PEARLS OF WISDOM
Tao Congress 2010
RENE NAVARRO
Rene Navarro
Healing Tao Instructor of the Year 1989
RENE J. NAVARRO, Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM) is an acupuncturist, herbalist, martial artist, healer, published writer and poet. He belongs to that rare breed of healers who are also artists and warriors.
One of the early senior instructors of the Healing Tao and Chi Nei Tsang, he edited “Greatest Enlightenment of Kan and Li" and "Sealing of the Five Senses," manuals in high Taoist spiritual practice of internal alchemy, "Chi Nei Tsang Internal Organs Chi Massage," the master guide on abdominal manipulation, and "Dao-In," the book on meridian activation and muscle stretching .
His training in Chinese arts started 45 years ago with Dragon-Tiger Shaolin Kung-Fu as a closed-door disciple of Master Johnny Chiuten and the legendary Grandmaster Lao Kim of the Philippines, studying such rare Buddhist forms as: Cross Fist, Plum Blossom Fist, Dragon Fist, Offering Fist, Kang Li Kun, Fairy Child Praying to the Goddess of Mercy Kuanyin, Dragon Tiger Fist, Flower Broadsword, Flower Staff, Spear, Sword, and Hoe.
In 1989 he was chosen Healing Tao Instructor of the Year. Although he has also studied Pa-Kua Chuan and Hsing-I Chuan, two of the 3 Wudang systems, Rene has focused on the study of the curriculum of Classical Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan, including Solo Form (108), Dao (2 sets), Jian (2 sets), Staff-Spear, 2-Man Sparring Set, Tai chi chuan Chang Chuan, Fast Tai chi, and Push hands under Masters Gin Soon Chu (second disciple of Yang Sau-Cheung) and Vincent Chu, lineage teachers of the system.
Among the teachers he has studied with are: Kiiko Matsumoto (Japanese acupuncture); Mantak Chia (Healing Tao, Kan and Li internal alchemy and CNT); Yao Zang (herbology); Taoist priest Jeffrey Yuen (Chinese medical classics and healing); Wang Ting Jun (Xing Shen Zhuang Fa); Lao Cang Wen (qiqong); and Thunder Path and Longmenpai lineage disciple David Verdesi (Chinese qigong and Lei Shan Dao).
He attended the International Conference on Daoism and Ecology at Harvard University as a participant in the Roundtable Discussion as a Daoist practitioner. (Cf. “Daoism and Ecology” edited by Norman Girardot, et al.) His poetry and essays have been published in anthologies and journals in the US, Europe and Asia. He has written two books of poetry: “Du-Fu’s Cottage and Other Poems” and “Ascension and Return: Poetry of a Village Taoist.”
He is featured in "Masters of Arnis, Kali and Escrima" by Edgar Sulite (Socorro Publications: 1994), a book on Philippine stickfighting. Rene holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, a Bachelor of Law, a diploma in acupuncture and a certificate in classical Chinese herbs. In an earlier incarnation, he worked as a lawyer for indigent clients. He has taught in four continents.
"Rene J. Navarro is an amazingly powerful, gentle and magical being" Student
Buddhist and Taoist Chi Kung
Two Techniques from 2 Traditions: "Twin Dragons Chasing the Pearl" (Shaolin Angka) and "Play the Lute" (Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan)
Although the Universal Tao practices are clearly from the Taoist lineage, other spiritual paths also developed movement traditions.
During this seminar, we will share, compare and contrast two movements from 2 different traditions, one Buddhist, the other Taoist. The movements come from forms I learned from Sifu Lao Kim, the patriarch of Manila's Chinatown in the 60s and 70s and Sifu Gin Soon Chu in Boston, the second disciple of Grandmaster Yang Sau-Chaung of Hong Kong. We will practice footwork and movement patterns and inquire into the popular notion that Buddhist and Taoist martial arts are different and entirely opposed, i.e., the former is “external” and “hard” while the latter is “internal” and “soft".
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