Learning, practicing and teaching
My approach to qigong is somatic (living body-based).
I was introduced to taiji in 1986 with Jay Dunbar in Chapel Hill, NC and the Five Animal Frolics qigong in 1992. I enjoyed the playfulness and the dynamics of the Frolics and studied several more sessions with him. I studied the same set with several other teachers in California and Massachusetts.
I got hooked on qigong in 1998, while studying with Bruce Frantzis in Berkeley, CA. While practicing Dragon and Tiger channel balancing qigong in the redwoods, I realized that qi was a tangible experience to feel, move, move with and develop. It was not the mysterious thing people talked about allegorically.
Since then, I have studied with many Energy Arts teachers including Bill Ryan, Dan Kleiman, Eric Peters, Bob Tajima and Jason Quinn. I have had well over a dozen other qigong teachers over the past 20 years. My daily practice continues to reveal amazing connections both internally and externally. Regular practice and study provide a foundation for healing, growth and transformation.
Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen is a core teacher of mine. The work of Body-Mind Centering® is based on experiential anatomy, developmental movement, embryology and embodiment; its relationship with qi is fundamental.
I have been studying Body-Mind Centering®since 1984. In 1990, I received certification as Practitioner of Body-Mind Centering and in 2002 Teacher of Body-Mind Centering. Since then, I have received teacher certifications for BMC™ Yoga, Integral Yoga® and Supreme Science of Qigong®.
I have been teaching in schools of massage therapy and programs of somatic training since 1990 and have had the good fortune to teach BMC™ and somatic practices throughout the U.S and internationally in Europe, Canada, China and Taiwan. From 2007 to 2018, I was on the core faculty of the Kinesthetic Learning Center in Durham, NC teaching and coordinating the Body-Mind Centering Somatic Movement Educator and Practitioner certification programs. I am core faculty and Course Coordinator for Esprit en Mouvement BMC SME program in Montreal Canada, and am Co-director of the SME program in Taiwan.