Abouts

Sean is extremely bad at writing about himself in the third person, so he won’t.

I began my experience with Taiji and internal martial arts generally while working on my undergraduate degree at Indiana University Bloomington, with New School T’ai Chi Ch’uan. In the first class, I was used in the demonstration, and Charles pointed out that I was standing on the outside of my forward foot. I had to look down to check, and I haven’t looked back from that moment. This is the formal beginning my life as something of a Movement Nerd.

Bob Iden began his study of Tai Chi Ch’uan in the mid 1980’s with Grandmaster William C. C. Chen and has continued that study for the past 35 years. Although he has studied with several other Masters including Dr. Tao Ping-Siang (senior student of Cheng Man-ching), Master Andy Dale, Sensei Mike Ullmann and Master Burk Dowell (martial arts advisor for the recent Paper Tigers movie), Grandmaster Chen has remained his primary influence. In addition to Tai Chi Chu’an, Bob has also studied Aikido, and is a long-time student of Zen philosophy and mediation.

Mastery is inversely proportional to the cost of the instructor’s outfit.

Ancient Proverb

This section is often where one finds claims of expertise and authority. That is, you will find something like " Dr. Jones earned her PhD at the early age of 21 and has had a brilliant and distinguished career in research. She has published in prestigious journals and is a frequent lecturer in her field." In Western society, this sort of biographical information establishes Dr. Jones credentials as an expert and an authority who speaks with the force and authorization of her culture. She is someone who knows more than you and someone invoking the power and status of Science as validation of her views. This sort of biography is often accompanied by a photograph of Dr. Jones in a lab coat working in her lab.