Rick has explored the Chinese internal arts & energy healing for over 40 years and is the winner of several National Championships in Taiji Push Hands tournaments. He is the author of two books, “Taijiquan: Through the Western Gate” and “Finding You in a World of It,” & hundreds of blogs. Rick’s videos can be seen on YouTube. Although Rick is not a GPY practitioner, he gives seminars all over the country. He is well-known and respected in taijiquan, push hands, & the Chinese Internal Martial Arts.

James began his martial arts journey with Northern Longfist Kung Fu in 1989. In 2001 he began to study Tai Chi & Southern Kung fu with Sifu Dug Corpolongo. He was certified by Grandmaster Henry Look as a TIMA Sifu in 2010. Having won many gold medals in national competitions, he now judges at tournaments around the country & hosted the Desert Dragon Competition annually for 10 years in Albuquerque, NM. In 2006 Sifu James opened Jade Tiger Martial Arts in Albuquerque & several of his students now teach as well around the United States & Mexico. In 2020 Sifu James & Jade Tiger Martial Arts relocated to Dallas, TX.

I have practiced and loved taijiquan since 1988 -- more than 35 years now! I started my taiji journey in Boulder, learning under Jane and Bataan Faigao, both among Professor Cheng Man-Ching’s early students in NYC. In California I had the great good luck to find Valarie Prince Gabel who taught me Guang Ping Yang. Later, Jo Anna Gee Schoon took me on as an apprentice teacher. Jo Presbury-Smith first taught us some of what she learned from Grandmaster Y.C. Chiang. Then we too made the pilgrimage up to Wen Wu School in the Bay Area, deepening our knowledge with Shirfu Chiang and his senior students. By the time I got a permanent post in Walla Walla, Washington, Shirfu Chiang was happy enough with me and my husband Nick D’Antoni’s skills to give us his direct permission to open a school and call it Wen Wu Walla Walla. We were and are very honored. I’ve been teaching ever since, as well as increasing my knowledge - including through annual workshops with William C.C. Chen, Xingyi from Grandmaster Henry Look; Guang Ping Sword form from my senior brother Fu-Tung Cheng, silk-reeling from Master Randy Elia, and push hands from Rick Barrett, among others. My favorite thing about taiji is that you never stop learning; the practice takes you deeper and deeper into its magic. And the magic just makes you want to continue to learn.

I have been with Sifu Randy Elia since about 1994. Deciding to keep training even as an adult is one of the best decisions of my life. I have found more and more that gong fu has become a way of life. I have even gone so far as to apply certain concepts, at their most abstract level, to certain computational techniques, which have proven to yield interesting results. Gong fu and taiji have made an impact on the more commonplace aspects of my daily goings ons- everything from brushing my teeth to driving. It is also a wonderful thing that the same feeling I got when I first felt the qi is how I feel every time I stand still and hold a ball of invisible energy. I have a deep love for gong fu and taiji as well as a penchant for creative problem solving. As much as I am drawn to very cerebral things, such as computer programming, I find that taiji helps to balance things out. I would even go so far as to say that they even can be complementary in certain ways. Taiji principles are not only applicable at the most abstract of levels, but at the most practical of levels too. As I stated above, it really becomes a way of life.