;- Volume 22,No.4 , November 2005 TheVfafForcegourna{ NouemberZoo, Contents J Reflections on the Albu- Seijaku Canada querque Conference 21 How to inspire yourself and 41 T'ai Chi Chih-ing in New- 4 Interview with Justin Stone your students to daily foundland and Labra- 10 Conferencea Blast practice dor 10 Justin Makes a Difference 22 First Annual Poetry Slam: 43 One prisoner's experience 11 First Impressionsof a First- ReasonEnough to with T'ai Chi Chih Timer Celebrate 44 Lockdown at Old Folsom 14 Teaching TCC to young 24 TEA RededicationCer- 44 Movement Drawings children emony Needed 15 Building Your Local TCC 28 Yes,It Was Quite the Con- 45 The TeacherAppears Community ference: 46 Art from the Inside 1,6 TeachingTeenagers in 31 And, Summing It All Up... 48 Send in your surveys Private High Schools 32 21st Annual International 50 Announcing: New Special 1.7 How To Motivate Hospitals T'ai Chi Chih@ Teach- Requestssection to Offer TCC Classes ers'Conference 50 Let's Blame That Pesky 18 Taking Tai Chi Chih into 35 Bird FlapsHis Wings Spell Checker prison 36 A Wonderful Addition: 50 Good Karma 1.9 Sprinklings, like those little Seijaku Training Fol- 53 A Harmonizing Blend bits on cupcakes lows Conference 53 Justin at the Conferenceon l9 Creative Advertising To 38 Lubbock Workshop a big DVD Promote Tai Chi Chih Texassuccess 54 Contacts Classes 39 TeacherPerspective 54 Subscribe to the Vital Force 20 Itrspiring yourself and your 40 TeacherTraining in 55 Calendar students to practice Edmonton, Alberta, Editor Kathy Grassel . Membership and Accounting Victor Berg . 5n6-issions: Send your letters, stories, articles, poeio'y, and photos to Kathy Grassel over email at [email protected] via snail mail to StO Saitn SE, Albuquerque NM AZfbZ. Please include a 100-word biography of yourself with your submission. Membership: Send your membeiship subscription requests and renewals, remittances, and changesof address to The Vital Force,P.O. Box 23068, Albuquerque, Nfrrl gZfgZ- 1058, or contact Victor Berg at [email protected]: $30/year, $40 for internationil. Members receive four issues of.TheVital Force.The annual teacher directory will be printed and also posted to the website. If you fail to receive your issue, or if your issue is damaged, e-mail Kathy Grassel for a new copy. The Vital Forceis not-for-profii associationserv- ing T ai Chi Chih practitioners worldwide. T'ai Chi Chih @ is a federally registered trademark owned by Good Karma publish- ing, Inc. Copyright 2005 The Vital Force,lournal of the T'ai Chi Chih Community. All rights reserved. Cover:Justin Stoneat the 2005Tai Chi Chih TeachersConference, . Photo by Marie Myszkier. TheYik[Forugournaf Antonia's Gifts Reflectionson the Albuquerque Conference Antonia, chosen"Guide", One to show the way BaD orene Krause, Midland P ark, N I For lives seekingquiet Yearning to release am so thankful to have been part of the Albuquerque conference' It was a specialtime for me. I am a relatively new teacher,accredited in November Antonia, you guide us To travel deep within ourselves. {t{2003in New Jersey.This was my secondconference. I cameaway from the Your gentle smile listens - joy to be part of sucha specialcom- s_conference"full" full of and gratitude To the voice behind our eyes. munity. The energy was flowing in and around each and every one of us. The smiles and laughter were contagious; the hugs were warm and heartfelt. Antonia, you move just so I had never been in fustin's presence before. It was a privilege for me to listen With graceand elegance. to him speak, from the heart, about T'ai Chi Chih. I listened intently as he Your energy flows freely, A calm peaceupon your face. shared some of his life experiences with all of us. I call them "Justin's words of wisdom", and I will carry them with me. Antonia, you radiate compassion, During the conference when Justin and Sister Antonia were on stage together, You share your inner strengttr, Justin made the comment that Sister Antonia was born for the job of "Guide". You bestow on us your wisdom . How true!. The dictionary says that a guide is one who shows the way. Quite So grateful for thesegifts. some time ago, I had begun a Poem about Sister Antonia but was unable to Antonia, friend and complete it. With renewed creative energy, Chih is amaz- Suide I pulled it from my unfinished file and completed it. Yes, T'ai Chi You are the spirit of ing. (The poem is attached.) community I thank ]ustin for further inspiring me to learn and to teach. T'ai Chi Chih Bringing us to- practice has