Featured Author: Marisa Cranfill

Marisa Cranfill is the founder of YOQI yoga + qigong. Frequent trips to Asia as a child inspired Marisa to study academically and work there for over 15 years. While living in China and Thailand she received direct transmission from Qigong masters, nuns and healers in both the Buddhist and Taoist traditions. Marisa developed YOQI over years of teaching Yoga and Qigong at meditation retreats. She found that both practices contained key principles and techniques that enhanced the student’s stamina and sensitivity to energy during the long seated meditation sessions. The routines reduced physical pain and gave them more focus and quality of awareness. This became the catalyst to extract a clear and effective program of mindful movement, accessible to everyone, that maintains the integrity of the ancient Yoga and Qigong traditions.

In Memoriam: Grandmaster Kao Tao (高濤) 1932 - 2024

Grandmaster Kao Tao (高濤) was the first tai chi teacher of Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming in Taiwan, starting in 1962. His tai chi lineage can be traced back through Yang, Cheng-Fu to Yang, Lu-Chan. Grandmaster Kao lived in Taiwan. He was born July 7th, 1932, and studied Taijiquan as a youth for his health, after a promise to his mother to avoid the martial arts to keep him safe in dangerous times. For more than sixty years, he practiced and taught Yang-style Taijiquan, achieving a high level and enlightening others. Taijiquan was his constant companion. In 2009, students recommended that he participate in the World Cup Taijiquan Championship, resulting in an unexpected reunion with his long-lost student, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming. Master Kao then visited with Dr. Yang in California to help teach the students there lessons in taiji, qigong, philosophy, Chinese language, culture, and literature. Master Kao also visited other YMAA schools around the world, sharing his knowledge and high spirit. Sadly, Grandmaster Kao passed away at age 92 on January 11, 2024, a couple months after Dr. Yang had visited him in Taiwan, from pneumonia and a heart attack after a Covid-19 infection.