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CHRONIC NECK AND BACK
PROBLEMS GONE...
NOT EVEN A COLD...
Oh, and, DROPPED 40 POUNDS...
I came to Sifu Michael in the Fall, a sluggish, overweight, desk-bound forty-six year old man, with chronic sore neck and back, low energy and fatigue. After the first nine months, I've dropped 40 pounds, increased my energy, eliminated the fatigue and no longer suffer from a chronic sore neck and back.
As a bonus, although I have a long history of respiratory ailments (sore throats, chest colds, flu and sinus problems), since I started attending regular classes, I have not had even a single cold.
Classes are fun, energizing and informative. Rather than simply imitating movements, each form is learned systematically and explored thoroughly combining diverse information including body mechanics, the physics of movement, esoteric concordances, history and lineage of forms; and a healthy dose of wry humor supplied by the Sifu himself. A typical class includes both internal and external work including TaiChi forms, Qigong exercises,
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Although I'm just beginning my training,
I have already noticed subtle changes in my daily life that I attribute to the training -- I feel more centered and grounded, I carry myself more confidently at work, my physical being feels as though its coming back to life and overall I have more clarity and focus. Thank you Sifu. |
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Mykael Biancalana
Computer Company Executive
San Francisco, California
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USES TERMINOLOGY AND
CONCEPTUAL PATTERNS THAT WESTERNERS CAN UNDERSTAND.
I’ve practiced Tai Chi for more than fifteen years and have benefited greatly from my studies with Michael Shaman over the past three. His able and patient teaching has guided me to more clearly recognize my strengths as well as my weaknesses. His in-depth knowledge of Tai Chi/ Qigong and high-level of personal cultivation have enriched my understanding of this most complex of arts.
As his student, fellow Tai Chi teacher, and a Western movement analyst/practitioner I have deep appreciation for the elegance of the curriculum underlying his classes. Through his teachings Michael is passing on essential practices from a wide range of high level practitioners of Qigong and Tai Chi which is highly refined - and a far reaching, multi-faceted and very effective developmental process. |
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Because he uses terminology and conceptual patterns that westerners can understand he provides a power of access and understanding to the inner workings of the 5-Elements I haven't found elsewhere. Reading through these personal accounts of Sifu Michael Shaman’s students, one really can get a taste of the quality of teaching and enjoyment experienced in his classes. But to really benefit one needs to try it. |
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Cheryl Lynn Yonker
Movement Therapist and
Certified Chen Taiji Instructor
San Francisco, California
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ABILITY TO HELP OTHERS
INCREASE DEVELOPED SENSE OF SPACE AND BOUNDARIES
I first began studying Tai Chi Chuan with Michael Shaman because I was concerned with regulating my energy level and emotional balance. At the time I was trying to help several friends and was finding my energy being drained - something that tends to happen to me too often. It seemed I was always giving my center away.
Though I had been trying to resolve this tendency for years, In one brief, succinct sentence Michael was able to tell me why my actions (and the energetic motions involved) were having the opposite effect than intended.From the first class (in which we were being bears) I knew that this was exactly where I needed to be.
What surprised me most is that the fighting aspect of Tai Chi has been the most helpful to me. Michael has helped me to understand the complementary relationship between healing and self-defense - How in developing my own right to have my space and boundaries (to put myself first) my ability to help others is increased, and oddly enough, my ability to be open and accessible. |
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It has been extremely rewarding to learn from such an articulate and thoughtful teacher as Michael, and through it all he has been very patient about talking me through my defenses.
Unlike many (most) teachers I have encountered, Michael 's main concern is in the actual mechanics of this energy work - He doesn't just teach the form. He is concerned with the how and the why and is very generous with explaining the reasons behind it all. I feel very fortunate to be able to study with him. |
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Lise Dale
Cafe Manager
San Francisco, California
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FROM SLEEPY MONK
TO ENERGETIC SPIRITUAL TEACHER
I studied with Michael Shaman in the mid 90's for some five and a half years. These were extraordinary years full of heart warming experiences. I could list a number of skills that Master Shaman has regarding the martial arts, because in many respects, that is what he is, a true, passionate martial artist. His range of understanding is vast. Yet what's so important is how he makes these ancient, esoteric, abstract Chinese ideas understandable to the Western mind.
Moreover, Master Shaman teaches an added skill which I've valued the most. He knows the the healing power of nature along with the healing power of the human body. He's very sensitive to the play of chi in the human body. Doing Tai Chi at sunset with Michael, breathing in and out, was in itself enormously rewarding. As a teacher of Chi-gong and Tai Chi, Master Shaman gave me highly valuable tools which I continue to use every day of my life.
