Forty-one years ago, a near fatal car crash propelled me into a search for the meaning of life, starting with my own life. I initially experimented with yoga, and judo and karate, in which I got black belts.  My life was radically changed when I discovered Buddhism and I soon settled on Insight Meditation (Vipassana) and the Chinese “internal family” of martial arts (Taijiquan, Baguazhang, Xingyiquan and Qigong) as my main practices, with V.R. Dhiravamsa and Miss Rose Li respectively as my main teachers.  Along the way, I have been fortunate to meet and study with other excellent teachers like Prof. Jerry Alan Johnson, Prof. Liu Yuzheng, Chungjen Chang, Zhang Yufei and Steven Law.

Twenty-five years ago, I started teaching in Toronto and in time, my teaching organization became the Tai Chi & Meditation Centre.  Our specialty is integration and connection, including body, energy, emotion, mind and spirit.  Martial, medical and spiritual qigong are not separate, but part of the same integral path.  At our deepest level, we are spiritual beings.

The need for integration and balance is becoming more apparent in our everyday lives, individually and collectively, and therefore genuine “internal” knowledge and expertise are becoming ever more relevant and precious.

We hope you enjoy this blog, which will be written by the Instructors of our organization.  We invite your questions, comments and topic suggestions.

Andy James
Founder and Chief Instructor.