In Motion Center Presents
Masters in Residence Series
Grand Master Sam F. S.
Zhong Xin Dao – I Liq Chuan
June 11th - 15th, 2026 Seminars
Masters in Residence Series
Grand Master Sam F. S.
Zhong Xin Dao – I Liq Chuan
June 11th - 15th, 2026 Seminars
In Motion Center in association with Taijiquan Tutelage of Palo Alto is pleased to announce that Grand Master Sam F. S. Chin is coming to the SF Bay Area
Instructors and Students are encouraged to invite people from other martial arts and related mind/body disciplines.
Please join us and also spread the word if you know someone who this material would be of interest and benefit to
Masters in Residence Series - Grand Master Sam F. S. Chin Zhong Xin Dao – I Liq Chuan, June 11th - 15th Seminars
Instructors and Students are encouraged to invite people from other martial arts and related mind/body disciplines.
Please join us and also spread the word if you know someone who this material would be of interest and benefit to
Masters in Residence Series - Grand Master Sam F. S. Chin Zhong Xin Dao – I Liq Chuan, June 11th - 15th Seminars
THE INTELLIGENCE OF CONTACT
HOW INFORMATION BECOMES POWER
HOW INFORMATION BECOMES POWER
A Seminar Series with Grand Master Sam F.S. Chin
HOW INFORMATION BECOMES POWER
HOW INFORMATION BECOMES POWER
There's a frustrating puzzle at the heart of I Liq Chuan and Internal Martial Arts Training that almost nobody talks about openly.
You can have excellent physical structure - good alignment, a solid stable base, everything in the right place - and still find yourself struggling with something as fundamental as the basic Push Pull exercise.
Your body looks right. But it doesn't move right.
Why?
Because physical structure and coordinative structure are not the same thing. And confusing the two is costing you years of progress.
Grand Master Sam Chin refers to these distinctions and differentiations as "Hardware" and "Software"
Here's what most practitioners - and most teachers - get wrong.
When movement breaks down, the instinct is to fix it physically. Level the pelvis. Widen the shoulders and tilt the blades back. Hold this. Correct that. But coordinative structure - the pattern and sequence of how your movements are organized - cannot be changed by muscular effort. You cannot force your way into fluid movement, or develop appropriate timing and distancing by holding a posture without the properly organized sensory information. The harder you try to hold a position, the more you lock the very pattern you're trying to change.
And there's something even deeper going on beneath this.
Perception itself is a structure. It's made up of habitual patterns - a matrix built from your history, your reflexes and your past experience. This matrix is the medium in which all your sensing and responding is embedded. It shapes what you feel before you even begin to move. And if that matrix is stuck - repeating the same perceptual loop - no amount of technical correction will free you.
This is the layer most practitioners have never been shown.
A quote below from from an interview with Wu style Tai Chi Grandmaster Ma Yue Liang addresses this distinction beautifully when he explains that the term Peng - does not mean ground path, structure or framework..."What is Peng Jing and is it better to maintain a little in the arms for example to prevent people from closing in?'
Answer:
"Master Ma: People Misunderstand Peng. There is another word with the same sound and only one stoke different that means something like structure or framework and people often think this is what is meant by Peng. If you base your Tai Chi on this incorrect meaning of Peng, then the whole of your Tai Chi will be in correct. Peng Jing is over the whole body and it is used to measure the strength and direction of the partner's force, but it is incorrect to offer any resistance. It should be so light that the weight of a feather will make it move. It can be described like water which will, with no intention of its own support the weight of a floating leaf or the weight of a floating ship. Then he added in English, "Peng Jing is sensitivity."
A corollary to this training and instruction in the healing arts is a bodyworker who embodies 'Expansional Balance' - a term called 'Peng' Energy in Internal Martial Arts -
A Bodyworker with this understanding and perception in his or her own body can skillfully transmit that understanding to clients. An aware bodyworker can contact any part of the body and by imaging functional geometry across the skeletal anatomy, can hold it "where it is supposed to be" and ask the client to move.
The client, having been instructed in functionally "straight movements with long arcs" and knowing how to interact with the bodyworker’s touch, can reorganize that part and integrate it with the entire system.
Awareness, the deep body awareness of the client, is what makes the change.
