Instructor Chris Marshall is a life-long advocate for Tai Chi Chuan.
For over twenty years, Chris traveled across the United States and abroad, studying directly under the world’s greatest living masters. Now, he shares his passion and experience, helping others to enjoy the benefits of Tai Chi.
Championship and Tournament Record
In the past, Tai Chi masters would regularly compare skills with other martial styles and schools. This tradition helped to maintain the highest standards of excellence.
Unfortunately, this practice has nearly vanished from the world today, along with the knowledge and skills necessary to sustain it. Rather than demonstrating good technique, modern teachers often rely upon confidence tricks, physical illusions and logical fallacies to enthrall new students.
Among these counterfeits, the genuine Taijiquan is rare to find.
Chris Marshall supports and upholds the tradition, by regularly attending martial arts industry conferences, meetups and tournaments—as a coach, a judge, and a competitor.
Aside from his championship medals, Chris is the author of two books on the practice and principles of Taijiquan; and the chairman of an international CPD group for Tai Chi professionals.
Lineage and credits
Chris Marshall is a sixth-generation inheritor of Yang style Taijiquan. His lineage can be traced directly to the original founders of the arts.
- Master Xie Bingcan
- ← Fu Zhongwen ← Yang Chengfu
- ← Ma Yueliang ← Wu Jianquan
- Master Yang Jun
- ← Yang Zhenduo ← Yang Chengfu ← Yang Jianhou ← Yang Luchan
Chris has also received instruction from renowned Tai Chi masters Sam Tam, Fong Ha, and many others.
Before his initiation into Taijiquan, Chris spent years learning and teaching other martial arts. His instructors included:
- Bruce Bookman
- ← Yoshimitsu Yamada ← Morihei Ueshiba
- Mallory Graham
- ← Paul Sylvain ← T.K. Chiba ← Morihei Ueshiba
- David Parks
- ← Minoru Kurita ← Morihei Ueshiba
- Stephen Elaimy
- ← Carl Dechiara ← Kenneth Chung ← Leung Sheung ← Ip Man
Kung Fu is best experienced through a mix of personal coaching, independent study, and competitive evaluation. Chris is deeply grateful to have met, crossed hands and learned from dozens of experts in Taiji, Qigong, and other arts.
A partial list includes Tim Cartmell, Ben Der, Mike Martello, Li Tai-Liang, Emin Boztepe, Jack Ling, Wong Siu, Ellis Amdur, Wu Wenhan, Chen Zhenglei, Chen Bing, Kumar Frantzis, Xu Mingtang, Chunyi Lin, Jan Diepersloot, Motomichi Anno, Masatoshi Yasuno, Henry Wang, Jeff Crosland, Kris Wilder, Nicholas Yang, Iain Abernethy, Benjamin Wu, Marc MacYoung, and Rory Miller. (Any omissions from this list are purely accidental.)
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