Presenters (Anticipated for 2026)

Richard Clear

Sigung Richard Clear is a third generation lineage holder in Tai Chi Chuan from Lee Ying Arng (an indoor student of the Yang family).  

Sigung Clear has studied directly in the US and China with such famous masters as Ma Yeuh Liang, Wen Mei Yu, Dr Fred Wu, Liu Ji Fa, Ju Bong Yi, Pei Xi Rong, Willem de Thouars and Don Ethan Miller among others. 

Master Clear began teaching in 1985 and has over 40 years of continuous study in tai chi (tai ji), qigong (chi kung) & internal martial arts.  He has produced several international Tai Chi tournament champions in forms and push hands.

Master Clear has produced videos and books to help people all over the world learn in-person as well as online. He is also an adept practitioner of Internal Iron Body / Palm skills and related martial arts, healing and qigong practices.

Sheila Bell

Sheila spent her formative years swimming, dancing ballet, and playing soccer in North Dallas and Richardson, Texas. After injuries and illness, she turned to yoga and weightlifting. After more injury and illness, she finally discovered Qigong and traditional Chinese medicine and began to understand much more about how to stay healthy! After 15 years of practicing Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan, her acupuncturist suggested she teach others to spread the benefits of Tai Chi far and wide.

Sheila found Sigung Richard Clear in 2015 and began training in the Clear Tai Chi system. Since that time she has transitioned all her classes to Clear's methods and regularly uses the Clear Fa Kung / Qigong method to support her private healing sessions. To this day, Sheila remains an avid student of Tai Chi and is passionate about sharing true, functional methods with people of all ages and fitness levels. Sheila's personal journey has taught her many methods by which people can change small habits that make big life differences, and to live their best life. Sheila is also skilled in the use of aromatherapy in TCM and is highly attuned to the effects of emotion and energy on the physical body.

Sheila studied Marine Biology at Texas A&M Galveston. She taught high school science classes for 15 years. She has lived in Costa Rica for 30 years with her family where they operate a cacao farm and have a chocolate shop. The chocolate farm has a platform in a wooded area between two volcanoes, which is a perfect spot for a little after-hours Clear Tai Chi! 

Sheila is the Clear Tai Chi Regional Organizer for the Playas and Liberia in Costa Rica.

Jim Kanter

Jim practiced Tai Chi for years before he discovered CLEAR Tai Chi in 2019 (when he accidentally signed up for the wrong workshop).

Fortunately, Jim decided to give it a shot, and he has been completely dedicated to Clear Tai Chi ever since.

Since then, Jim has been an avid student, teacher, and advocate of Clear Tai Chi. He is now the Clear Tai Chi Regional Organizer for the area near Las Catalinas in Costa Rica.


Art Donn

Art has a well-rounded background in Chinese martial arts including the internal styles of Tai Chi, Hsing-i and Bagua. He also has knowledge of and experience with some Shaolin styles, White Crane and Praying Mantis, among others. 

Art had been practicing the internal art forms, working with a number of people, until 2017. At that time, he met Sifu Richard Clear and concentrated more on Tai Chi, also learning Internal Push-hands and Healing Arts from Sifu Clear. With that knowledge and training Art’s Tai Chi gained much substance and power. 

Art is the Clear Tai Chi Regional Organizer for the Washington, D.C. area.

Chris Walsh

Chris began his martial arts journey in 2001, undergoing rigorous training in the Body Mind Studios system. His studies covered a vast array of arts, including Kung Fu, Kong Su Do, Udo, Tai Chi, Baguazhang, Kom Do, Ship Pal Gye, and Aikido/Hapkido. He attained a second-degree Black Belt and was honored with the title of Maine Instructor for the organization.

Upon moving to Maine, Chris sought a system that prioritized internal depth and functional power. Through his connection with Harry Legg, he was introduced to Sigung Richard Clear and began his dedicated study of Clear Style Tai Chi Chuan.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Chris also brings the discipline of a 26-year career in the Human Capital Management and Payroll service industry. After retiring from his corporate role as a Client Services Supervisor, he transitioned to his true passion: teaching Tai Chi full-time. He now applies his decades of leadership and instructional experience to helping students in and around Augusta, Maine to discover the health and self-defense benefits of Internal Martial Arts.

Chris is the Founder and Chief Instructor of Maine Tai Chi. He is the Regional Organizer for Clear Tai Chi in Maine.

Harry Legg

There’s a good chance you have heard Harry – he has voiced for NBC Sports and is heard on Radio & TV stations around the world. He is rated among the Top 10 voice-over artists in North America. He is the founder of New Jersey Tai Chi and teaches tai chi chuan, qigong, push hands, and self-defense at his private Verona, NJ studio just outside of New York City. Harry is also an advanced Fa Kung healing practitioner.

Harry’s experience also includes a black belt ranking in the Body Mind Studios training system, with training in kung fu, tai chi, baguazhang, ship pal gye, kong su do, aikido/hapkido, udo, kom do and more. Harry’s awards include 1st Place for tai chi form in the 2018 KToC Nationals Tournament. 

Harry is the NY/NJ Regional Organizer for Master Richard Clear.

Jared Voelker

Jared was born and raised in Morton, IL and began studying Chinese and Indonesian martial arts around the age of 18. He was fascinated by the internal aspects of these arts and the breadth of material covered by them.

After meeting Master Richard Clear at a seminar in 2011, he began studying long distance from him and attending seminars in TN. After finishing his master’s program for school counseling, he and his wife decided to move to Knoxville to live and continue studying with Richard Clear.

