Who We Are
The Gainesville T'ai Chi Center is a teaching member of the T’ai Chi Foundation (TCF), which is a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting, funding and teaching programs relating to the embodiment of T’ai Chi Chuan. TCF exists to continue the teaching of the Cheng Man-Ch’ing style of T’ai Chi Chuan (Yang style short form) as passed down through Patrick Watson.
The School of T'ai Chi Chuan today is composed of over 200 instructors teaching T’ai Chi Chuan classes in 30 cities around the world. Each teacher follows the curriculum and team-teaching method developed by Patrick Watson. All teachers are apprentices of the school who have gone through the school’s public curriculum and entered into apprenticeship, learning to teach the sequence of T’ai Chi coursework. We gather together regularly to learn from Patrick’s senior teachers, the Legacy Holders, practicing T’ai Chi Chuan form, push hands and sword.
As a T’ai Chi teaching school, our Center prepares our apprentices through a sequence of intensive trainings. This continued study helps our apprentices maintain a consistency in method. Students can study at any of our branches and receive the same careful attention to the principles and details of the art of Cheng Man-Ch’ing’s Yang-style Short Form.
The hallmark of our T’ai Chi center is team-teaching. Our method provides students with a friendly setting where the focus is on the clarity of the course material. There is always a teacher in front of the class for students to observe. Our students report that we teach with a balance of disciplined focus, relaxation, inspiration, and humor.
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About Our Teachers
All of our teachers have been trained by The School of T'ai Chi Chuan, an international school with over 200 teachers in six countries. Most classes are taught by teams of two or more teachers so that there is always a teacher to follow up front. The School of T'ai Chi Chuan has developed a precise teaching method that makes it easy for students to learn the T'ai Chi form and principles.
The Gainesville T'ai Chi Center is a teaching member of the T’ai Chi Foundation (TCF), which is a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting, funding and teaching programs relating to the embodiment of T’ai Chi Chuan. TCF exists to continue the teaching of the Cheng Man-Ch’ing style of T’ai Chi Chuan (Yang style short form) as passed down through Patrick Watson.
The School of T'ai Chi Chuan today is composed of over 200 instructors teaching T’ai Chi Chuan classes in 30 cities around the world. Each teacher follows the curriculum and team-teaching method developed by Patrick Watson. All teachers are apprentices of the school who have gone through the school’s public curriculum and entered into apprenticeship, learning to teach the sequence of T’ai Chi coursework. We gather together regularly to learn from Patrick’s senior teachers, the Legacy Holders, practicing T’ai Chi Chuan form, push hands and sword.
As a T’ai Chi teaching school, our Center prepares our apprentices through a sequence of intensive trainings. This continued study helps our apprentices maintain a consistency in method. Students can study at any of our branches and receive the same careful attention to the principles and details of the art of Cheng Man-Ch’ing’s Yang-style Short Form.
The hallmark of our T’ai Chi center is team-teaching. Our method provides students with a friendly setting where the focus is on the clarity of the course material. There is always a teacher in front of the class for students to observe. Our students report that we teach with a balance of disciplined focus, relaxation, inspiration, and humor.
Like Us on FaceBook: Tai Chi Gainesville
About Our Teachers
All of our teachers have been trained by The School of T'ai Chi Chuan, an international school with over 200 teachers in six countries. Most classes are taught by teams of two or more teachers so that there is always a teacher to follow up front. The School of T'ai Chi Chuan has developed a precise teaching method that makes it easy for students to learn the T'ai Chi form and principles.
Paul Campbell, EdS, LMHC, LMT; Paul is both a Mental Health Counselor and Licensed Massage Therapist in private practice, who integrates mind and body in his therapeutic work. He has led workshops and taught at Summer and Winter Tai Chi trainings around the world. He is our guiding teacher and has been teaching T'ai Chi for over 45 years. He has nurtured and guided Apprentice teachers throughout all those years.
Joan Campbell, EdS. I am a retired professor of Early Childhood Education at Santa Fe College, after 25 years. I have been practicing Tai Chi Chuan for over 45 years and have been teaching it since 1986. Tai Chi has had a tremendous impact on my health and emotional well-being. I always feel better after a Tai Chi class! My personal practice has benefited me in countless ways and I can't imagine Life without it!
Darcie MacMahon; In daily life, I am the Director of Exhibits & Public Programs at the Florida Museum of Natural History. I started practicing T’ai Chi in 1989 to manage stress, and discovered it to be instantly effective, leaving me completely relaxed and happy at the end of each class regardless of how I started. Over the years my practice has deepened in unexpected and fascinating ways, making it truly a life practice that has profoundly benefitted my health and wellbeing and provides powerful guidance for walking through life. I co-teach a beginning class for women with Joan Campbell, Bahira Sugarman, and Jenn Downey, where we bring the amazing practice of T’ai Chi to all kinds of women in a supportive environment. I also co-teach and practice T’ai Chi with others in our group and find the relationships we have built as a community a very rich part of my life. As a group, our dedication to the art, along with our mutual trust and closeness, greatly enhances our teaching.
