Understanding Taoist Classics


Interpreting the Ancient Codes

Interpreting the ancient codes shrouding the esoteric Chinese arts is one of the great challenges facing any serious student or teacher of Taoism. Download the free paper now.

Chen Tai Chi Chuan Video Teaching Commentary

Our new DVD Chen Tai Chi Chuan: Original Forms and Exercises includes detailed teaching commentary as well as demonstrations of the original style of Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan). This new video trailer shows a portion of the commentary on the elbow (Zhou, 肘) technique of Chen Tai Chi. Enjoy the video.

Chen Tai Chi Chuan: Original Forms and Exercises DVD

Our new Chen Tai Chi Chuan DVD is now available. We’ve worked hard to bring you a DVD that is usable for beginners and interesting for more advanced practitioners. This DVD contains eight complete Tai Chi practice sets based on the original style of Chen Tai Chi as taught to us by Grandmaster Chen Quanzhong, [...]

Day 5: Grandmaster Chen Quanzhong in Xian China

Grandmaster Chen Quanzhong (陈全忠) is my Chen Tai Chi (陈氏太极) teacher. Today our students had the chance to meet him in person for the first time. At nearly 90 years old, he is the senior most Chen Tai Chi Grandmaster in China and has practiced the art his entire life.

Grandmaster Chen Quanzhong with TCCII [...]

Day 4: Learning Chen Tai Chi and Curses in Xian China

The Terra Cotta Warriors of Emperor Qin were intended to protect him in the afterlife.

Emperor Qin (秦始皇) is legendary for uniting China, burning the books, burying the scholars, and building the most impressive tomb for himself in the known world. Our students got to check out a little of his handiwork at the museum [...]

Journey to China 2011

This weekend TCCII and 20 of our closest friends will be heading to China for an unforgettable travel, learning and training experience. This is no ordinary tourist trip. Sure, we’ll see the Terra Cotta warriors and a few other famous sights. However, we get off the beaten path and enjoy the temples, markets and [...]

Chen Tai Chi Chuan Seminar Part 5 Four Directions

The Four Directions (四正手) of Tai Chi Chuan describe the four major energies expressed in the art. These are Peng, Lu, Ji, and An. These energies combine to create all the major techniques in the style. Part 5 of our Introduction to Tai Chi video series explains the meaning of these four terms.

Chen Tai Chi Chuan Seminar Part 2 Posture Principles

Here is the second part of our introductory videos taken during our recent Qigong and Tai Chi Certification seminars.

Chen Tai Chi Introductory seminar in Washington DC. (陈氏太极拳 Chen Taijiquan)This is Part 2 of the video which answers questions received during the break, including posture principles (无极站桩 Wu Ji Zhan Zhuang) and similarities between Chen, Yang, [...]

Chen Tai Chi Chuan Seminar Part 1: Introduction

We’ve created some introductory videos from our recent Qigong and Tai Chi Certification seminars.

Chen Tai Chi Introductory seminar in Washington DC. (陈氏太极拳 Chen Taijiquan)This is Part 1 of the video which answers questions received during the break, including difference between Chen, Yang, Wu, Wudang styles of Tai Chi, origins and lineage. Seminar taught in December [...]

China 2010: Xizhou Chinese Medicine

Day 8, Friday, April 23 (Xizhou)

          Today, before breakfast, Shawn continued teaching us the old Chen Style Tai Chi.  He does the original form, the one that dates back several hundred years.  He told us that we will notice a difference in the form when we watch videos of other Masters as most of them [...]

Chen Tai Chi Yi Lu Form by Shawn Cartwright

For every Yin there is a Yang. In this case, the Yang is the Chen Tai Chi Form performed by Mr. Shawn Cartwright, Executive Director of TCCII. This form shows the obvious hard and soft, fast and slow movement of the original style of Tai Chi Chuan. Mr. Cartwright is a 20th generation Chen Tai [...]