The Vital Force Archive

Judy Hendricks noticed the 2017 conference community practice was unusually grounded, crediting Sandy's announcing of each movement and "last one," the format Justin used at Albuquerque teacher practices.

Ev Hanson-Florin and Nancy Werner-Azarski gather comments from attendees of Sandy's May 2017 intensive, who describe breaking each movement apart and rebuilding it, including a weight shift insight for Bird Flaps Its Wings.

Justin Stone gives three reasons for keeping the concentration in the soles of the feet, citing the Buddha and Hakuin Zenji on bringing heart fire down to the t'an t'ien, then defines karma.

Pam Towne recaps the 2017 conference along Boulder Creek and summarizes her talk on grounding: resting until the Chi settles, shifting weight like sand in an hourglass, and counting repetitions in the soles of the feet.

Daniel Pienciak, with Sandy and Pam, passes on the movement corrections they gave at conference: releasing the knees in Rocking Motion, bending the back leg fully, and keeping the hips from swinging side to side.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recalls seeing Justin Stone carrying laundry to the car as Joy embodied, and teaches grounding through the soles of the feet, the t'an t'ien, and feeling rather than thinking the movements.

The 2017 planning committee lays out the Boulder program day by day, from Dr. David Parrish on brain science and a four-teacher panel on grounding to Jessica Lewis on teaching alone in Delaware, Sandy McAlister's movement refinement, and the Saturday auction.

Caroline Guilott describes how Fast Track freed her Seijaku practice, releasing the mental emphasis on moving through resistance while keeping her rooted in the soles of her feet as she hopped.

Ava Wilensky, six months into T'ai Chi Chih, was left unable to walk, sit or lie down after a hiking trip, and rebuilt her mobility by yinning and yanging alone, three repetitions at a time.

Daniel Pienciak asks practitioners to feel how deeply the supporting knee bends and whether the back leg bends as much as the front, offering heel adjustment when the stance is too large.

Jim Shorr describes moving his primary class to a spiritual living center before Wednesday evening services, his plan to train students toward accreditation, and quotes from regulars Sandy L and Jason M.

Susan Roady-Ross breaks Pulling Taffy Perpetual Motion into smaller steps and arm circles, using the cue "pull, reverse, heel touch" and naming the heel touch as the key to perpetual motion.

Eliza Fulton adapts a yoga strap trick for teaching the weight shift, holding a belt across the kidneys so students feel the hip flexors open and close as they yin and yang.

Daniel Pienciak passes along the techniques he uses most in accreditation courses and intensives: sliding down the wall to loosen the waist, starting beginners on Rocking Motion seated, and leading the weight shift from the knee.

Donna Deffenbaugh strings together lines from Paul Simon, Nancy Sinatra and the Roman poet Ennius to call attention to the soles of the feet, the overlooked connection between earth and everything we do.

Lisa Stroyan recounts the nervous system collapse that left her unable to walk or drive, practising almost reclined in a gravity chair, and entering accreditation with walking sticks only to walk out normally.

Hannah Hedrick describes the slippage in her 20-year-old artificial hip, and the physical therapist who evaluated T'ai Chi Chih's weight shifting, approved both directions and asked to refer patients to her classes.

Christine Weber, 66, found that completing the weight shift in Around the Platter surfaced the fear from a childhood fall down an earthen dam, and her teacher Lisa Otero told her to keep going.

Daniel Pienciak details how setting up the feet before each movement keeps the pelvis still and the back upright, and how a heel placed too far forward ruins the weight shift; followed by Pyramid Poems.

Carmen Brocklehurst recounts years of Justin Stone correcting her waist turn, one instruction at a time, until she held a chair, felt the hips trace an oval, and energy moved knee to knee.

Three stages new students pass through: repetition until the body knows the movements, a grounding into weight shifts with help from Judy George, and finally letting the Chi move them.

Carol Nelson-Selby, a former attorney, describes the joyous epiphanies that still arrive after years of practice, returning to the soles of the feet and the ounce-by-ounce weight shift she teaches beginners.

David Fryd came to T'ai Chi Chih at the Shoreview YMCA for his balance, stumbled through his first classes under Judy George, and kept returning until she began telling new students to follow him.

Donna Deffenbaugh draws a parallel between Bonaire's ban on boat anchors over its coral reef and the way the soles of the feet moor a practitioner, closing with Justin Stone on the Bubbling Spring.

Annette McNeil recounts a multi-day TCC Intensive where gentle corrections fixed her habit of leaning back and failing to fold the back leg, and where the bubbling spring and t'an t'ien were renewed for her.

Stan Corwin opens a new column with a step-by-step way to teach the forward and back weight shift, then tells how a neighbor with multiple myeloma reached remission after taking up daily practice.

Anita Vestal recounts the 2015 Black Mountain conference, where Susan Quinn used chocolate and candy to locate the perfect moment, April Leffler told of a fly landing on her nose, and Sandy McAlister taught gliding into a full weight shift.

Daniel Pienciak recounts asking a doctor whether men and women feel pelvic turn and swivel differently, then examines Justin Stone's statement that side-to-side weight is transferred but never drastically, as a tall practitioner.

Pam Towne draws on Justin Stone's instruction to accord with impermanence, naming the weight shift, awareness of the breath, Seijaku and gratitude as tools that carried her through Ted's illness and death.

Justin Stone's general comments from the booklet "Teaching Tips For Teachers" insist T'ai Chi Chih is neither exercise nor martial art, and detail spotting faults in weight shift, wrists, waist and knees.