Memories Of Justin Stone

I met Justin Stone for the first time in August 1989 when he came to Edmonton to conduct a seminar on Heightened Awareness and teach Seijaku.

At the initial welcoming gathering with teachers and students, Justin led a group T’ai Chi Chih session and asked some of us newly accredited teachers to take turns leading particular movements. He didn’t hesitate to point out loudly if the leader needed correction: “Your wrists are too stiff, your waist is too tense,” and so on. When my turn came, I was nervous and relieved when he remained quiet throughout the movement.

He used the same method during the Seijaku intensive training session. There too, I was relieved when I received no admonishment. Of course, any correction by Justin, public or not, was beneficial. But at that stage I was probably not strong enough to take it and Justin must have sensed that. In 2006, however, when my TCC form was not solid anymore, he didn’t spare me, as I’ll relate later.

During Justin’s time in Edmonton, we had the opportunity to exchange views on TCC, Zen and spirituality. Both he and I shared an affinity for Zen philosophy. He’d undergone rigorous training in Zen and could well have obtained formal recognition as a Zen master himself. He chose otherwise, and gave mankind TCC instead.

We seemed to click well and developed an easy teacher-student rapport and later an affectionate friendship. We corresponded irregularly, primarily because Justin didn’t like to be tied down to the expectations of regular correspondence. I usually wrote and sent him a Zen-style poem around his birthday. He seemed to like them and sometimes even suggested that I send them to The Vital Force or the New Mexico Tai Chi Chih News.

I stayed with Justin twice, first in Pacific Grove and again in Albuquerque. He was a gracious host and took me with him as he went about his daily activities as if I were a natural part of his regular life.

In 2006, I flew to Albuquerque to attend Justin’s 90th birthday. Victor Berg kindly hosted me and drove me to Justin’s house for private time together. It was on one of those occasions that I got my comeuppance from Justin. Three years prior, I’d stopped practicing TCC because I was practicing a special form of Qigong, called Falun Gong. This discipline required that all other forms of T’ai Chi be dropped to avoid the undesirable mixing of T’ai Chi practices.

As a matter of integrity, I stopped practicing TCC. Two weeks before arriving for my visit with Justin, however, I started practicing again because I knew that he likely would ask that I join him in TCC. This is precisely what happened after Victor dropped me off at the house. We started the movements and I felt rather pleased about the smoothness of my practice. After only a few movements, however, Justin exclaimed, “What is this?! What kind of Daughter in the Valley are you doing?” We moved in silence after that. At the end, he said firmly that my lack of TCC practice was evident. He had seen through me right away.

Later that day, we joined a small group of regular practitioners at the Albuquerque TCC Center. Justin quietly skipped me when it was my turn to lead the group in a movement. I knew this wasn’t punishment; instead, Justin was merely letting me experience the consequence of my decision with Falun Gong. The choice was still very much mine, he was telling me.

The next morning, I walked up the hills near Victor’s house. Alone on a ridge overlooking the city, I did a session of TCC followed by Seijaku. The feeling of joy and serenity engendered from these sessions stayed with me throughout that day. After returning to Edmonton, I dropped Falun Gong and re-committed myself to TCC. All this was thanks to Justin – without a single word of reproach from him.

One last, parting memory: At his expressed wishes, I had stopped communicating directly with Justin during the past few years. Then, in late March 2012, I had a vivid dream in which I visited him at his house. “Maxime! Justin!” we exclaimed to each other. Were there more exchanges after that initial greeting of love? I no longer remember.

The next day I called Carmen Brocklehurst. She expressed her conviction that, although he stayed mostly in bed, Justin was helping many individuals in the inner spiritual realms. I told her about my dream and asked her to convey my greetings and love to him. I don’t know if she was able to give Justin my message for, two days later, he passed away peacefully. In a way, it doesn’t matter because “in the space of no-space and time of no-time,” my dream of meeting Justin one more time was a good enough farewell.