He lays great imphasis on areas or centers of power within the body and how to use these centers to control and distribute chi throughout the nervous system. This information stays
with me in a profound way. Dantien is central to what he does. I don't think that the idea of the Dantien is clearly understood by many Tai Chi instructors. But Michael understands it clearly. |
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And once you tune into this reality, which he emphasizes so strongly, your life changes. You can actually govern your own healing, and stave off the likelihood of cancer and other diseases. A marvelous achievement in itself. There are a number of Chigong forms which he gives. There's the Eight Brocades, the Animal Forms and Swords, however, he's fully conversant with the various Tai Chi sets that are practiced today. So, there's a lot that he's able to teach.
Nevertheless, with all the marvelous skills, I would definitely say that for me, his great contribution is in his centering technique on the Dantien. This seems to be Master Shaman in essence. For it's from the focal point of the Dantien that everything else, healing, composure, the martial arts and inner strength, makes sense. |
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Swami Brahmavidyananda
Vedanta Monk
President - Temple Universal
Publications
Ramakrishna Monastery
Hollywood, California
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CHANGED MY LIFE...
CAN WALK SEEMINGLY FOREVER WITHOUT TIRING...
MORE PRESENT TO LIFE.
Sifu Michael's teaching has changed my life. It helped me to physically move in daily life in new ways I didn't even know existed that empower me to this day.
For example, it's possible to walk without using any physical effort and now I can walk seemingly forever without tiring. I'm also more present to life.
Michael taught with extraordinary care and a child-likeness that made learning easy and fun while getting profound information that applied to many areas of my life. While I was learning tai chi I felt like I was being trained in high physics but on an experiential mind body level. However, when class started to get too serious and high-minded Michael always had the perfect wise crack to get us out of our head. |
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Learning Tai Chi even on an introductory or maintenance level proves to be an ongoing life changing experience. No matter where I am in the world, and particularly when I'm in a waiting mode, it's natural and easy to practice the mysterious phenomena of Tai Chi. Thank you Sifu Michael for your sensitivity, understanding and love for what you do. I look forward to my next tune up. |
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Jem Sage
Travel Guide
Portland, Oregon
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EVER MORE FREE FROM TENSION
The mastery displayed by Michael Shaman in teaching Qi Gong and Tai Chi in classes of relative beginners as well as experienced practitioners, all integrated together, is profound.
Each class sends us home with increased energy, joy and skill.
My wife and I, ages 76 and 77, have, in a half-year of study, already felt the effects. She with Parkinson’s disease walks with more confidence and increased balance.
For my part, a rigid body is ever more free from tension while at the same time becoming more supple. |
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His Kindness and knowledge is always evident. We could not ask for more in a teacher. |
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Dr. Harris and Gerry Monosoff
Clinical Psychologists
San Francisco, California
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BALANCE PROBLEM NO LONGER A CONCERN... POSTURE IMPROVED... LOOK BETTER IN MY CLOTHES.
I''m 83 and I joined Michael Shaman's Tai Chi class seven months ago. I have a balance problem, which had become quite severe. When I climbed the steep street to my home in San Francisco, I would frequently lurch from side to side. I imagined those behind me must have thought I was drunk.
This is no longer a concern! My balance improved markedly during the first 6 weeks of Tai Chi classes with Michael and has steadily improved since.
Michael had me keep a chair close by as many of the exercises could be done seated, or holding on to the back of the chair. The amount of time I could stand and participate in the moving exercises increased rather rapidly - from 3 minutes the first session to twenty after four or five meetings. By the end of the first 4 months, I could stand and move with the other students through most of the class. |
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When I saw the benefits of Michael's Tai Chi, I switched to private lessons. Michael is infinitely patient and has the knowledge needed to help individual students.
Not only am I walking better, my posture has improved as well so that I look better in my clothes. Someone said I looked taller.
Tai Chi is gentle with soft, slow movements. I am learning and liking what it does for me. |
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Jean Sterling
Retired Journalist
San Francisco, California
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FROM AT-RISK YOUTH
TO HEALING ARTS PROFESSIONAL
My life-long study of Tai Ji Quan, began right after I had barely graduated from high school with a “C” grade average. I was never interested in school, but was more sports minded as a teenager.
One day as I walked around my neighborhood in Atwater, California, I noticed a small store front with a large TaiJi/YinYang symbol hanging over the front door. I felt I needed to get back in physical shape, and thinking it was a martial arts school, I walked in and enquired about taking classes there.
What I had found was Sifu Michael’s Pacific Light and Power School of Internal Martial Arts. What I had really found was a life changing opportunity waiting to be developed.
In just one month of doing early morning TaiJi at the studio, I began to change not only physically, but more noticeably, I began to change mentally. Practicing TaiJi helped to strengthen my tendency towards being college bound. Soon after I enrolled
in the local junior college and continued to train Taiji with Sifu Michael. Later I was accepted into UCLA and graduated with a BA degree in
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Training Michael's TaiJi allowed me to go from academic apathy to fluency in Mandarin Chinese, and now into professional certification as a licensed Accupuncturist and Herbologist.
I will forever be grateful to Sifu Michael for showing me a different way of breathing, and a different way of being.
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