Taiji Fundamentals:  True Tai Chi™ is about mastering the fundamentals. Focused on zhang zhuang (standing training) and silk reeling qigong, this is one of the few weekly classes offered anywhere, focused solely on (Chen style) Taijiquan basic training.

Chen Taijiquan (all levels): Authentic Chen village taiji training spanning silk reeling, forms, basic weaponry, applications, and push hands.

Chen Taijiquan (Intermediate to advanced): Intensive Chen village open-hand and weapons training, including deep forms training with combative appllications practice from the foundational Five Levels of Push Hands and the Ba Fa - extending to Shuai Chiao, Qinna, and other elements of (open-hand and weapons) Chen Taiji usage, taught exclusively in the True Tai Chi™ curriculum. (Prerequisites required.)

No contracts, registration fees or uniforms required.

Generous tuition discounts available for couples, full-time college students and students with special needs.

Instructors

Washington, DC, Northern, VA, New York
Stephan Berwick, founder of the TrueTaichi program, is an emerging 13th generation Chen Taijiquan specialist, widely recognized as an early proponent of mainland Chinese martial arts. An original disciple of Master Ren Guangyi since 1991 and also trained by top Chen family masters, Berwick completed primary research on Chen Taijiquan at Taiji’s birthplace, Chenjiagou in 2000. He was one of the first two Americans, with action-film star Donnie Yen, trained at the Sha’anxi Athletic Technical Institute in China under Zhao Changjun and Bai Wenxiang in 1987. Berwick was originally mentored by Master Bow Sim Mark and went on to become one of the first Western martial arts performers in Hong Kong action films under director, Yuen Wo Ping and Yen from 1988-89. Since 1996, he has authored dozens of authoritative articles on all aspects of martial arts and is the co-author of Taijiquan: 38 Form & Applications, Practical Tai Chi, Tai Chi for Kids, and Taijiquan Hand & Sword. Berwick currently teaches students from defense professionals to the physically challenged and in 2006 was the first Western Chen Taijiquan exponent profiled in a cover feature of a leading martial arts magazine - Journal of Asian Martial Arts - and has been profiled in Inside Kung Fu and Kung Fu Tai Chi magazines.

Photo (right), Virgina-based TrueTaichi instructor, Henry Hsiang teaches in Herndon and Arlington, VA.

Instructors Pat Christopherson and husband Gurupran Khalsa teach in Woodbridge, VA.

Alumni News (February 2010)

West Virginia- based, Neal DiGregorio, an original student of Stephan Berwick for 8 years, co-created a body regimen drawn from basic Chen Taiji silk reeling. The routine was introduced at an alternative health center sponsored by True Tai Chi alumnus and body-worker, Ruthann Pizaretz. The class was conducted by the regimen co-creator, Dan Seeley, who studied under Berwick for 6 years.

Sean Vasaitis, an early student of Berwick for 7 years, founded Facebook's largest Chen Taiji community, while introducing Chen Taiji to a University of Maryland rehab center, as a pharmacology researcher. He currently teaches Chen Taiji in Towson, MD.