On the Teaching of Bruce Frantzis

A short note on the approach to the internal arts associated with the teacher and author Bruce Frantzis, widely read in the European Tai Chi community.

Bruce Frantzis is an American teacher and author known for presenting the Chinese internal arts — Tai Chi, Bagua, Xingyi and Taoist Qigong — to Western students in a systematic way. His books on the subject have introduced many European practitioners to ideas such as dissolving tension, opening the joints, and working methodically with the body's energy.

Themes that recur in his work

• Whole-body connection. Movement understood as one coordinated system rather than isolated limbs.
• The "water" method. Releasing and dissolving blockages rather than building tension.
• Foundations first. Standing and breathing practice before complex forms.

Readers new to these ideas often find it helpful to pair them with the fundamentals on our basics page and the overview of Taoist energy practice.