The Vital Force Archive

Linda Braga's rhyming poem questions a practice mirror about stance, weight shift, heels down and relaxed wrists, until the comparing stops, ego drops away and the flow arrives.

Dorene Krause gathers New Jersey students' accounts, including Carolyn Pogwist's story of leaving her first class convinced she could not do it, then feeling the chi shake her until grounding and the tan t'ien settled her practice.

Mission statements from twelve teachers accredited in Daniel Pienciak's Zoom course hosted by April Leffler, plus Barbara McAnamy's account of finally understanding her front weight shift with Marie Dotts.

Rick Davis likens life's transitions, from pandemic isolation to the death of a loved one, to the weight shift, arguing that firm footing and real permanence are found inwardly.

Paul E. Ciske follows up his conference talk on grounding, describing the equal and opposite forces felt at the soles and the t'an t'ien, and how Seijaku with Fast Track worked as a neurologic stimulus akin to Z-Health drills.

Terry Gay Puckett found the word "feelings" filling every page of her 2021 conference notes, and lists what she will carry back to her park class: grounding like tree roots, Judy Chancey's gold seal marking the tan t'ien, and softening hands and knees.

Host April Leffler collects participant accounts from Sandy McAlister's four-day Zoom intensive, including breakthroughs in the front and back weight shift, breakout group feedback, and one student's tearful Rocking Motion.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recounts seeing a video of a teacher shifting forward onto two bent knees, and argues that keeping the back knee straightening preserves the balance Justin Stone taught.

Pam Towne returns to Justin Stone's reminder that T'ai Chi Chih is done primarily below the waist, tracing how the t'an t'ien and weight shift move the hands for us.

Judy Hendricks recalls Tuesday morning teacher practices at the TCC Center, where Justin Stone offered no new material, only corrections to bend the knees and turn the waist, and she still hears him on DVD.

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.

John Marquez describes how a Seijaku class on Zoom with Dan Pienciak, and the oft-heard instruction to feel your feet on the floor, finally brought the timing of the weight shift into focus.

After ten years of T'ai Chi Chih, Mary H. Schultz took up Seijaku with Jungmin Lee and found that grounding her feet released the back tension and let the t'an t'ien lead.

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.

Jungmin Lee offers a few spare lines on Bird Flaps Its Wings, asking practitioners to soak into the soles of the feet and be ready to rise in the mind.

Pam Towne takes up Justin Stone's promise that befriending the Chi brings a long, healthy life and an easy death, offering practical ways to do it: softness, continuity, relaxed wrists, freer waist turns and quiet sitting afterward.

Amy Moody rafted 200 miles through the Grand Canyon over 11 days and found the chi so strong that simply standing and centering set her fingers fluttering, teaching movements to fellow passengers along the way.

Laurie Jacobi, listening to Taoist master Waysun Liao during the pandemic, treats TCC as a moving art and traces the axle of stillness in the Anchor variation of Pulling Taffy and Six Healing Sounds.

Nancy Werner-Azarski recounts a Tuesday Zoom practice in which Sandy paused at Light at the Top of the Head to have everyone notice and relax their tense feet.

Sue Bitney led a 50-person introductory class outdoors in frost and 30-degree temperatures at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's Serenity Garden, offering a buffet of movements to let students feel different weight shifts.

Rick Davis finds time in the subtle pressure against the soles of the feet, arguing that each weight shift, settling and return marks one moment from the next during pandemic uncertainty.

Sharon Sirkis collects three classroom moments: a student telling her late, flustered teacher to get grounded, a class inventing its own Six Healing Sounds, and Howard's jigsaw puzzle Show and Tell.

Daniel Pienciak recalls two earthquakes during a Santa Barbara TCC Intensive, then explains how a low, appropriately wide stance keeps practitioners grounded, including a chair-supported exercise for seniors.

Rick Davis wakes with chest pain and a whisper of fear, then finds during the next evening's neighborhood walk that his grounded weight shift has turned walking into moving devotion and gratitude.

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.

Dixie Adeniran uses the weightless pause at the top of a child's swing to describe T'ai Chi Chih transitions, tracing them through Around the Platter, Carry the Ball to the Side and Passing Clouds during COVID-19 solitude.

Daniel Pienciak describes the expansion and contraction he feels in the t'an t'ien during weight shifts, using shadows, Peter Pan and rooted trees, and credits TCC and Seijaku with steadying a recently recognized case of PTSD.

Amy Tyksinski taught her first Zoom class to school families who appeared only as name plates, and offers practical tips on voice, contrasting socks for visible weight shifts, and trusting her own groundedness.

Unemployed as a non-essential worker during the pandemic, Neal Roy practices on waking and tracks the uneven weight in his feet, finding that softening his knees and sinking lower evens the shift.

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.