Jinci Park, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province |
Horacio Lopez, a Social Worker from Argentina, has been learning Tai Chi Chuan since 1975. An early passion to understand movement and perception, and how they related to awareness, thought, attention, consciousness and insight, led Mr. Lopez to travel the world learning from some of the most important spiritual teachers of our time. These teachers include: Luba Gurdjieff (niece of G.I. Gurdjieff), Moshe Feldenkrais (Awareness through Movement), David Bohm (Theoretical Physicist and philosopher of science), Jidu Krishnamurti (teacher, philosopher), and Osho Rajneesh (spiritual teacher). |
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Before meeting Master Yang Zhenduo, Mr. Lopez studied several styles of Tai Chi Chuan with some of the most prominent teachers in the USA: Masters William C.C. Chen, Kuo Lien Ying and Kumar Frantzis. At the same time Mr. Lopez learned techniques from different related systems of BodyMind and energy development including Chi kung, Taoist and Buddhist meditation, Kundalini, Sufi drumming and whirling techniques, Bioenergetics and Reichian body-work; in China, Thailand, India, Mexico, Jamaica and England. |
Horacio Lopez and Traditional Yang Family Style Tai Chi ChuanIn 1990 Mr. Lopez met Master Yang Zhenduo, from the People's Republic of China, the fourth generation descendant of the Yang Family, and became a full time student and later teacher of the invaluable tradition of the Yang Family. Today, Mr. Lopez is one of only a few westerners certified in the P.R. of China to teach "Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan" by the 4th Generation descendant of the Yang Family, Master Yang Zhenduo. Mr. Lopez has studied intensively in China in several oportunities. Mr. Lopez has won several regional competitions in the USA (Yang and Wu Style, Push hands, sword and saber forms), an he was ranked second nationally in the Yang Style Advanced Division in 1994, according to Inside Kung Fu Magazine's March 1995 Official Top Ten Rankings of U.S. Chinese Martial Arts, after the Sept.3-5/94, Orlando, Florida competition organized by the USA Wushu Kungfu Federation. |
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In September 1995, Mr. Lopez traveled to the People's Republic of China with ten of his students to represent the USA Tai Chi Chuan practitioners of Yang Style at the "Third Yongnian International Tai Chi Chuan Gathering" in Handan, Hebei Province, where Mr. Lopez and his students won First Place (among 40 nations) in two disciplines: the group performances of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan - empty hand form, and for performance of Yang Style Tai Chi Saber Form. In recognition of the quality of Mr. Lopez' teachings and the excellence of his students' performance at this prestigious Tai Chi Chuan Gathering, the Yang Family authorized the creation of the Yang Chengfu Tai Chi Chuan Center - USA, the first center of its kind outside of China. The Center is dedicated to the preservation and proper transmission of the traditional teachings of the Yang Family.
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In July 1997 Mr. Lopez and some of his students traveled to Taiyuan, Shanxi
Province, P.R.China to participate in the 15th. Anniversary Celebration of the forming of the Shanxi Province Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association. They participated in an International competition of only traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan with representatives of all
of Mainland China, Southeast Asia, South America and Europe.
Mr. Lopez was awarded 2nd place in empty hand form and 4th place overall (3 events: empty hand, sword, saber) among 350 competitors. He is the first Westerner from any country to have reached this level of achievement among Yang Family Style practitioners. picture: after receiving awards for his Second Place in the Empty Hand Form competition. |
In October 1996 Horacio Lopez placed First in five events of the Advance Division at the USA Wushu - Kung Fu Federation Regional Tournament (Consisting of practitioners from Texas, New Mexico,Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana). The gold medals were awarded for his performances in:
In July 1996 Mr. Lopez hosted the First (in San Antonio) Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Summer 1996 Seminars, taught by the Yang Family at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio.
In August 1997 Master Yang Zhenduo visited and taught for the second time in San Antonio a seven day seminar attended by students from all over the USA, Canada & Bahamas.
BodyMind Centered Therapies
In addition to being the Director of the Texas Branch of the Yang Chengfu Tai Chi Chuan Center - USA (an international organization), Mr. Lopez also is the Director of the BodyMind Centered Therapies, a San Antonio based Center for Healing and Learning; and the Director of the San Antonio Chinese Martial Arts Association, an Association created by Mr. Lopez and his good friends and colleagues Salvador de la Rosa (Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan) and Gilbert Leal (Wing chung, Shaolin) in order to help preserve in San Antonio, Tx, the Traditional ways of training they received from their teachers.
Mr. Lopez is a certified and registered Massage Therapist, having graduated from the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics in 1985, specializing in Craneo-Sacral Therapy. He is also an active member of the International Association of Health care Practitioners. He has taught classes in San Antonio regularly throughout the year since 1979.
In 1988 the BodyMind Centered Therapies will celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of its relocation to his Studio at the Blue Star Art Space (where he has located since 1988).
Click here to email Mr. Lopez at: lopez@sataichi.com