The Vital Force Archive

Paul Ciske recalls the breeze he felt between his hands at a cardiac rehab demonstration, his 1991 accreditation with Steve Ridley, reversing his arms in Working the Pulley, and the veil lifting in a Hong Kong park.

Seven subscribers, among them Sue Bitney, Michelle Crow, April Leffler, Beverly Miles, Carolyn Pogwist and Guy Kent, wrote whatever surfaced after practice, from Passing Clouds and the water cycle to the t'an t'ien's glide in Working the Pulley.

Jim Shorr collects statements from four Oregon senior students naming the movements that matter most to them, from Ellen H.'s swimmer's affinity for Working the Pulley to Linda L. feeling God's presence in Passing Clouds.

Rebecca Paulson turned a snow day into imagery of snowballs for every circular movement and ball of energy, then pretended Working the Pulley launched them at a seniors class; Linda Braga adds how ten Chinese-speaking beginners learned by watching alone.

Linda Jones teaches seated TCC to beginners and to chemotherapy patients who regained feeling in their fingertips, yet finds mental practice, with its complete weight shifts, the most powerful of all.

Hannah Hedrick works through the principles she took from the four teacher trainers' presentations at the international conference, from pressing dimes into the floor to using wrists rather than arms in Working the Pulley.

Sandy McAlister explains why she left Anchor Taffy and Working the Pulley out of her seated TCC DVD, and why she now believes both belong in the practice with safe adaptations.

Lisa Otero recalls sitting knee to knee with Justin Stone in chairs and finally understanding that it is all in the wrists, then gives practical guidance on chairs, feet and adapting Working the Pulley.

JJ Johnson describes the room where he and his wife trained with Marie Dotts, including a jolt of polarity felt during seated Working the Pulley and a thick, slow-moving practice with nurse Holly Trenary.

Jim Shorr collects student responses, including Becky F on climbing through clouds in Working the Pulley, Tom O on releasing worries in Passing Clouds, and a palliative care patient's new stability.

Justin Stone's photo text notes on the three Pulling Taffy variations, Working the Pulley, Joyous Breath, Passing Clouds and the Cosmic Consciousness Pose, followed by his account of habit energies, karma and chi.

Trish Winger's students kept missing the mark on Working the Pulley, so she watched herself in the mirror and recast the movement as a pie throwing machine, with one pie handed over after another.

Sue Bitney thanks Laurie Jacobi and Bonnie Sokolov, who stood directly behind her during accreditation week in 2005 until her body finally understood Working the Pulley.

Stephen Thompson's conference notes give three partner exercises: a paper plate shared between Pulling in the Energy and Around the Platter, mirrored Working the Pulley, and a hand-hovering energy circle with weight shifts.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst recalls Justin Stone doing a practice when writing stalled, explains the seven-line syllable pattern of Pyramid Poetry, and collects reader poems on beauty, Working the Pulley and gratitude.

Sandy McAlister lays out how she runs a weekly class where students range from 17 years of practice to one day, from the opening "good news" circle to slowed-down Pulling Taffy and one-hand Working the Pulley.

Sharon Sirkis recounts three classroom mishaps and puns, including a student who insisted she had taught only variations of the Six Healing Sounds and a Working the Pulley question that turned into a Supremes singalong.

Tish Jaramillo, a Chinese Medicine practitioner, locates Middle Palace, the first point on the Lung meridian, at the front shoulder crease, and links relaxing the shoulders back and down to releasing grief.

Justin Stone's booklet excerpt gives the keys to six movements, from the full 180-degree waist turn in Working the Pulley to the ancient Chinese origins of the Six Healing Sounds and the ankle placement in Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Sheryl Adair's morning sunlight cast a shadow partner on the floor, letting her watch and correct an egoless "student" whose weight shift was even but whose close was rushed.

Physical therapist Sara Nelson picks movements like Working the Pulley for clients with pain or fatigue; Donna Moore and Daisy Hobbs then discuss twenty years of teaching and seated practice.

Judy Tretheway describes two contrasting prison classes: at New Folsom, grieving a suicide, she let the men initiate the Chi, while at Old Folsom she led with visualizations and unsynchronized Working the Pulley.

Harriet Marquit connects softness to Working the Pulley, which she likens to a machine that keeps moving without us, and describes beach practice where sinking sand moves her along and porpoises appear during Pulling In The Energy.

Dee Goss recounts learning T'ai Chi Chih from Harriet Marquit after retiring to Hertford, practicing summer mornings on the marina docks amid wind, jumping fish and curious onlookers, plus her take on Working the Pulley.

Lucinda Kutsko describes how Working the Pulley went from difficult to favorite, and how Justin Stone's phrase 'swimming through heavy air' fell flat with students who had never learned to swim.

Amy Tyksinski offers prompts for Pulling Taffy Perpetual Motion and Working the Pulley, including Justin's weight-loss remark, Carmen's front-to-back comparison, and why the head stays forward during the waist turn.

Max Wan lays out his personal Spiritual Code of T'ai Chi Chih, assigning a meaning to each movement from Rocking Motion's surrender to the Cosmic Consciousness Pose's image of wholeness.