Since 1988 Dr. David Walls-Kaufman has been a student of Ben Lo, senior student of Prof. Cheng Man-ch'ing.
Walls-Kaufman won and competed in numerous international Tai Chi competitions. He runs Capitol Hill Chiropractic Center, recognized by Craig's List as one of the Top 10 chiropractic offices in the DC area. He maintains that chiropractic posture correction and Tai Chi both deliver key components to human health.
Tai Chi Lineage — My Teachers
Walls-Kaufman is a senior student of Ben Lo, world renowned senior student of Prof. Cheng, with an estimated 250,000 students of Cheng’s form worldwide. This school of Tai Chi is a very exact teaching rooted in the Tai Chi Classics, a form recognized for its authentic reflection of Tai Chi’s essential principles. The system has given rise to many of the world’s top authorities in Tai Chi over the last 100 years.
Ben Lo. (1927-2018) - My teacher. To whom so much is owed. Study with him was a time capsule, a glimpse of China as it was, and into the immeasurable humanity of Prof. Cheng Man-ch’ing.
Robert W. Smith - My first teacher. First scholar in Chinese internal martial arts and author of numerous invaluable books, articles that every serious Tai Chi student must read. Cheng's first American student in 1959.
Prof. Cheng Man-ch'ing (1902-1975) - Master of Five Excellences. Exemplar of Chinese culture. Robert Smith called him, "The most effeminate man I ever met, but the toughest." As a teen, I went four times to his NYC school, including the Sunday he left for the last time. [See “Hall of Happiness” by Walls-Kaufman here]
Yang Cheng-fu (1886-1935) - Cheng’s teacher, taught the Palace Guard in the Forbidden City.
Yang Chien-hou - Son of Yang Lu-chan, who founded Yang family Tai Chi in the 1700s, the style most contemporary Tai Chi is based upon.