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Bahira Sugarman; DCSW, LMT
Bahira, a traditional Reiki Master, is ordained as a spiritual guide and is a retired licensed psychotherapist known for her healing hands. She is senior faculty emeritus of the Spiritual Eldering Institute where she co designed and implemented its leadership training program. She is co-founder and also co-directs The Sage-ing Legacy Program Yerusha.org/sage-ing/
Bahira began her Tai Chi teaching apprenticeship in 1980 and has been team teaching introductory classes to women since 1987. Tai Chi has been a fundamental practice throughout the years in helping her to overcome the results of injuries sustained in several automobile accidents. And now particularly in her elder years, it remains a precious and essential practice. She is a lover of the stillness within us all that bursts forth with unexpected pleasure and wisdom.
Bahira, a traditional Reiki Master, is ordained as a spiritual guide and is a retired licensed psychotherapist known for her healing hands. She is senior faculty emeritus of the Spiritual Eldering Institute where she co designed and implemented its leadership training program. She is co-founder and also co-directs The Sage-ing Legacy Program Yerusha.org/sage-ing/
Bahira began her Tai Chi teaching apprenticeship in 1980 and has been team teaching introductory classes to women since 1987. Tai Chi has been a fundamental practice throughout the years in helping her to overcome the results of injuries sustained in several automobile accidents. And now particularly in her elder years, it remains a precious and essential practice. She is a lover of the stillness within us all that bursts forth with unexpected pleasure and wisdom.
John Doody; I became involved with T'ai Chi Chuan in my mid 40s. My family was beginning a new era of development. My children were graduating from college, and my wife was starting a career as a high school teacher. I began looking for something I could do for the rest of my life. T'ai Chi seemed to be custom-made for older individuals like myself. Little did I know that T'ai Chi would change me from the inside out. It has produced a calm throughout my day to deal with what is in front of me. I experience happiness and joy with the ability to breathe in the breath of life.
Jenn Downey, AP; Jenn is a qigong teacher and an acupuncturist with Gainesville Community Acupuncture. She is a graduate of Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine, and is licensed in the State of Florida as an Acupuncture Physician (AP1673), maintaining her practice in Acupuncture and Oriental medicine in Gainesville since 2002. She specializes in the Japanese Toyohari style of acupuncture, which utilizes gentle, non-invasive needling techniques that require sensitivity to and understanding of Qi flow. In addition to her acupuncture practice, she has been an instructor of Qigong and Oriental Medical Theory at the Florida School of Massage, and currently teaches Chinese Herbology at the Academy of Five-Element Acupuncture in Gainesville, Florida. "I feel that my tai chi practice has been key in helping me develop and maintain my physical and mental health and well-being, in addition to helping me cultivate awareness of the movement of energy in myself as well as within my patients. I'm delighted to be able to share tai chi with others." Jennifer Downey, A.P., Dipl.OM.
Bob Connelly, MA. I am a retired writing teacher and have been practicing T'ai Chi since 2006.
What I find so compelling about the practice is discovering my process of learning the skills. Over the years, the principles we practice in class have slowly but persistently become more evident in my everyday life. I am more grounded, less easily rattled by the unexpected, and more relaxed. I don't hold tension in my shoulders, and I find myself becoming calmer the more harried or stressful the situation.
What I find so compelling about the practice is discovering my process of learning the skills. Over the years, the principles we practice in class have slowly but persistently become more evident in my everyday life. I am more grounded, less easily rattled by the unexpected, and more relaxed. I don't hold tension in my shoulders, and I find myself becoming calmer the more harried or stressful the situation.
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Suellyn Winkle, Ph.D. I am a retired English professor, and began studying T’ai Chi in l999.I love the practice of T’ai Chi, its beauty and its functionality. It teaches me to feel my connection to the earth, and it encourages me to be at ease in the world. I am attracted to the idea that this practice not only teaches me to breathe in the energy of life, but also to protect myself, and I love the concept of strength through softness that T’ai Chi embodies. I am grateful to be part of a vibrant T'ai Chi community.
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Pam Hunt. I am a retired respiratory therapist and a second degree Reiki practitioner.
I have been a tai chi apprentice, teaching on and off for over 40 years.
For me, the gracious, conscious movement enhances the awareness of subtle energies in the body.
Practicing tai chi always makes me feel more alive, more grounded and more present.
I feel blessed to have tai chi as a lifelong primary spiritual practice.