The journey of studying Tai Chi under Sifu Clear has been a tremendously rewarding experience. He  have always wanted to share the journey of Tai Chi with others who also find it fascinating, and that has been his primary motivation in wanting to teach the art. 

Matt Holker (and
Sigung Richard Clear)

Matt first got involved in the Martial Arts in 1985, when he was 5 years old, after watching The Karate Kid (a fact he unashamedly admits). Finally drawn to the effortless power of Tai Chi, he spent nearly 20 years searching for a teacher willing to share the Internal aspects of the Art.

Matt first met Richard Clear in May of 2015. By August 2015 he had moved to Maryville to train personally with the Master. Today, Matt is most often seen in public acting as one of Sigung Clear's "training dummies." Matt is also the Regional Organizer for the Maryville area in Tennessee, and the first contact for many Clear Tai Chi students worldwide. 

EVENTS

In Tai Chi -Pushing Hands is NOT The Goal (So What Is?) 
   -JARED VOELKER

The goal in push hands is to move the opponent and not be moved yourself, right?

Wrong. 

The goal of push hands is internal development for combat and healing.  

The only way to reach the "real goal" is to prioritize and commit to listening while you play. Push hands is a means to an end, not the end itself. So how can you start making your push hands work for you instead of the other way around? 

This seminar will take you through how to approach the game of push hands so you can get the most out of it! Through this seminar you will:

  • ​Develop effortless power through increased awareness
  • ​Begin to see fast things in slow motion (frame rate of perception)
  • ​Build a calm, steady, powerful mind
  • ​Identify and release mental tension and fear
  • ​Heal aching muscles & joints
  • ​Enjoy the process!

Rooting Power and How to Train It  
   -FORREST OBNAMIA

Have you ever wondered how to become more rooted while practicing your Tai Chi? 

Learn about the power of rooting with Sifu Forrest! 

Explore ways to develop your root deeper and deeper into the earth by yourself and with a partner. Get grounded in this workshop as we explore together how to work this foundational quality throughout your body, energy and mind. 

Take away easy-to-implement exercises that will help you continue to strengthen your practice long after the weekend and throughout your Tai Chi journey.

Unbending Jin 
   -DANIEL STRINGER

Learn unbending Jin. Discover the quality of unbending arm that leads to unyielding body. Put power in your form by utilizing unbending jin through your internal structure. Learn how unbending jin enables the moves of the form to capture your opponents structure and unbalance them with minimal effort.

Ting Jin & Awareness in Yourself and Others

 With FORREST OBNAMIA

(DESCRIPTION COMING SOON)

Using Sonar to Develop Ting Jin 
   -GREG KNOLLMEYER

Learn how to develop sensitivity by bouncing subtle energies into your opponent and seeing how you and they respond. We will start with gross mechanics and end up very subtle. 

It will culminate with simply noticing how internal changes in yourself show you different information in yourself and your opponent.

Waving Goodbye to The Double Weighted Error (and Your Partner)

 With GREG KNOLLMEYER

We’ll develop wave in both solo practice and applying it in push hands. We’ll work toward perpetuating the wave through every joint and passing it seamlessly onto your opponent. 

Exercises in proper receiving of an incoming wave will make obvious and help fix the double weighted error.

Forward Stance / Fixed Step Push Hands 
   -HARRY LEGG

While there are many ways to practice Push Hands, fixed-step, forward stance is mostly the default type of play you’ll find at Push Hands Meetups and in many tournaments. 
You’ll learn the basics of Forward Stance / Fixed Step Push Hands and  will then be able to use your Clear’s Internal Push Hands skills in the forward stance method and how to troubleshoot common errors such as using too much force / external type of play that frequently happens among many forward stance Tai Chi Push Hands players. 

We’ll also go over Tournament basics for forward stance/fixed step Push Hands.

The Power of Breath

 With HARRY LEGG

In this workshop you’ll learn how to put your mind in every part of your body and breathe through it. If you already know how to do this, you’ll learn how to convey this concept to other practitioners and we’ll use Master Clear’s Internal Push Hands to gauge your breath – this will increase your ting jin (listening energy). 

  • ​Feel how whole body breathing helps to loosen your body and any tight joints you may have.
  • ​Learn breath techniques for relieving pain in yourself and in others.
  • ​Discover how this breathing gives you even more martial power.

Chi Kung for Tai Chi Practitioners 
   -ART DONN

This session will involve Walking Meditation, the Yi Jin Jing and Five Organ Strengthing Exercises. If time permits, Tai Chi Ruler and Tiger Playing With Ball will also be introduced. 

These chi kung methods are useful for Tai Chi practitioners at all levels of skill.

Intro to Silk Reeling, Dan Tian Rotation & Applications 
   -CHRIS BURNETT

Silk reeling exercises are a set of movements used by Chen Style Taiji practitioners to build a body that is relaxed, connected and able to emit power from the ground and out to the extremities. These movements use spiraling through the limbs and rotation of the body’s center, known as the lower Dan Tian. 

This set was developed by my teacher Sifu Tony Wong which uses movements he learned from the late Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang and the representative of Chen style Taijiquan, Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang. 

In an introduction to silk reeling we will take a look at some of these exercises and 
explore why they are great for the major joints of the body and how they can
be applied in push hands and martial application.

Clear's Internal Push Hands for Power... and MOBILITY!

 With JARED VOELKER

Having trouble getting your internal power gains to cross over from push hands to sparring? 

That means that you're probably playing push hands while double weighted, and a big cause of being double weighted in push hands is bad Zhong Ding. During this seminar, we'll talk about common ways people use small leans to stabilize during push hands, the combat and health problems associated with it, and how to fix it. 

Fixing this common error will help put you on the road to soft, effortless power that can also MOVE.

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