Sifu James Weston dedicates himself to intensive research and promotion of the Chinese martial and healing arts, with a focus on Chen style Taiji Chuan, Chinese grappling and Chi Gong. He has won numerous awards and medals at international events, and has been a featured Taiji Chuan expert on television, radio and in print.
He began his martial arts career with Chinese Kenpo and Shaolin Kung Fu, enjoying the hearty combat and intensive training aspects of the "hard" arts. His first teacher saw that he was perhaps too focused on fighting and tricked him into studying Taiji Chaun by suggesting that it would make him a better fighter. Although it did add to his skills, it also balanced his personality and opened his mind to finer aspects of being. Eventually, he lost interest in the more violent parts of study and immersed himself more into Taiji. Subsequently, he met Master Ren Guang-Yi, a formidable Chen style Taiji Chuan exponent. Master Ren became his mentor, training him privately and intensively. Sifu Weston eventually became one of Master Ren's top student teachers.
Sifu James Weston
He now devotes his time to teaching a few serious students privately and conducting Taiji intensives in the US. He has been able to convert his initial fear-based attraction to martial arts into a way of life based on courageous, compassionate action. He is married with a child on the way.
Key Chen Style Taiji Chuan Push Hand Skills:
Most push hands study involves the important qualities of sensitivity, yielding/neutralizing skills, deflection pathways and some general application ideas. Those are great fundamentals that are necessary to effect application of Taiji principles in a fighting situation. In this workshop, we will look at the foundation skills that enable whole body awareness & power, the reasons behind the effectiveness of the silk reeling movement principles that define Chen Taiji and a few of the essential patterns to soak it into the body.
Chen Style Taiji Chuan Grappling:
Push hands skills are a great way to train for close quarter situations, but they generally don't finish the job. Most Chen style Taiji Chuan applications utilize the standard "neutralize, strike (and/or lock) & throw" process of traditional Chinese grappling arts. So in this workshop we will review the push hands basics briefly (from the previous workshop) and then explore four applications that model the four primary ways to throw someone (lifting, rolling, sweeping & driving). Each sample application will show you how to synthesize the "neutralize, strike/lock & throw" process into the spiral force method of Chen style Taiji.
