Meet the Cast (in order of appearance)
Grandmaster Mantak Chia is the creator of the Universal Healing Tao system and is the director of the Universal Healing Tao Center and Tao Garden Health Resort and Training Center in the beautiful northern countryside of Thailand. Since childhood he has been studying the Taoist approach to life. His mastery of this ancient knowledge, enhanced by his study of other disciplines, has resulted in the development of the Universal Healing Tao System which is now being taught throughout the world.
Dr. Lawrence Young, MD. is an Internal Medicine, Physician in New York. Dr. Young is responsible for the earliest promotional efforts of Mantak Chia's teachings in Chinatown, New York City and for creating the book: 'Reports of the National Clearinghouse for Meditation Relaxation & Related Therapies' in 1980.
Ron Diana February 3, 1946 to July 1, 2005
This film is dedicated to the memory of Ron Diana and the contribution he made to creating the Healing Tao System, now known as the Universal Healing Tao.
Sharon Smith is certified as a Senior Instructor and Chi Nei Tsang Practitioner. She was in his original class of western students in 1981. Sharon has been practicing Qigong, Tai Chi, & other Taoist spiritual and healing arts for 35 years & teaching them for 28. Her influential teachers include Masters Mantak Chia, Li Jun Feng, Ming Chan, and T.K. Shih. Other important teachers include Jeanette Chi, Gilles Marin, Don Ahn, Carol Anthony and Livia Kohn as well as many other Tao masters. She has traveled many times to China, Thailand, India, the Philppines, and New Zealand to further her studies. In 2011, she attended the Wudang Martial Arts Internal Kung Fu Academy in China.
Dr. Gunther Weil is a licensed Psychologist, and is certified in the HeartMath® Inner Quality Management Program. Dr. Weil conducts personal growth seminars in leadership, creativity, emotional intelligence and wellness for executives and their organizations throughout the world. He is a 30 year practitioner of Tai Chi Chuan and an internationally recognized master teacher of Qigong - the oriental art of internal energy cultivation. He was the founding Chairman of the National Qigong Association (NQA) from 1994-1998 and continues to serve on the NQA's National Advisory Council.
Amanda Livoti is the artist who created incredible drawings for the film. Her sensitivity towards the content and feel of the story is magically expressed through her artwork. Amanda's facebook page.
Ron Diana was a Senior Instructor with the International Healing Tao. He is from the original group that started with Mantak Chia back in '83 and coauthored 'Bone Marrow Nei Kung' and 'Chi Nei Tsang, Internal Organ Massage'. After earning a B.A. in Psychology he went to study meditation and traditional Taoist healing practices. He studied extensively with Master Herbalist Dr. Stephen Chang. Ron was an Acupuncturist and a faculty member of the Tao University in New York City. He was also the Director of The Healing Tao Center of New Jersey and Tao Healing Arts.
Raven Cohan was certified by Master Chia to teach Chinese Meditation and Chi Kung in 1983. She holds certification in nine Healing/Universal Tao course levels. Raven was made SAenior Instructor in 2010. Raven, was a professional actress, singer, and dancer from 1968-1980, doing acrobatic-adagio dance in Radio City Music Hall, and other theatres, nightclubs, TV and films, world-wide. Raven continued as a solo act that utilized her talent as a contortionist, a mime, clowning, and psychic reading of palms until retiring in 1998. She's a member of the Healing Tao Instructors Association, HTIA, serving on the Board of Directors. Raven feels lucky to have found her most valued teacher in 1981; Master Mantak Chia. She runs the Healing Tao of Southern Florida.
Michael Winn is co-writer/editor of Master Mantak Chia's first seven books, best known as co-author of the revolutionary Taoist Secrets of Love: Cultivating Male Sexual Energy.
Juan Li began his studies of self-development practices in 1970, upon graduation from Brooklyn College, in New York. He received a degree in Ancient Chinese History, specializing on the influence of the I Ching on Chinese culture. In 1982 he met Taoist Master Mantak Chia in New York, with whom began a long period of collaboration in the editing and illustration of twelve books. In 1996 Juan Li, together with Jampa Mackenzie Stewart helped write and illustrate under the supervision of Master Mantak Chia, the book, The Inner Structure of Tai Chi. Since 1988 Juan Li has been teaching the complete Daoist system in 16 different countries of Europe and the Americas. The teachings are developed utilizing the guidance of the inner structure of the I Ching.
Minke de Vos is a Senior Universal Tao Instructor. She has worked and co-taught with Taoist Master Mantak Chia for over 25 years and is part of the core faculty of the Universal Healing Tao System. She is a certified Medical Qigong Practitioner by the International Institute of Medical Qigong. She has a BFA in creative dance and other fine arts from University of British Columbia.
Marie Favorito is founder and Director of the Boston Healing Tao. Marie is a Senior Instructor in the Universal Healing Tao founded by Master Mantak Chia. Marie has served on the Board of the the Healing Tao Instructors Association, (HTIA) for many years and is past President on the Executive Committee responsible for guiding the organization in its mission to promote chi kung healing practices and certify instructors in International Healing Tao techniques. Marie has over 28 years of teaching experience in the Tao that include many aspects of Chi Kung: Tai Chi Short Form, Tai Chi Long Form, Tai Chi Sword, numerous Chi Kung Forms and many levels of healing meditation. She runs the Boston Healing Tao Center in Boston, MA.
Renu Li is a Senior Instructor in The Universal Healing Tao system and teaches mainly in Europe. Renu has been involved with the Universal Healing Tao since 1985 and worked for many years translating and assisting Mantak Chia's workshops in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Renu has training as a physical therapist specializing in lymphatic drainage and body work (Chi Nei Tsang). She feels that one of the greatest challenges in contemporary Taoist practices is addressing the particular needs of women. Her joy in sharing the old Taoist teachings with women has grown in more then two decades into a very unique presentation, incorporating her personal experience as well as the experience and feed back of hundreds of her students. This line of work she calls YinTao - for women on the way.
Lois and Michael Posner are Universal Healing Tao Instructors in Long Island, New York. They met Master Chia back in the 80's and shared a house together where the first Instructor training happened. Together they run the Wholistic Wellness Center in Huntington, NY delivering quality chiropractic care and wellness services to the Huntington community since 1984.
Cathy Umphress is a healing Tao Instructor and was in the first Teacher Certification class Master Chia gave in Huntington, NY. She was Designer and Publishing Consultant for the early books entitled" 'Chi Self Massage' Taoist Way of Rejuvenation' and 'Iron Shirt Chi Kung' and 'Transform Stress into Vitality'. Catherine Umphress is an Acupuncturist or Acupuncture office in Concord, MA. Cathy offers services that often include facial renewal acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, Gua Sha, Zen Shiatsu, Chinese herbal formula, herbal medicine, smoking cessation and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
Robert Wall is a certified Tai Chi and Taoist meditation/chi kung instructor since 1994 by Grand Master Mantak Chia. He is a founding member of The Healing Tao Instructors Association and has been a professional member of the National QiGong Association. Rob is a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner and Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. He has published a qualitative study combining Tai Chi and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction with students in a Boston Public Middle School. His related publications also include a review of the Literature of teaching Tai Chi and mindfulness approaches to children. He is ordained by the venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in 2007 as a mindfulness teacher and mentor of the Plum Village Tradition, a western form of Buddhist/Humanist practice. He serves as a Buddhist Chaplain at Mass General Hospital.