Classes

T’ai Chi is the perfect complement to kung fu or any other highly active practice. By balancing yin and yang energies, we create harmony within, improving our health and well-being. Our main focus is to give the student tools for better living through T’ai Chi principles. Each classes covers a variety of topics including balance, posture, flow, strength, effective and efficient body mechanics, proprioception, and overall awareness.

The building of these principles is slow-going compared to almost any other type of training. We move slow at first, in order to develop body awareness. Each movement is designed to give a greater understanding of what our bodies can do. As our skill increases, so does the body’s strength, flexibility and fluidity. A skilled internal martial artist seems impervious to heavy contact, supple as a willow, able to swim through air as a fish darts through water. They move as light as a feather to escape and grow as heavy as a mountain when they are grabbed.

Our T’ai Chi program includes the following

• Meditation
• Chi Kung, including the Eight Brocades
• T’ai Chi Ch’uan, including Yang and Chen styles
• Applications
• Push Hands
• Weapons, including iron fan, straight sword and more.

Internal kung fu training takes a great deal of patience. Gaining skill is slow and tedious at first, but with determination and awareness you will feel the difference. External kung fu teaches skills for combat from the very beginning. Internal stylists, however, believe it is better to know oneself first, before taking on an opponent. “The true measure of T’ai Chi skill is not done in a few breaths, it is measured in decades.”

Kung fu essentially means mastery through “time and effort”. Quite simply, it is an equation; your expertise at an activity is equal to how much effort you put in and for how long. In theory, someone who puts in a great deal of effort in a short amount of time can have the same skill as someone who puts in much less effort over a long period of time.

Today, there are many systems that can be considered kung fu such as, Black Tiger, T’ai Chi, Chi Kung, Monkey, and Golden Leopard, and so on. Why so many? After 1500 years of masters and students, northern and southern locations, viewpoints and dumb luck, there are bound to be myriad variations stemming from the same or similar art form.

External kung fu training is easily recognized by the incredible physical feats on display. At its peak, external training produces a student with the same capacity of an all-around athlete. We concentrate on strength, stamina, flexibility, agility and many other outward physical aspects to build a strong foundation for students to tackle any system within kung fu and any challenge outside of kung fu.

The Women’s Kung Fu program is the same as our Kung Fu program provided in a women-only environment.

Our external training covers many systems including

• Tiger
• Crane
• Praying Mantis
• Southern Fist
• Sparring Techniques
• Drunken Immortals
• Weapons
• Broadsword
• Straight Sword
• Staff
• Spear

What better time to instill the qualities of courage, courtesy, integrity, and self-discipline than when we are young! Our Junior Warriors program is available for students 5-12 years old. Using a unique combination of fun and hard work, the young martial artist will create a strong foundation on which to build a healthy future. We have tailored the Junior Warriors program in such a way that they may continue seamlessly into the adult program when ready, and further build their skills.

If our regular schedule presents a challenge, you would like a little extra help, or are just looking for more depth and detail, then schedule a single or series of one-on-one sessions with us. We’ll tailor it just for you with any combination of kung fu, T’ai Chi, or even general fitness. Private lessons are $60/hour with Sifu Jonathan and $85/hour for Master-level. Location is determined between student and instructor.