It is not easy, but it is simple. It can be learned.
That's exactly what this seminar addresses.
What You'll Train:
This is not more content layered on top of what you already know. This is the missing piece - the layer underneath technique that determines whether technique actually works under pressure.
You'll discover why most practitioners 'touch' but receive almost no real or meaningful information from contact - and how to turn every point of contact into a sensory intelligence system that reads intention before force even manifests.
You'll work on the gap between thought and action. The real problem in most practitioners is not technique. It's the lag - the fraction of a second where thinking interrupts response.
You'll train to act directly from perception, without the delay that thinking creates, and without referring to the Past
You'll explore the hidden geometry that governs every interaction. Most people chase force or try to match or move structure. This training reveals how angles determine outcome, how lines of force connect and disconnect through the body and how structural alignment creates effortless advantage without effort, how to clear move your body's physical structure from behind the point of contact. Power is produced through precision and balance.
You'll develop stability inside instability - because anyone can hold their center in stillness. The real test is maintaining orientation during continuous unpredictable change.
You'll train with instability as a method of balancing a constant state of change, not the problem to be avoided.
You'll expand your awareness from point-based feeling to field-based perception - from sensing only where you touch to sensing the whole body, the partner's structure and the space between.
This requires mapping both everything behind and as equally important in front of the point to contact on both you and your partners physical structure. Most people push what is in front of the point of contact - but cannot map the whole structure in front of and behind the point of contact in both their own and their partner's body.
You'll revisit effortless power and understand why "relax" is the most misunderstood instruction in internal arts - and what functional tension and coordinated release actually mean in practice.
You'll train the art of manifesting a 'Neutral Touch' - maintaining readiness in every direction without passivity, so that the moment you're read, you're already leading the partner into a condition of unbalance below their available means and threshold of perception.
And you'll train all of this under pressure - with step-by-step guidance - because awareness that only works in slow, comfortable practice is not awareness you can rely on.
Why This Is Different:
Most returning students don't need more content. They need the layer they couldn't access before - not because they missed something, but because they hadn't yet been shown this depth.
You didn't miss it. It simply wasn't presented in a way you could access if you did not have an understanding of the correct reference.
This seminar is built around that missing layer: the relationship between your perceptual matrix and your coordinative structure. Between what your body already senses and what it can actually do with that information in real time.
When those two things come into alignment - not through force, not through correction, but through trained awareness - your movement and action change.
Contact becomes intelligence. Response becomes instantaneous. And the gap between what you know and what you can do begins to close.
Places are limited. If you've trained in I Liq Chuan before and felt that something remained just out of reach, this is where you find it.
If you are new to this System there are a number of very skilled instructors and students attending and they are happy to work with beginners or students new to the art.
The group is very friendly and welcoming - the training environment is supportive and non-competitive - everyone is trying to up their own skill and the skill of the group as a whole.
You can have excellent physical structure - good alignment, a solid stable base, everything in the right place - and still find yourself struggling with something as fundamental as the basic Push Pull exercise.
Your body looks right. But it doesn't move right.
Why?
Because physical structure and coordinative structure are not the same thing. And confusing the two is costing you years of progress.
Grand Master Sam Chin refers to these distinctions and differentiations as "Hardware" and "Software"
Here's what most practitioners - and most teachers - get wrong.
When movement breaks down, the instinct is to fix it physically. Level the pelvis. Widen the shoulders and tilt the blades back. Hold this. Correct that. But coordinative structure - the pattern and sequence of how your movements are organized - cannot be changed by muscular effort. You cannot force your way into fluid movement, or develop appropriate timing and distancing by holding a posture without the properly organized sensory information. The harder you try to hold a position, the more you lock the very pattern you're trying to change.
And there's something even deeper going on beneath this.
Perception itself is a structure. It's made up of habitual patterns - a matrix built from your history, your reflexes and your past experience. This matrix is the medium in which all your sensing and responding is embedded. It shapes what you feel before you even begin to move. And if that matrix is stuck - repeating the same perceptual loop - no amount of technical correction will free you.
This is the layer most practitioners have never been shown.
A quote below from from an interview with Wu style Tai Chi Grandmaster Ma Yue Liang addresses this distinction beautifully when he explains that the term Peng - does not mean ground path, structure or framework..."What is Peng Jing and is it better to maintain a little in the arms for example to prevent people from closing in?'
