The Council of Sisters
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Sharon Smith has been practicing Qigong, Tai Chi, & other Taoist spiritual and healing arts for 45 years & teaching them for 40. Her influential teachers include Masters Mantak Chia (she was in his original class of western students in 1981), Li Junfeng, Ming Chan, and T.K. Shih.
Other important teachers include Jeanette Chi, Gilles Marin, Don Ahn, Carol Anthony, and Livia Kohn as well as many other Tao masters. Sharon is certified by Master Mantak Chia’s Universal Tao system as a Senior Instructor and Chi Nei Tsang Practitioner. She is also certified by the International Sheng Zhen Society to teach Sheng Zhen Gong, the work of Master Li Junfeng. In 2011, she attended the Wudang Martial Arts Internal Kung Fu Academy in China.
In addition, Sharon has practiced Iyengar Yoga for over 35 years and has traveled many times to China, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Europe, and New Zealand to further her studies.
Sharon was the host as well as a presenter at The Shift Network’s Qigong Global Summits from 2020 – 2023.
In 2017 and 2019, she created and directed The Immortal Sisters Conferences, historic gatherings of women committed to “Returning to Tao” and honoring Yin in an overly Yang world. This endeavor has led to the creation of The Immortal Sisters Foundation, (TISOTT) whose mission is to present female teachers of Tai Chi, Qigong, and Taoist meditation and to provide financial support to women who want to further their education and training in these arts.
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Marie Favorito’s joyful Taoist practices have, for nearly 40 years, drawn students locally and worldwide to the beauty of the Tao.
Director of the Universal Tao Boston (UTB), Marie engages students of all ages in numerous Qigong and Tai Chi forms and many levels of Taoist Meditations and Healing Arts.
As Senior Certifying instructor in the Universal Healing Tao (UHT) with 14 advanced certifications, and member of the UHT Council of 9, Marie was instrumental in establishing the UHT standards for teacher certification. She currently serves on the UHT Council of Senior Teachers and continues to train and certify new UHT teachers.
Marie collaborated on the curriculum for Dr Peter Wayne’s Tai Chi study at Harvard Medical School’s Osher Research Center. She participated in the Boston Red Sox and Mass General Hospital’s trauma program for veterans and post-9/11 service members. The Shift Network’s 2020 and 2021 Qigong Global Summit attendees delighted in Marie’s effervescent Qigong sessions.
Marie’s beloved teachers include Grand Master Mantak Chia, Master Wei Lun Huang and Master Li Junfeng - and all the students who inspire and enrich her life.
Marie teaches group, private, master and outdoor lessons; offers private healing sessions; organizes and leads workshops worldwide; and shares her teaching through online and recorded lesson series.
For more information about Marie, please visit www.UniversalTaoBoston.com
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Master Violet Li, a 12th Generation Chen Style Tai Chi Inheritor under Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei and seasoned Qigong instructor, has taught more than 10,000 people worldwide both in person and online. She has written more than 700 articles on the healing art of Tai Chi, Qigong, Meditation, and wellness, mostly in English and some in Chinese and won awards for her unbiased reporting. Many of her articles were translated into foreign languages and shared by tens of thousands globally. Master Li is known as a teacher’s teacher because she has trained and certified many to teach Tai Chi and Qigong. She has been spotlighted and featured by mainstream media, like NBC, CBS, and National Public Radio as well as the media in the global healing art community. Master Li has taught and performed the healing art to universities, hospitals, large corporations, health institutes, gyms, museum and senior centers in many US cities as well as overseas.
For more information about Violet Li’s lineage, expertise areas, endorsements, and teaching, visit www.violetli.com.
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Anita Teresa is a lifelong spiritual seeker, healer, and teacher whose journey weaves together profound traditions of movement and spiritual cultivation. With over 15 years of experience leading workshops, courses, and retreats, Anita’s teaching philosophy is deeply rooted in the embodied path of integration and wholeness.
Her movement journey spans eclectic training in dance and martial arts, including JuJitsu, TaeKwonDo, Tang Soo Do, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, WingTsun, and currently White Crane Silat under the tutelage of Sister Maggie Dawson. These practices have not only honed her physical discipline but also deepened her understanding of self-mastery and spiritual cultivation. Anita’s dance background spans Middle Eastern dance forms, Latin dance, Butoh, and more—each contributing to her unique approach to embodied spirituality.
