About This Website
This website is meant to be a guide for students. It is not the ultimate repository of knowledge and I don’t claim to be a master of anything. I have had the good fortune to spend time with some amazing teachers and learn about Taoism, martial arts, meditation, and myself. As part of my ongoing journey as a student of the Tao, I feel compelled to pass on anything that I can. I hope this site is a useful tool for you on your path of self-discovery!
As above, so below.
As within, so without.
Justin Waggle
I developed an interest in Taoism after reading the Tao of Pooh and the Tao Te Ching. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, I started taking classes at a school called The Taoist Institute. Little did I know that I would spend the next 10 years there studying Tai Chi Chuan, Kung Fu, and Qi Gong. I eventually earned my Black Sashes in Kung Fu and Tai Chi and became an instructor.
Sijo Carl Totton
Professor Carl Totton is the founder of the Taoist Institute. He has studied the Chinese healing, spiritual, and martial arts for over 50 years and is licensed as a clinical and educational psychologist.
He is certified as both a Reiki master, and qigong and martial arts grandmaster. He has worked in many clinical settings including private practice, hospitals, community mental health clinics, schools, and a college counseling center.
For ten years, I attended all of his classes in traditional Chinese internal and external martial arts, qigong, Taoist meditation, and tui na, the ancient Chinese method of acupressure massage and medical qigong.
He is a dear friend and someone that literally saved my life.
Yo Hoon Kim
Yo Hoon travels around the world helping monks improve their ability to meditate and think clearly. His lucid manner of communicating ancient teachings is a rare direct transmission from an undivided and non-dual mind.
Every time I had the opportunity to be around Yo Hoon, he would draw me into the present moment. It felt like what I imagine it would feel like to meet a dragon. I’ve never before or since met a person that had so clearly comes to terms with their own life. When asked if he ever got bored living up in the mountains by himself, Yo Hoon answered, “Oh, no. I’m not boring.”
Most of us would characterize him as a Zen master. He would say that he is a helper. And he would say that the first time you meet him, he might teach you something but that the second time you meet him, you would just be friends. I feel honored to be his friend.
