The ABC Workshops: Instructor

I was born in Berkeley, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. After high school, I joined the Navy for four years (one year with the Marine Corps as a field medical corpsman in Vietnam). About a year after release from the Navy, I started to attend college with emphasis in psychology and sociology. At the same time I attended Gestalt and other personal development groups and workshops, and also started therapy. Having discovered meditation and metaphysics, I became totally fascinated and deeply interested in this area. I then proceeded to seriously study different yogic, metaphysical, meditative, and spiritual-development systems for the next few years. This process led me to my present and long-standing (30 years) Tai Chi Chuan teacher, Lo Pang Jeng (Mr. Ben Lo). Intuatively and after several months of studying, I began to realize this seemingly simple, but arduous, Tai Chi system embodied the essence of all my various studies. It was a somewhat esoteric or hidden path to the development of one's complete being. I discovered through this training system that one is taught the process of gaining deeper and deeper access to the Essential experience and wisdom of the Body, Heart, Mind, and Spirit. I had to some degree accessed some of these qualities in my previous work, but now I was asked or challenged to access them in the martial (Warriorship) context; and, even more, to access and apply these Principles and related experiences to my daily life. I knew this was my Gifted Work. With diligence, integrity, patience, perserverence, and passion I have been quite fortunate to continue to grow and develop in this Art throughout my thirty years of study and practice.

Over the years I have also visited and taken workshops with other high-level Tai Chi and martial art instructors, in an attempt to begin to understand the full dimensions of the Art.

I have also participated in Tai Chi Chuan push hands tournaments in the U.S. and Taiwan. I have won or placed in most of these. Most notable was the Taste of China Tournament held in Winchester, Virginia, where I won the Push Hands Grand Championship in 1988 and 1990.

Of important value has been the multi-level lesson of winning and success, and also learning the multi-level lesson of losing and non-success.

With deep Appreciation and Gratitude I continue to train with my teacher, Laoshi Ben Lo, working with my continually developing and changing self, and with my beloved students whom I feel so thankful to have, and with my larger Tai Chi Chuan community, nationally and internationally.

Lenzie Williams teaches Tai Chi classes in Berkeley, California, and Tai Chi workshops throughout the United States and in Europe. Please visit his website TaiChiBerkeley.com for details.