Answer:
"Master Ma: People Misunderstand Peng. There is another word with the same sound and only one stoke different that means something like structure or framework and people often think this is what is meant by Peng. If you base your Tai Chi on this incorrect meaning of Peng, then the whole of your Tai Chi will be in correct. Peng Jing is over the whole body and it is used to measure the strength and direction of the partner's force, but it is incorrect to offer any resistance. It should be so light that the weight of a feather will make it move. It can be described like water which will, with no intention of its own support the weight of a floating leaf or the weight of a floating ship. Then he added in English, "Peng Jing is sensitivity."
A corollary to this training and instruction in the healing arts is a bodyworker who embodies 'Expansional Balance' - a term called 'Peng' Energy in Internal Martial Arts -
A Bodyworker with this understanding and perception in his or her own body can skillfully transmit that understanding to clients. An aware bodyworker can contact any part of the body and by imaging functional geometry across the skeletal anatomy, can hold it "where it is supposed to be" and ask the client to move.
The client, having been instructed in functionally "straight movements with long arcs" and knowing how to interact with the bodyworker’s touch, can reorganize that part and integrate it with the entire system.
Awareness, the deep body awareness of the client, is what makes the change.
It is not easy, but it is simple. It can be learned.
That's exactly what this seminar addresses.
What You'll Train:
This is not more content layered on top of what you already know. This is the missing piece - the layer underneath technique that determines whether technique actually works under pressure.
You'll discover why most practitioners 'touch' but receive almost no real or meaningful information from contact - and how to turn every point of contact into a sensory intelligence system that reads intention before force even manifests.
You'll work on the gap between thought and action. The real problem in most practitioners is not technique. It's the lag - the fraction of a second where thinking interrupts response.
You'll train to act directly from perception, without the delay that thinking creates, and without referring to the Past
You'll explore the hidden geometry that governs every interaction. Most people chase force or try to match or move structure. This training reveals how angles determine outcome, how lines of force connect and disconnect through the body and how structural alignment creates effortless advantage without effort, how to clear move your body's physical structure from behind the point of contact. Power is produced through precision and balance.
You'll develop stability inside instability - because anyone can hold their center in stillness. The real test is maintaining orientation during continuous unpredictable change.
You'll train with instability as a method of balancing a constant state of change, not the problem to be avoided.
You'll expand your awareness from point-based feeling to field-based perception - from sensing only where you touch to sensing the whole body, the partner's structure and the space between.
This requires mapping both everything behind and as equally important in front of the point to contact on both you and your partners physical structure. Most people push what is in front of the point of contact - but cannot map the whole structure in front of and behind the point of contact in both their own and their partner's body.
You'll revisit effortless power and understand why "relax" is the most misunderstood instruction in internal arts - and what functional tension and coordinated release actually mean in practice.
You'll train the art of manifesting a 'Neutral Touch' - maintaining readiness in every direction without passivity, so that the moment you're read, you're already leading the partner into a condition of unbalance below their available means and threshold of perception.
And you'll train all of this under pressure - with step-by-step guidance - because awareness that only works in slow, comfortable practice is not awareness you can rely on.
Why This Is Different:
Most returning students don't need more content. They need the layer they couldn't access before - not because they missed something, but because they hadn't yet been shown this depth.
You didn't miss it. It simply wasn't presented in a way you could access if you did not have an understanding of the correct reference.
This seminar is built around that missing layer: the relationship between your perceptual matrix and your coordinative structure. Between what your body already senses and what it can actually do with that information in real time.
When those two things come into alignment - not through force, not through correction, but through trained awareness - your movement and action change.
Contact becomes intelligence. Response becomes instantaneous. And the gap between what you know and what you can do begins to close.
Places are limited. If you've trained in I Liq Chuan before and felt that something remained just out of reach, this is where you find it.
If you are new to this System there are a number of very skilled instructors and students attending and they are happy to work with beginners or students new to the art.
The group is very friendly and welcoming - the training environment is supportive and non-competitive - everyone is trying to up their own skill and the skill of the group as a whole.
Reach out to this email to reserve your place or to ask any questions.
[email protected]
I look forward to seeing you there.
