Ian Sinclair

• 30 years experience
• certified, professional, full-time instructor/coach
• Student of many of the world’s top masters
• Consultant and performer for film and TV
• Winner of more than 30 international medals, trophies and awards, including 9 Open World Championships
• Teacher of champions
• Vice President of the Canadian Taijiquan Federation

In 1979, Ian Sinclair began his training in Taijiquan (Tai Chi), Qigong, and Chinese martial arts. His devotion to these arts has increased over the years, motivated by great teachers and the benefits that these arts offer the people who learn them.

Ian owes the bulk of his understanding to the generous instruction he has received from the world famous Grandmaster, Shouyu Liang. He is also very grateful to years of masterful instruction from Sam Masich, one of North America’s most well known and respected teachers.

Ian’s training has focused on Taijiquan (Tai Chi) and other Neijia wushu styles such as Xingyiquan and Baguazhang, esoteric qigong, and oriental healing methods.But he has also studied other martial and healing arts of China, Japan, Tibet, Korea, Philippines, India, Africa, South America, Canada, and Europe - taking every opportunity to learn from anyone willing to share. This openness enabled him to learn from many famous teachers.

Since the late 1980’s Ian has taught private and group lessons, led seminars, and worked as a consultant and performer for film, TV and stage.

Several of Ian’s students have proven themselves as successful competitors and teachers.

Now living and teaching in Orillia, Ian has dedicated himself to making the world a better place and improving lives by offering quality instruction for body, mind and spirit. He remains committed to promoting taijiquan as a healing exercise and a martial art.

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Ian Sinclair became interested in Taijiquan as a 13-year-old reading a book called “Moving Zen.” This autobiographical account of a Canadian wildlife botanist named C.W. Nicol studying Karate in Japan sparked the realization that there was more to martial arts than loud noises and bad movies. At one point in this book the author recounts his meeting with a Taijiquan master named Wang Shu Jin. This anecdote inspired Ian to immediately resolve to find a teacher of this strange art. Fate stepped in the very next day when he overheard his mother talking to a friend at church about local classes in taijiquan. Ian began taking classes with teacher Baldwin Yang that month, and has never looked back since.

Since those first classes at a local Orilia high school, Ian has gone to considerable lengths to continue his training. When Mr. Yang was not teaching in Orillia Ian would find whatever information he could from books, and magazines, practising what he had learned and trying to teach himself whenever possible. He persevered in spite of strange looks from family and ridicule from peers.

When he acquired his driver’s license, his parents allowed him drive the family vehicle 2 hours each Saturday so he could attend classes in another city.
After high school he continued his academic education and his taijiquan training in Toronto, where he studied with Paul McCaughey and others.

In 1989, following the recommendations of several top instructors, he moved to Vancouver to study with Grandmaster Shouyu Liang and Sam Masich. He also learned from Masters Tchoung Ta Tchen, Raymond Y.M. Chung, and others.

Over the years Ian has studied with many of the World’s top masters, won several international championships, and worked as a martial arts consultant and performer for film, TV, and stage.

Ian’s training has included not only Taijiquan and Neijia wushu styles such as Xingyiquan and Baguazhang. But also several other martial arts, esoteric qigong, and oriental healing methods.

Ian’s students have proven themselves as successful competitors and as teachers.

Now living and teaching in Orillia, Ian has dedicated himself to making the world a better place by offering quality instruction for body, mind and spirit. He remains committed to promoting taijiquan as a healing art and a martial art.

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become."

It is said that change is the only great constant in the Universe. Another great constant is the potential for people to adapt and change in order to find peace and balance in that ever-changing world. Helping people to seek that peace and balance is the primary goal of what we teach. In doing so we offer a number of different classes - in both private and group lesson formats - that include traditional martial arts, natural oriental healing methods, and ancient meditation practices.

Martial arts, spiritual practices, and traditional healing arts have long been considered part of the same discipline, and not for the reasons that many people may assume.

It is not, as one might think, simply that martial artists were once soldiers prone to injury and death, and therefore in need of medical repair and spiritual encouragement. For such soldiers often were often poor conscripts who had never spent any significant time immersed in spiritual disciplines or the sophisticated martial arts. The fighting skills of soldiers were typically learned in a “boot camp” setting and were nothing like the subtle and profound skills of a martial artist for whom martial, spiritual and healing arts were a way of life.

