|
Instructor: Debbie Leung
Debbie Leung has been teaching classes and offering private instruction in movement arts in the Olympia, WA area since 1979. She has also taught workshops and seminars for professional associations, service organizations, and martial arts schools in California, Oregon, Washington and beyond. The Pacific Association of Women Martial Artists has often hired Debbie to be on the teaching staff at their annual training weekends, as has the Association of Women Martial Arts Instructors. Debbie is the author of Self-Defense: The Womanly Art of Self-Care, Intuition, and Choice (R&M Press, 1991). Chinese Healing & Movement Arts is an official branch of Jian Mei Internal Martial Arts established by Master Wen Mei Yu.
Honors received:
|
Training
|
Debbie Leung started her martial arts practice in 1978 with Shito-ryu karate. In 1981, training began in Northern Shaolin kung-fu in Olympia, WA, where she learned about herself as well as the art. Its traditional foundation carried over to advanced Taiji and Qigong training in 1994 with Grandmaster Wen Mei Yu, who taught her Liangong, qigong, and Wu Style Taijiquan. In 2007, Debbie began learning Baguazhang and is deepening her understanding of internal arts with Grandmaster Su Zifang. Since 2020, she is also learning Sun and Yang style Taiji and sword in weekly Zoom classes with Grandmaster Su and a small cohort of colleagues. While martial applications continue to be an interest, Debbie now mostly uses the Chinese movement arts to help people through their health issues, especially as they age.
|
Debbie's Teachers
|
Grandmaster Wen-Mei Yu devoted her life to the study, practice, and teaching of qigong and Taijiquan since 1953. She studied directly with lineage holders (including Wu Ying Hua, eldest daughter of the creator of the traditional Wu Style Taijiquan) and style creators (including Liangong creator Dr. Zhuang Yuan Ming) in Shanghai, and has received many awards in both China and the U.S. She lived in southern California and passed in 2023.
Grandmaster Su Zifang trained full-time since a child among China's great martial artists including Bagua Grandmaster Sha Guozheng and Xingyiquan Grandmaster He Fusheng. She was named one of China's 100 Outstanding Wushu Practitioners by the Chinese National Wushu Association. She won numerous medals in national and international competitions and has coached many champions in China and Singapore where she now lives.
|
Grandmaster Wen-Mei Yu and Debbie Leung
Debbie Leung and Grandmaster Su Zifang
|