 50th anniversary conference honored the people and entities that brought Justin Stone's works into print and published the community's experiences in The Vital Force.

Dora Wiemann recounts how a donation earmarked for outreach led her to pull 208 excerpts from Justin Stone's Photo Text, sorted into four card decks, and suggests practising with one quotation at a time.

Kathy Grassel recounts being one of the "November Nine" accredited in 1994, her 2005 interview with an unanswerable Justin Stone, Saturday meditations at his house, and the day stiffening the back leg changed her practice.

Karen Silva recalls Justin Stone demonstrating grounding in Basic Pulling Taffy, the pulling hand crossing diagonally to end parallel to the ground, an explanation she still uses in her classes.

KG accounts for the taichichih.org teacher listing pages, the 250 hours spent contacting 1500 teachers, why the PDF directory was never public, and the new map and single-page teacher search.

Hannah Hedrick expands on the constellation idea born during Linda Prosche's stay in the Hawaii rainforest, inviting comments on a Prime Mover graphic with Justin as North Star for the 2024 conference.

Trish Winger struggled with a hymn's vow to live each moment in peace until her minister's explanation of Shalom gave her the same meaning she already knew in Seijaku: serenity amid activity.

KG reports on the 350+ teacher webpages now live at taichichih.org, how to get listed or edit one, and asks readers what they need The Vital Force to be.

KG recounts two email mishaps: Carolyn Pogwist's joke about flying among clouds without cloud access, and an "impatient" reminder to teachers that sent itself three times.

Nancy Werner-Azarski works through her dismay at the cancelled 2020 conference and proposes declaring May a month of giving, with donations redirected to the Foundation, the Albuquerque Center and The Vital Force.

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.

Pam Towne looks back through her saved folders from every teacher conference since the first two-day gathering at Asilomar in 1985, recalling Justin's stated twofold purpose and the silent group practice of 100 teachers.

Victor Berg announces that Good Karma Publishing is closing, with remaining funds paying KG to convert Justin Stone's books, DVDs and CDs into free online versions, and inventory discounted meanwhile.

Hannah Hedrick takes a line from Sandy's newsletter as a starting point and poses the question she plans to raise at the August conference: does T'ai Chi Chih share us with others, or do we share it?

Prompted by Julie Heryet's Folsom update, Hannah Hedrick describes her weekly class for recently released offenders, where students broke up a fight and welcomed the aggressor back, and argues against nit-picky correction.

Vic Berg announces a new online teacher code and re-registration for ordering materials, followed by Sharon Sirkis quoting a college student on her barefoot professor and her deadline exchange with KG.

Adabelle Rychtarik's students in Simpsonville report what two years of practice changed: Sandra Johnson stands comfortably through church songs using the TCC stance, and Kathy Neely regained balance and arm mobility despite Parkinson's.

Donna Aldous collects her Mesa, Arizona students' comments on balance, grounding and practising with shoulder bursitis, then describes how a Vital Force article changed her view of Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Lisa M. Otero asks teachers and serious students to tune in, plug in and stay connected, with concrete steps like subscribing and writing for The Vital Force, mentoring candidates and joining the conference committee.

Judy Hendricks returns to the Summer Solstice 1984 first issue, where Justin Stone vowed to keep TCC pure, and argues against regional variations, citing T'ai Chi Ch'uan's growth from 36 movements to 108.

A primer on the five independent organizations behind T'ai Chi Chih, with details from Dora Wiemann, Guy Kent, Carmen Brocklehurst and Sandy McAlister on each group's history, services, revenue and volunteer boards.

KG reports on Good Karma Publishing's year: new CDs, e-books, print-on-demand editions, the discounted conference bundle, quotation cards, and 37 YouTube videos filmed with 46 teachers at conference.

Editor KG's conference report on journal business: credit card payments, multi-year renewals, a $1300 balance, declining subscriptions, the end of earmarked scholarship funds, and donations that paid for postcards and back-issue archiving.

Donna McElhose recounts the 2013 conference at St. John's University, from Kimiko Gunji's tea ceremony and the Dances of Universal Peace to KG expanding a 20-teacher video shoot to 45 slots.

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.

Darlene Karasik recounts three pregnant women wandering into her HMO-sponsored class, the medical release forms that followed, and her call for teachers, testimonials and outcome data to establish prenatal T'ai Chi Chih.