A Personal Note:
I started studying Taichi in the 1970s while I was in psychology graduate school. I can honestly say that studying Taichi has been one of the richest experiences of my life. It has helped me personally stay strong, flexible and emotionally healthy. It has also informed my work as counselor and biofeedback therapist. I have specialized in helping people recover from anxiety, stress and other functional illnesses. The combination of psychology, biofeedback, and Taichi has helped me create effective training programs for decades. Combining these synergistic fields of knowledge has given me a unique window into how significantly intertwined the mind and body are. I am currently writing a guide book on how to learn the hidden language of the body to give anyone increased agency over their mind and body when they feel out of control. If you would like to follow along on the insights I will be sharing during this process, please consider subscribing to our newsletter here: Mind Your Body. Free Your Spirit.
I spoke with a friend recently, explaining how happy I was to find the Yang Family Curriculum for training the martial aspects of T’ai Chi. She asked, “You mean T’ai Chi can be used for sparring and fighting?” I said, “Yes, of course”. T’ai Chi is often taught for fitness and health but when taught …
I want to give a brief introduction to this article about Taichi. I love Taichi and love what it has contributed to my life over my years of study. If anyone is interested in learning Taichi and begins to look into the art of Taichi they quickly discover that Taichi is often depicted as bestowing …
I am very happy to present this video Bob Amacker produced to give an idea about what is involved in the Yang Style Taichi curriculum. As you may know from my previous posts I have been studying Taichi since 1971. During that time I studied with many teachers and I feel I learned a …
It has been a year since Bob passed away and all of his students miss him. His Taichi skills were authentic and very high level. It was a privilege to have known and studied with him. However, we are also incredibly grateful that Bob trained his successor so the his tradition of teaching the entire …
For me the most striking and consequential information in Bob Amacker’s book, The Theoretical Basis of Tai Chi Chuan, is this: there is a major overriding principle present when Taichi is done with a training partner or when fighting an opponent. When learning Taichi, both partners must cooperate …
It was 1970 in San Francisco. As a young college student, I was drawn to study Taichi with reputed master Kuo Lien Ying. In those days Taichi was very interesting and mysterious and I found myself loving it! And, I still love it after over 46 years of training. During that time I have studied with …