Bernard Langan
4 Areas of Training we will be exploring in the Seminar Topics presented in the attached Registration Form and Schedule
1. Your Physical Structure and Alignment - Hardware
2. Your Perceptual Structure - Software
3. Your Coordinative Structure - Software
4. Symbolic Structures - Software - These are the tools we use in our training such as the Charts of the Yin & Yang Muscles, The 13 Points, The Mechanism of Movement, The System Guide, Anatomy Text Pictures and Acupuncture Charts
1. Your Physical Structure and Alignment - Hardware
2. Your Perceptual Structure - Software
3. Your Coordinative Structure - Software
4. Symbolic Structures - Software - These are the tools we use in our training such as the Charts of the Yin & Yang Muscles, The 13 Points, The Mechanism of Movement, The System Guide, Anatomy Text Pictures and Acupuncture Charts
Who is This For:
● Martial artists practitioners of Tai Chi, Hsing-I Ba Gua, I Chuan, Aikido, Systema, Wing Chun, Jujitsu, Judo etc., who’ve tasted something deeper but can’t access it consistently - If you’ve known something deeper was there but couldn’t quite access it…This is it.
● Body-workers, Acupuncturists and Healthcare Professionals who understand the Nervous System and Energy Channels, but want to feel kinetic intelligence in action
● Educators who want to investigate an Embodied Learning Pedagogy with a proven track record for merging Eastern/Western philosophies and frameworks that guide teaching outlining somatic approaches and strategies
● Meditation and Yoga and Practitioners of Somatics Arts and Therapies who want to increase their interoception and proprioception skills, through a dynamic practice of embodied cognition, directly experiencing the crucial role your body plays in shaping your thoughts and brain processes which are deeply intertwined with your somatic experiences and interactions with your environment
● Dancers and Movement Teachers (Pilates, Gyrotonics, Feldenkrais, etc.) who crave structure-based flow that moves from the inside-out—not just shape and style
● Anyone sincerely interested in Internal Cultivation who wants to see and feel the true mechanics of awareness, balance, and presence - and connect with an authentic reliable source of this information with a like-minded community for people in a supportive non-competitive training environment.
You Will Leave With…
The confidence to practice correctly: I have a distance student who recently reported to me; when he was here in person, that when he practices, he has a lot of ‘questions’. However after speaking with him further we both came to realize he has a lot ‘doubt’ about his ability to practice correctly on his own
● Martial artists practitioners of Tai Chi, Hsing-I Ba Gua, I Chuan, Aikido, Systema, Wing Chun, Jujitsu, Judo etc., who’ve tasted something deeper but can’t access it consistently - If you’ve known something deeper was there but couldn’t quite access it…This is it.
● Body-workers, Acupuncturists and Healthcare Professionals who understand the Nervous System and Energy Channels, but want to feel kinetic intelligence in action
● Educators who want to investigate an Embodied Learning Pedagogy with a proven track record for merging Eastern/Western philosophies and frameworks that guide teaching outlining somatic approaches and strategies
● Meditation and Yoga and Practitioners of Somatics Arts and Therapies who want to increase their interoception and proprioception skills, through a dynamic practice of embodied cognition, directly experiencing the crucial role your body plays in shaping your thoughts and brain processes which are deeply intertwined with your somatic experiences and interactions with your environment
● Dancers and Movement Teachers (Pilates, Gyrotonics, Feldenkrais, etc.) who crave structure-based flow that moves from the inside-out—not just shape and style
● Anyone sincerely interested in Internal Cultivation who wants to see and feel the true mechanics of awareness, balance, and presence - and connect with an authentic reliable source of this information with a like-minded community for people in a supportive non-competitive training environment.
You Will Leave With…
The confidence to practice correctly: I have a distance student who recently reported to me; when he was here in person, that when he practices, he has a lot of ‘questions’. However after speaking with him further we both came to realize he has a lot ‘doubt’ about his ability to practice correctly on his own
- This seminar will give you the confidence to practice correctly so your time and efforts are well spent.
- A clearer sense of your own center - physically and energetically.
- The ability to feel space and move with precision instead of guesswork.
- A practical understanding of balance, timing, and force.
- Tools to refine awareness in every moment, on and off the mat.
