Our Teachers
Kathryn Komidar
Kathryn began her studies with Taoist lineage master Bruce Frantzis in 1994. She taught tai chi and qigong at Brookline Tai Chi near Boston from 1997 to 2006.
She has practiced acupressure and qigong tui na bodywork professionally for over 25 years.
She especially is skilled at helping people become present in and comfortable with their bodies.
Kathryn holds a Master of Music degree in Voice from Boston University.
Bill Ryan
Bill has studied with Taoist lineage master Bruce Frantzis for 40 years and is a Senior Instructor in Bruce’s Energy Arts system. He also studied for 3 years with Yang Style tai chi master Chu Gin Soon.
He particularly is adept at teaching people how to feel and use energy for healing.
From 1992 to 2005 he founded and directed Brookline Tai Chi near Boston, which had a peak enrollment of over 450 students.
Bill holds an M.S. in Technology and Policy from M.I.T.
Dan Winter
Dan Winter has studied with Bill and Kathryn in Northampton since 2010.
In addition to teaching, he is the administrator at Toward Harmony.
He holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Our Teachers' Teacher: Bruce Frantzis
Bill, Kathryn, and Dan’s teacher is Bruce Frantzis, founder of Energy Arts, Inc. and one of America's foremost experts in Chinese energy arts for health, healing, meditation, and martial arts. You can find out more about him at his website, www.EnergyArts.com.
Frantzis is a Lineage Master in Taoist health and meditation systems. He has over fifty years of experience in qigong, qigong healing, meditation, and martial arts. Fluent in Chinese and Japanese, he lived full-time and intensively studied energy arts in Asia for 16 years.
Frantzis shares his knowledge of the Water Method of Taoist Meditation in three books, Relaxing into Your Being, The Great Stillness, and The Tao of Letting Go. He is also the author of the revised and expanded books, The Power of Internal Martial Arts and Chi and Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body. His most recent book is Taoist Sexual Meditation. His other books are: Dragon & Tiger Medical Qigong; Bagua and Tai Chi; The Chi Revolution; and Tai Chi: Health for Life (originally published as The Big Book of Tai Chi by Thorsons/HarperCollins UK). All of his books are published by North Atlantic Books.
In 1981 Frantzis was accepted as one of only two disciples of the late Liu Hung Chieh. Liu was a tai chi, bagua, and qigong grandmaster and a Taoist sage. In his 30's he studied in the Tien Tai School of Buddhism and was formally declared enlightened. He then spent ten years with Taoists in the mountains of Western China. In 1949 Liu moved to Beijing, where he became the head of a Taoist sect and lived the rest of his life.
For several years between 1981 and 1986, he taught Frantzis qigong, tai chi, bagua and meditation on a daily basis. Liu passed away in 1986.
In 1986 Liu formally passed his Taoist lineage to Frantzis and empowered him to teach Lao Tse’s Water method of Taoist Meditation, a practice which had been virtually unavailable to Westerners.
