Great River Taoist Center

Great River was founded in 1984 by a circle of serious Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) practitioners. For nearly 3 decades the Center has been focused on presenting the complete art, in all its aspects from the meditative to the martial. As such, Great River offers classes in the complete system from proper body mechanics and qi (chi) development learned thru form work, interactive training in push hands, real self defense thru full contact sanshou, and strength training via traditional weapons training as well as historical swordplay.

Center Director, Scott M. Rodell, studied with notable masters, Wang Yen-nian, T.T. Liang, and William C .C. Chen. Over the last 28 years, the Center has grown from a local group into an international school with branches and affiliated school across the US and Canada, Northern & Eastern Europe and Australia. Today, Center director Scott M. Rodell & senior students, hold regular weekly classes in Washington & lead over 25 seminars a year in Europe, Australia and America.

Classical TaijiQuan (T’ai Chi Ch’uan)

Taiji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan) is an classical Chinese internal martial art that, when practiced regularly and correctly, reduces stress and helps to improve physical fitness, concentration, and overall health for all ages. Center Director Scott M. Rodell has 20 years of Taiji experience under masters Wang Yen-nien, T.T. Liang, and William C.C. Chen.

Chinese Historical Swordsmanship

Center director, Scott M. Rodell, is an internationally recognized expert of Chinese Historical swordsmanship & the author of “Chinese Swordsmanship, The Yang Family Taiji Jian Tradition.” While many contemporary schools of Chinese martial arts practice various sword forms, few practice swordsmanship. At GRTC we strive to achieve the complete sword art, moving beyond simple form practice to free swordplay in a manner that is both effective, adheres to the principles of taijiquan & is historically accurate.

Neigong

Traditional Taoist NeiGong (internal work) Meditation in the Jin Shan Pai (Gold Mountain Tradition) for students who have demonstrated sufficient skill and disciple.

More Information:

• Taiji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan)
• Center Director Scott M. Rodell

Yang Lu-Ch'an

According to legend, the originator of Taiji Quan was a thirteenth century Taoist monk named Chang San-feng. Chang invented a soft-style martial art that developed internal energy to catalyze natural body movements, and is credited with authorship of the oldest of the Taiji Chuan classics.

The style of Taiji Quan practiced at Great River descends from Yang Lu-ch’an, a nineteenth century martial artist of legendary skill. In his time, Yang became the foremost martial artist in Beijing (earning the sobriquet “Yang the Invincible”), and was retained by the ruling Manchu princes as their martial arts teacher.

For political reasons, Yang kept his original Taiji Quan form secret. However, he created a public form that has become the most widely-practiced Taiji Quan form in the world. This public form was popularized in the United States by Cheng Man-ch’ing, a fourth generation master who condensed (from 108 to 64 movements) the form he learned from Yang Lu-Ch’an’s grandson, Yang Ch’eng-fu. One of Cheng Man-ch’ing’s senior students was Robert Smith, from whom Great River Director Scott Rodell learned Cheng’s form. Rodell also studied with two of Cheng’s other senior students, learning sword and push hands from Master T.T. Liang, and san shou and push hands from Master William C.C. Chen.

Continue reading “A Brief History of the School’s Lineage” »