As a pioneer at NYU Langone Medical Center's Department of Integrative Health Programs, Anita introduced holistic disciplines such as hypnosis, breathwork, yoga, Qigong and even bellydance into clinical settings. In 2013, she founded the Embodied Femme Salon to propound a new feminine paradigm of leadership, and launched the Sex & Medicine Summit in 2015 to bridge holistic health with sexuality. Her contributions earned her recognition as an ambassador for the Women’s Economic Forum and a nomination for the “Iconic Women Creating a Better Future” Award in 2017.
Surrender to the Subtle has never failed to open wonderment and infinite possibilities.
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Rachel Santos is a Healing Tao QiGong Instructor and aquatic movement therapist. As a lifelong dancer, she fell in love with aquatic dance therapy during an artist residency in 2014. Since then she has been studying, developing and sharing unique aquatic movement meditation experiences in Thailand, Mexico, Hawaii, and NYC.
She Offers 1-on-1 Float & Flow sessions, weaving together years of training in Aguahara and Janzu, aquatic martial arts dance meditation practices.
Float & Flow sessions will be available for booking during the retreat.
For more information about Rachel and aquatic movement arts, please visit her website: www.batheinbliss.com
Instagram: @floatwithfriends
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Kathryn Davis is a Qigong Instructor with over 30 years of experience. The founder of Qigong Self CareTM and the Kun Li ShengTM Qigong Healing systems. A practitioner of Medical Qigong, Reiki, and the Sandlin Technique, an Indigenous healing process based on Vision Quest and Shamanic Insight.
Certified to teach several Qigong forms including: Soaring Crane, Jade Body, Essence, Turtle Longevity, Cosmic Qigong the Supper Energy Method (Clapping Hands Qigong); and is certified in Qigong Healing Techniques; Medical Qigong; principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine; Chinese Philosophy and the Nine Major Principles of Qigong.
Kathryn has had extensive Qigong training in Mainland China and is certified by OCOM, the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine; Wu Dao Jing She International Qigong Society, the Wisdom and Peace Wellness Center and the Institute for Integral Qigong and Tai Chi.
Kathryn is the host and producer of Heart of Mind Radio for the NEW Millennium, heard over WBAI Pacifica Radio, 99.5 FM, wbai.org; and the Progressive Radio Network, PRN.live
For more information about Kathryn Davis, visit https://daoqigonglife.com/ or http://www.heartofmindradio.com/
Websites:
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Chicava is a Universal Healing Tao and Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi certified instructor. Through Sacred Chrysalis, she combines the ecstasy of burlesque and Taoist feminine teachings to create a space of renewal. She holds an MFA from Goddard College focused on Black Burlesque herstory.
Since 2008, Chicava has helped women rebirth the Goddess within and blossom to new levels of sexual, sensual, and creative power through dance, meditation, and self-exploration. Chicava feels a deep calling to create a legacy of SHEROS—women rooted in their feminine sovereignty and empowered with full-bodied knowingness physically, spiritually, and mindfully.
Chicava holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College, focusing on sacred sexuality, spirituality in performance art, and the heritage of women of color in burlesque. She has had the honor of performing within and contributing to powerful women’s communities, including Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts, Sistersong, The Immortal Sisters of the Tao, Agape International Spiritual Center, and the WoW Cafe Theatre.
The deeper I go and the more I commit to my practices the more I receive and grow as a woman, a teacher and citizen of the world
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Jamee uniquely synthesizes ancient Taoist practices, Alexander Technique principles and Spiritual Healing to open the way for deep personal transformation. As a Universal Healing Tao Senior Instructor Jamee teaches Yang style Tai Chi, Qigong and Taoist Meditation techniques at the Universal Tao Boston School of Taoist Practices in Massachusetts, USA.
Jamee is also an internationally certified Alexander Technique Instructor and teacher-trainer at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Jamee teaches tai chi classes in local hospitals, fitness centers, women centers and colleges.
Jamee’s main teachers have been Grand Master Mantak Chia, Tai Chi Master Wei Lun Huang, and Tommy Thompson of the Alexander Technique Center at cambridge.
Jamee runs a community practice program called the 100 day practice for over 14 years now. The vision is to support others in a daily practice with joyful accountability and learning.
She expresses herself creatively as a video artist producing documentaries and promotional videos for artists and small businesses.
Jamee is also the web designer for the Immortal Sisters Conferences.
For more information about Jamee, please visit www.jameec.com
and www.WayoftheArrow.media