changed my life in so many ways, and I am grateful. Now I am gether, able to share this gift with my students. We move as one. 3 fheYifafforcegournaI Nouember i Interviewwith Justin Stone It's about time. At 89, Justin Stonetells us that time doesnot exist. nesefreighter going to the had two revelations. They are differ- Orient. The secondwas ent than reading and having your in- having two revelations, tellectual side stimulated and you fairly recently,which agree with it saying, "Okr, yeah, that's completelychanged my what I want." The two revelations viewpoint. had absolutely nothing to do with VFJ:Let's take the first one mental activity. There's no thought. first. The first one had to with one state- Justin: I was very much ment: "Things are as they have al- guided by *y father, ways been." That caused me through though I didn't grow up the years to think a great deal. That with my father.All the would mean nothing has changed, membersof my family, in- that all change is an illusion. The sec- cluding my sister,were ond revelation came just some months money-guided.Everything ago and completely changed every- was about wealth. So my thing. It said so many things that efforts,including when I most people will find unintelligible, becamea memberof the would not be able to understand at New York StockExchange, all. They were not given to me piece- were basedon trying to meal, or for me to consider. I woke up fulfill my father'swishes in the middle of the night and my ustin Stonesatdown athiskitchen that I become a successful and head was full of these revelations and tableand startedtalking. He is lizt- wealthy man. I wasn't huppy in that. I was too excited to go back to sleep, so ing a long life and thereare many, It wasn't me at all. And it wasn't until I got up and I wrote them down as many stories.He ssidat theend of I stepped on the boat for Japan in 1963 well as I could remember them. One theinterainu that we couldstart that I was able to feel for the first time considers the most important thing in oaertmd not use any of thesame material that I was myself. life to be time, but time is an illusion. andhaaeplentyleft oaerfor another. I came VFJ: What led up to that moment? It came to me that time is Maya. Maya zuitha listof questions designed tokeep lus- Justin: I had been a been a member of is what created the illusion of this tin onsome sort of linear track, ha-ha, which the NYSE and I also got married dur- world, and time being Maya-I'd didn't zuork.My questionsturned into inter- ing that time. When my marriage never read that, I'd never heard it said ruptionstrytug to get Justin to finish a carie to an end, I decided to bring my before. So the illusion of the world as thoughtor tobackup 30 years.That didn't financial career to an end, too. It we seeit-or what I call the "play work either.All of zuhichis to say,zuhen wasn't what I wanted. So I sold my within aplay," the illusion of the here,it ishere, nozu When there, it is then. half interest in the exchange to my world, is created by the senseof time. "then" "nolu,""there" Butzuhen 70as zuas partner, got in the car-my wife had The answer came to what was meant " " here. Wes tar ted with I ustin's turnin g arranged so that I would have the car by "everything is as it has always pointsinhislifeHe and she would have everything else- been." Nothing has changed. This goes namedtzoo. for California and arrived there with back to Chinese teaching about the practically no money and nothing in Uncarved Block. Everything is derived Justin: The two turn- mind. from this. Even yin and yang and the ing points in my life VFJ: And the second turning point? universe is derived from it. But the were, I one,the day Justin: The second thing was the most Uncarved Block was never carved. steppedon a Japa- important. Recently in my life, I've That means Adam and Eve never left Nouember2ooJ fhe Yifafforcegounta[ the Garden of Eden. block, yet we've never come from the doesn't work that way, as you know. VFJ: Wouldn't that mean there was uncarved block. Zuigan, after he expe- VFJ: Don't you think that describes no Adam and Eve or Garden of Eden? rienced his great enlightenment, found your experience?You had it made,too. fustin: Well, it's the same thing, in he no longer had any interest in some- Justin: Yes,to a certainextent. The that respect. The idea of time being the one called Zuigan. He was now think- early part of my life, things went very "culprit," time being what creates the ing in the universal sense rather than easily for me.