The Tai Chi and Meditation Centre (TCMC) was founded by Shifu Andy James (Wu Andao), who in 1984 gave up being a Chartered Accountant to become a fulltime teacher of Mindfulness-Vipassana meditation, Tai Chi Chuan, the Chinese “internal” martial arts, Qigong, Enneagram of Personality and more. His intent was to provide comprehensive mind-body-spirit tools for robust health and individual transformation of consciousness and “real”, positive life changes. He wanted to help reintroduce the traditional Chinese “internal arts” (neijia) aspiration of embodying the Warrior, Healer, Scholar and Sage.
Shifu James has learned from world-renowned teachers including Miss Rose Li (taijiquan, baguazhang, xingyiquan), Dhiravamsa (Mindfulness-Vipassana meditation and Buddhism), Prof. Jerry Alan Johnson (Qigong and baguazhang) and has collaborated with other esteemed teachers (see Lineage etc). TCMC students have won many medals in national and international competitions in Canada and the USA (see details). TCMC has for decades been covered by local and national media in Canada. At present, we also have accredited teachers in the UK and Portugal.
At TCMC we offer a variety of ongoing programs as well as special workshops and retreats. For those who want to deepen and broaden their mind-body practice, we offer Personal Mastery and Teacher/ Instructor programs. Several of our Senior Instructors have been practicing our full slate of disciplines for over 25 years.
Left to Right: Shifu Donna Oliver, Sheila Furness, Michael Herring, Carrie Bernard, Dondrub Wangchuk, Shifu Andy James, Jamie Magnusson, Daniel Pikelin, Suzanne Takahashi
Missing: Frank Carone, Dmitri Tikhonov, and Jeff Willis
(See below for Instructors Bios)
Why Choose Us
World Class Instruction
Several of our Senior Instructors have at least 25 years of consistent mind-body practice, which includes healing and self-healing, martial arts skill, and spiritual inquiry/ self-transformation. Our Instructors seek to embody and transmit the disciplines necessary for you to embody the Warrior, Healer, Scholar and Sage, which is not something you can learn from YouTube or DVDs.
We offer student the opportunity to attain “gongfu” or “kungfu” in its deepest sense, not just fighting or self-defence. Gongfu means skill and knowledge honed and refined over time. It takes commitment, but is well worth it over time as the Complex becomes Simple and the Difficult, easy.
Programs
At TCMC we offer a variety of ongoing programs as well as special workshops and retreats. For those who want to deepen and broaden their mind-body practice, we offer Personal Mastery and Teacher/ Instructor programs. Several of our Senior Instructors have been practicing our full slate of disciplines for over 25 years.
Instructors
Short Bios (click on link below each short bio for full bio)
