T'ai Chi Ch'uan Vita

I have studied and practiced meditation since 1972. I have also been studying Eastern and Western philosophy and psychology since 1972. A summary of my t'ai chi experiences follows: After my first introduction to Chinese martial arts in 1974, I had been looking for a t'ai chi teacher for eleven years when I moved to Saint Louis in 1985. I began studying t'ai chi ch'uan after observing a workshop with Mr. Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo. My original teacher was Mr. Kim Bozark, who taught me the basic (open handed) form. We are both "distance" students of Mr. Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo ("we are his students, he is not our teacher"). Since 1985 I have traveled to San Francisco to work with Mr. Lo about 10-15 times, attended about 15-20 weekends with Mr. Lo each year he came to Saint Louis, and attended a total of over ten of Mr. Lo's intensive "camps" in La Honda, CA (West coast camp); near Milwaukee (Midwest camp), WI; and Frost Valley, NY (East coast camp). Last time I calculated it I have probably spent between 600-700 hours with Mr. Lo training with him. Something I am proud of, but nothing in comparison to his dedicated students in San Francisco. Upon Mr. Lo's passing in 2018 I wrote a tripute to him. I have also sought out and taken workshops from other direct students of Professor Cheng. including Mr. Robert Smith, Abraham Liu, Maggie Newman, Bataan Faigao, William C. C. Chen and Ken Van Sickle. I have also attended workshops with several of Mr. Lo's senior students including Lenzie Williams, Peter Qwok-Ming, Tana Farnsworth, and Garrett Chinn.

My t'ai chi teaching experiences go back to about 1989. In the past, I have taught both within the Saint Louis community as well as within the Saint Louis T'ai Chi Ch'uan Association where I have also served on their board as a general board member, as well as vice-president and president. I also occasionally sponsor a silent t'ai chi retreat here in STL where we spend teo to three days in intensive and silent practice to calm and relax the body and mind (let me know if you want to be included in the announcement next time). I cofounded the T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum (formerly: tai-chi-talk), a private email discussion and announcement listserv for the practitioners of Professor Cheng's, Yang family form. I have published an article on daily practice in the Taijiquan Journal entitled: Developing, Maintaining and Enhancing Daily Practice. In addition I have written a responce to an article in T'ai Chi magazine (link). Finally, I have been interviewed for two articles on Silent Meditation Retreats that were published at http://www.fitdv.com/ (link to article 1) as well as in the New York Times (article 2).

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