“Tai Chi with Shao has helped me create a gauge for knowing my personality and what needs to be balanced in order to become the man I want to be. Practicing the Push Hands exercises, I get to see my personality through my movements and flow. If I am too aggressive I am ‘taken’ off balance. If I am too kind, I am ‘pushed aside’. If I am too eager or impatient I am ‘blind’ to mistakes. All these attributes play an important role in the way I do things in my life.

Spending lots  of time with Shao and practicing the Push Hands exercises has allowed me to see how my personality manifests in my everyday actions. It has brought me self-awareness to the thoughts and emotions that negatively affect my actions and allowed to work on what I need to balance in order to be effective in achieving my personal goals and becoming the person I one day hope to be.

In regards, to health, I had a lower back injury from weightlifting due to a slight crookedness in my spine. After taking Tai Chi for several months (once a week with Shao and practice at home), my long time lower back injury had fully healed. There was another time I had a very bad fever and I did not feel like attending class but I was glad I did because all my symptoms went away after class the same day I got the fever. Practicing the forms with correct postures make my body heat up and feel an interesting ‘sweat’ while other interesting ‘flowing’ sensations go on in my body at the same time.

Lastly, I love martial arts and the applications of the forms that Shao shows me for use in self-defense is incredibly practical, efficient, and effective. I look forward to the coming years when I have enough practice that the applications would become instinct for me.

Thank you Shao for being an amazing teacher!”

"Most people view Tai Chi as “simply” a low-impact health exercise – the Chuan (Fist) has been disappearing from both the name of the Art and the Art itself. Thanks to teachers like Shifu Chen, Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan continues to thrive in its more original form as a martial art, which with continuous practice will also reward its practitioners with tremendous benefits to health, reduced stress and a more balanced, centered approach to everyday life. I have been attending Shifu Chen's classes for over a year now. Shifu Chen passionately teaches Traditional  Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan through a well-structured study program in a very friendly supportive small class environment. His explanations are very detailed and clear, his instructions are also tailored to the needs and skill-level of the individual student. Highly recommended it to all wanting to learn and benefit from this ancient art!"

"Before joining Shao's Wu Style Tai Chi classes, I suffered from severe lifelong back problems (9 degenerated disks) that cause daily pain.  I also had recent surgery to repair my left rotator cuff.  When I just started the class, I had only 60% full range of motion in my left arm after 11 months (twice a week) of physiotherapy.  After 12 weeks of classes (I train about once a week with Shao), and I now have about 80% range of motion in my shoulder and my back pain has reduced by about 40%."

"I had never thought that Tai Chi would have such a large impact on my life, physically and mentally before I started doing it in 2013.  At the time of searching for a Tai Chi school, it was important to me that I had a good teacher that knew what they were talking about and also that the school wasn't run by someone who didn't care about the students. Let me start off by saying that Shao cares and respects everyone that comes into his school. He is very grounded and loves to teach. If you respect him, the martial art he holds very dear to himself, and the other students, only good things will come out of your experience doing Traditional Wu Style Tai Chi at his school.

Originally, I believed that Tai Chi was just slow movements and how to be at peace but it's MUCH more than that.

In the physical sense, Traditional Wu Style Tai Chi has helped me develop a stronger body because of the usage of stabilizer muscles and some large muscle groups (back and legs). My legs have become "trunks" which are "rooted" to the ground! Push-hands (similar to sticky-hands in Wing Chun) has made me more physically sensitive to my surroundings, other people, and more aware of body movement/language. And of course, with all of this, you learn movements you thought you would never do and ways of self-defense!

Mentally, it has taught me more patience (some believe I was patient to begin with, but now I'm really patient), discipline, and because of the stage I'm at, it has become a way of meditation and thus helps me think through and handle all of the hard-balls thrown at me in life!

There is so much to learn and understand, I can't fit it all in this testimonial. This isn't quite the Tai Chi you see in the mall or in the park (but we do sometimes go to the park and practice!)--it's way more intricate. You learn a lot of details and subtleties that you never thought existed with the movements and with that, it becomes an intense work-out physically and mentally.

If you're at a stage in your life where you're finding yourself, want to be more active, want to learn a new style of martial arts (Yes, it's a martial art!), or are wanting to become a better version of yourself, I highly suggest attending some Tai Chi classes with Shao and give it a shot!"

"I have been taking Wu tai chi private lessons from Mr. Chen for about 1 year, the main purpose of it was to alleviate my lower back pain, which was terrible and which regularly incapacited me for 3 weeks and this several times per year, since the lessons and my practicing of about 45 minutes per day, I did not have a single reoccurrence of it, I believe that the slow stretching movements are the reason for it, a lot of the stretching is in the pelvis area and I could feel the stretch (the feeling has almost completely disappeared as I  am lot more flexible, but I still have a long way to go- I get small twitch from time to time but are rare), I have tried yoga but it is not for me and twice in the last 30 years I have tried other group tai chi, one at the community centre in Ajax and once in a fitness center, I  gave up each time because of either a lack of correcting feedback or no timely feedback and you not aware that you are doing something detrimental to your body.

I gladly recommend Mr. Chen, he is a patient and thorough teacher, his studies came from original Chinese teachers in China and not from intermediate teachers where the improvement subtleties of Tai Chi are lost."

 "Before I started learning Tai Chi, I suffered from stress related illness such as dizziness, trebling, fatigue, low energy level, etc.  I was treated by Master Chen's mom Dr. Yan with acupuncture, it stabilized my condition.  She recommended me to learn Tai Chi to improve my health.  I took her advice.  I also took my 2 kids along to learn Tai Chi.  My kids and I have been learning Wu Style Tai Chi from Master Shao Xian Chen for more than a year now.  My dizziness and trebling are gone, I have more energy to do the things that I like.  Tai Chi is not only a health improving exercise, it is also a form of martial art.  My kids are particularly enjoying the application of the forms they learnt in self-defense. It is an exercise any age can learn because of its gentle movement.  I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their health or interest in learning martial art." 

"Thanks for enabling me to continue my journey...­ "

"Mr. Chen is my personal trainer for self defense techniques.  He had been my trainer for more than 2 years. His techniques are gentle but surprisingly effective...­ "

"I was referred to Master Shao Xian Chen while looking for a Tai Chi Instructor to assist me with chronic back problems that I had faced for years.  He instructed me for about 2 years before he moved to Ontario, and we remained good friends after that.  During my training I found him to be soft spoken, very courteous, patient and caring.  His passion and dedication to practicing the traditional style  demonstrated his values..."