Professor Cheng Man-ch’ing is my great-grand-teacher.  He studied with Yang Cheng-fu in 1928-35 and developed such skill that he became one of the successors to the Yang family tradition.  He developed the "Short Form" for the Chinese National Army in the late 1930s.  He refined his form in Taiwan after World War II, and then he brought his skills to the Chinese community in New York City where he lived for several years during the '60s and '70s.  One of the great T’ai Chi Masters of the 20^th century, Professor brought the art of T'ai Chi Ch'uan to the Western world during his residence in New York and through his travels in Europe when his paintings were on exhibition.  He was renowned not only as a master of T'ai Chi but also as a medical doctor, painter, calligrapher and poet -- the Master of Five Excellences.  For a biography of Cheng Man-Ch'ing, click here or here.  For a video clip of Professor doing his Short Form, click here.  For more information, go to http://www.chengmanching.com/. 

Professor’s first student after moving to Taiwan was Lo Pang-jeng who became known as Benjamin Lo when he moved to San Francisco in 1974.  Mr. Lo, my grand-teacher, started studying with Professor in 1949 and became one of his top senior students.  His many students around the world acknowledge the clarity of his transmission of Cheng Man-ch'ing's teaching.  Now in his 80's, Ben Lo continues to teach at his school in San Francisco and also offers workshops around the country and in Europe.  For more about Ben Lo, click here or see Robert Smith's book Martial Musings (Via Media Publishing, 1999).  Though there are no video clips of Ben, he has made a comprehensive reference video of the Short Form.  For information about this video, go to http://www.scheele.org/lee/lovideo.html.

One of Ben Lo’s first students was Lenzie Williams, my teacher.  Over the past three decades Lenzie has continued to study with Mr. Lo and has deepened his relationship as his senior student.  He is sought out as a teacher both because of his success in national tournaments and because of his lucidity in exploring the physical and spiritual aspects of T’ai Chi.  More information can be found at his website http://taichiberkeley.com/.

 I have the extraordinary fortune of receiving the combined wisdom of these teachers through their direct connection to the roots of T’ai Chi.  My own journey here has not been direct.  After earning an undergraduate degree in music, I went on to earn graduate degrees in Mathematics, Creation Spirituality and Somatic Psychology.  My main career was in the academic world, primarily as a high school math teacher.  After living and working in New England and France, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1979.  In the mid-1980’s I became involved in somatic healing arts, as a psychotherapist and a body worker.  In 1994, I started studying T’ai Chi with Lenzie Williams in Berkeley.  From 1999 to 2003, I taught in Lenzie’s school as one of his senior students, and after moving to Asheville, I founded T’ai Chi Ch’uan of Asheville.   Now as a teacher myself, my goal is to be faithful to the tradition I have received from my teachers.