The “How to Move” Cards

Editor’s note: The cards may be ordered at Justinstonetcc.com/product-category/card-decks/

We can tap into statements such as, “in truth it is the legs which are yinning and yanging” and “empty the mind before beginning,” by randomly picking a card or two out of the new “How to Move” quotation card deck. They were printed by The Vital Force for the T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) Teacher Conference this year.

The idea arose during our annual Vital Force Board meeting. With a donation earmarked for outreach, Kim asked us if we had any ideas for a new offering. I pitched the idea of the quotation cards with excerpts from Justin Stone’s Photo Text. The text has a wealth of teachings in it — just like Justin would offer in person. When everyone approved this endeavor, I started pulling excerpts. There were too many nuggets of wisdom (208!) for one deck. So, from these excerpts came four categories: How to Move, Principles, Comments, and Movements. We decided that each category also would have different artwork by Ou Mie Shu from the photo text.

How to Move is hopefully the first of a four-part endeavor to share Justin’s teachings about TCC — one, two or three excerpts at a time. Have fun with them. Challenge yourself to think of only the excerpt on the card you pick up for an entire practice. See if your practice changes. Enjoy.