The truly advanced martial artists were often healers, monks, nuns, farmers, scholars, and aristocrats for whom martial/healing/spiritual arts were arts like music and literature, and a means of finding inner peace, security, fulfilment, and enlightenment. They were also methods for manifesting compassion for all beings. Martial arts and healing arts, from the basic methods to the advanced esoteric transmissions, offer a means for individuals to profoundly affect their own understanding of their world and the kind of difference they can make in the lives of others.

The world is, in many ways, very different from the way it was 3 000 - 5 000 years ago, when these ancient arts were first recorded. And yet, people are very much the same. We all still have the same basic instincts and desires. We are still affected by most of the same internal and external forces.

My own experience since first learning tai chi in 1979, has led me to believe strongly in the capacity for Tai Chi, Qigong, and traditional Martial Arts to greatly empower individuals to deal with change and to thrive. I truly believe that the arts have the ability to change the world and individuals for the better.

It is my sincere hope and intent that whatever happens in my classes will be motivated by compassion, wisdom, and respect for all people. I want my work here to inspire insight, wisdom, compassion, joy, and peace. This is my effort to make the world an even better place and to become a better person myself.

Our lives are short enough. In the greater scheme of things, a human life span does not even register in the vast expanse of time. Yet the effect of a single simple act in a simple life can have profound and far reaching consequences in the world. These arts strive to make our short lives a little longer. But more importantly they empower us to be the best we can, and motivate us to do the best that we can do. They nurture us and challenge us. They keep us always moving forward and upward.

When we are gone we might not be remembered. But we hope that our actions can have a positive effect on the community and the world that we will leave behind. Teaching tai chi and martial arts is one of my ways of striving to do just that.
- Ian Sinclair

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The Yijing (an ancient classic text of Chinese philosophy which I do not presume to understand) describes the nature of change and the various states that can exist in the Universe. Like a modern physics text, it can be particularly difficult to understand. It is so much so that only those who are willing to spend a lifetime delving into the deeper questions can hope to grasp its profound meaning.


To many of those who cannot devote such time and effort it often becomes little more than a tool for fortune telling. People throw coins or yarrow stalks like dice and hope that the book will tell them their future. They ask “yes or no” questions and interpret the “answers” in whatever way that suits them.

Both types of people may believe that they find value in using the book.

But those who study its deeper meaning may find a powerful tool for understanding the Universe and their place in it. Such people have little need of fortune telling. They are more interested in seeing the nature of things as they are, and using the ancient wisdom to expand their own awareness so they can behave appropriately in their daily lives.

Such people are rare. When they speak, I try to listen. I do not always heed or understand their advice. But I do try to listen.

Hexagram 27 of the Yijing describes an auspicious state in which one seeks to nourish oneself following the examples of the wise.

Taking advice can be tricky, however. First, one must understand the meaning of the advice and the context in which it is offered. Then one must determine how the advice of others, even the very wise, applies to one’s own life. But being too suspicious of sage advice will invariably lead to needless foolishness.

The greatest teachers of eastern philosophy are also famous for warning against the futility of trying to express the great truth in words. As soon as the words are spoken the meaning of the words becomes obscure. True understanding cannot come from mere analysis of wise teachings. It must come from our understanding of the way that we perceive the teaching and the truth.

So, where does one go to learn how to learn? How do you know what sage to trust?

I certainly do not presume to be the highest authority on the arts that I teach. But I remain dedicated to the continuous development of our understanding. And I will always strive to improve our ability to pass the arts to our students effectively and honestly. Of course, students will often succeed without our help or in spite of it.

So please visit me in person or online and see for yourself if it is the right place for you. Whether you are seeking a recreational activity, a complementary therapy, improved fitness, self defence, or the deep and profound meaning of life, you are welcome here. I will do what I can to help you on your journey.

If you decide that my classes are not for you, I will not be offended. And if I think there are better options for you somewhere else, I will tell you. Not every teacher is right for every student. And not every student is right for every teacher. It is better to be honest than to be right.

But that is just a suggestion - not advice.

- Ian Sinclair