Instructors – Brookline Tai Chi

Don Ethan Miller, Executive Director

Don Ethan Miller is one of America’s most experienced and respected master-instructors of Tai Chi and Chinese gongfu. Don has studied and taught martial arts and other methods of healing and self-development for over forty years. He has trained in Yang Style Tai Chi, Yiquan, Kuntao-Silat, Ermei Qigong, Judo, TaeKwonDo, Jeet Kune Do, Combat Grappling, and many other arts, with some of the greatest masters in the US and China: T.T.Liang, William Chen, Chern Chyu-Kuan, Fu Wei Zhong, Duan Zhiliang, Willem De Thouars, Koichi Tohei, Dan Inosanto, Yang Fukui, and Tao Ping-Siang.

Don was 4-time US Champion in Tai Chi Tuishou (“Pushing Hands”) Sparring competition, and was coach/trainer of several other champions. He is the lineage holder in MohDar Kuntao, the internal component of the Kuntao Silat De Thouars system, a Chinese/ Indonesian, internal/external method of combat and self-cultivation.

He has produced more than a dozen instructional DVDs, including: The Twenty Minute Tai Chi Workout and two acclaimed 4-part DVD series, Cheng Man Ching: The Master Tapes, and Willem De Thouars: The Master Tapes. He is the creator of The Tai Chi Way To Better Balance, a uniquely effective program for regaining and improving balance–available in book form, DVD, and e-book.

Don has taught thousands of students in the US and Canada, and is known for his innovative, hands-on teaching methods and his unique ability to make authentic traditional Asian arts accessible to Americans. He is also a prizewinning poet, journalist, and screenwriter; and a cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College.

Alan Dougall

Alan started in the martial arts when he was in college. After ten years he was looking for more, so he started in a system that combined the principles of tai chi with the two other internal styles. Starting in 1980 he spent a few years learning the Yang style with T. T. Liang. In 1988 he found out about Bruce Frantzis, who had spent many years in Japan and China studying martial arts, chi gung, and meditation. Alan took workshops and retreats with Bruce for over twenty years, and became a Senior Instructor in Bruce’s Energy Ats system. Alan has been teaching at Brookline Tai Chi since it opened in 1992.

Steven Cardoza, M.Sc., L.Ac.

Steven Cardoza has worked in the alternative health field since 1985. He earned his Master of Science degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from The American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1994, is nationally certified and a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist in both Massachusetts and California. He has also taught qigong, taiji, and related practices for 30 years. Currently on the faculty of Brookline Tai Chi, his weekly classes have included Wu Taiji Short Form, Opening The Energy Gates Qigong, Dragon & Tiger Qigong, The Marriage of Heaven and Earth Qigong, Gods Playing In The Clouds Qigong, and Chinese Healing Exercises, in addition to weekend workshops on various topics.

He is the author of the books Chinese Healing Exercises, A Personalized Practice for Health and Longevity (with companion DVD), 2013, and Chinese Holistic Medicine in Your Daily Life, 2017, both published by Llewellyn Publications. He has published articles in trade magazines and has been a featured guest on numerous radio and TV interviews.

Allen Bourque

Allen began studying Yang style tai chi in 1982 with Joshua Grant. He was attracted both to the study itself and the immediate increase in overall aliveness in his life and has continued since. He studied extensively with Bruce Frantzis and, since 2003, with Don Ethan Miller. Other important teachers have been Ha Fong, Zhiliang Duan, Robert Tangora and Peter Wayne. In 2007 he suffered a life threatening illness. Since then tai chi has been his primary commitment to enhancing his health and well-being while aging. He loves the training methods, push hands, and is especially interested in the spiritual and meditative aspects of the art. Allen has been teaching since 2010.

Ruth Schechter

Ruth is a musician who came to tai chi by way of the Alexander Technique. She began studying at BTC soon after it appeared in Washington Square, in 1993, and has been at BTC ever since. In addition to teaching the Healthy Aging classes, Ruth teaches early childhood music classes and tai chi in several senior residences. She is also currently in two training programs, one with Peter Wayne (Tree of Life Tai Chi) and one with Bill Ryan (chi gung tui na).

Roy Moy

Roy started learning Tai Chi at the Chinese Wushu Research Institute with Bow Sim Mark. In 1984, he traveled to China with her to participate in the 1st International Tai Chi Exchange/Demonstration Meeting in Wuhan. Students and teachers from around the world gathered together to demonstrate and exchange knowledge with some of the great Masters in China. In 1989, he meet Bruce Frantzis. Practicing many years through the 1990’s in Bruce’s workshops and instructor trainings, Roy became certified to teach many aspects of the Energy Arts 16 part nei-gung system. From 1999 and presently, he began to learn Hong Junsheng’s Chen Style Taiji Quan from Shifu Stan Tabor, a disciple of Grandmaster Liu Chengde from Jinan City, Shandong Province, China. In the mid 2000’s Roy had the good fortune to meet and learn directly from Master Liu, several times in Canada and in the U.S. In 2011, he traveled to China to train with Master Liu, his son Liu Guanglin, and senior students, immersing himself in this particular system of Taiji Quan.