- This is your invitation to encounter the core of I Liq Chuan - how movement and awareness co-arise. To train not only the body - but the mind that perceives movement.
- To return to the One Balance Point, where balancing is not something you do - it is what you are. This is not just a seminar - it’s a transformation in perception.
- SCHEDULE -
JUNE 11th THURSDAY
12 noon - 5 pm
The Process of ‘Zhong Xin Dao’:
Bobbing & Stacking to Refine the Central Axis
Primary Rotation Independent of the Full Body
Action of Opening & Closing from the Hips
$95
--------------------------
7 pm - 9:30 pm
Loose, Soft & Elastic Power:
Balancing the Point with Puncture Breathing
Expanding & Releasing to Draw
$80
--------------------------
JUNE 12th FRIDAY
12 noon - 5 pm
Stretching & Holding the Yang Line Along the Bone:
Matching the Skeletal Structure while
Controlling the Motionless Pull of the Lower Hand
with the Condensing & Drawing of Yin
$95
--------------------------
7 pm - 9:30 pm
Pinning & Covering Energy in the Upper Hand:
Coordination of the 6 Directions of the Elbow
Maintaining Equal & Opposite Lateral Yang Power
While Closing the Vertical & Horizontal Lines
To Prevent the Opponent from Crossing
$80
--------------------------
JUNE 15th MONDAY
12 noon - 5 pm
Keys to Balancing Pressure when Pivoting
Effectively Changing from Concave to Convex
The Continuity of Aligning the X and the Cross
Applying the Offense, Neutral and Defense Point Engagements
$95
--------------------------
JUNE 13th SATURDAY
10:30 am - 6 pm
JUNE 14th SUNDAY
10:30 am - 6 pm
Weekend Seminar – Spinning & Sticky Hands
Timing & Spacing
The 3-Dimensional Awareness of the Mechanism of Movement
Push & Pull of the Forking Lines in the Upper & Lower Hands Process
Weekend Seminar Both Days $ 250 One Day $ 145
12 noon - 5 pm
The Process of ‘Zhong Xin Dao’:
Bobbing & Stacking to Refine the Central Axis
Primary Rotation Independent of the Full Body
Action of Opening & Closing from the Hips
$95
--------------------------
7 pm - 9:30 pm
Loose, Soft & Elastic Power:
Balancing the Point with Puncture Breathing
Expanding & Releasing to Draw
$80
--------------------------
JUNE 12th FRIDAY
12 noon - 5 pm
Stretching & Holding the Yang Line Along the Bone:
Matching the Skeletal Structure while
Controlling the Motionless Pull of the Lower Hand
with the Condensing & Drawing of Yin
$95
--------------------------
7 pm - 9:30 pm
Pinning & Covering Energy in the Upper Hand:
Coordination of the 6 Directions of the Elbow
Maintaining Equal & Opposite Lateral Yang Power
While Closing the Vertical & Horizontal Lines
To Prevent the Opponent from Crossing
$80
--------------------------
JUNE 15th MONDAY
12 noon - 5 pm
Keys to Balancing Pressure when Pivoting
Effectively Changing from Concave to Convex
The Continuity of Aligning the X and the Cross
Applying the Offense, Neutral and Defense Point Engagements
$95
--------------------------
JUNE 13th SATURDAY
10:30 am - 6 pm
JUNE 14th SUNDAY
10:30 am - 6 pm
Weekend Seminar – Spinning & Sticky Hands
Timing & Spacing
The 3-Dimensional Awareness of the Mechanism of Movement
Push & Pull of the Forking Lines in the Upper & Lower Hands Process
Weekend Seminar Both Days $ 250 One Day $ 145
ABOUT MASTER SAM F.S.CHIN:
Born in Malaysia into a family lineage of martial tradition, Grand Master Sam F.S. Chin is the founder and Gatekeeper of Zhong Xin Dao I Liq Chuan.
His pioneering methods have transformed how martial arts, meditation, and somatic education intersect. Students describe his teaching not as instruction, but as revelation—an invitation to see clearly and act effortlessly.
About I-Liq Chuan: http://www.iliqchuan.com/ I-Liq Chuan (roughly translated as "Mind Strength Fist") is an art of cultivating consciousness based on Tai Chi and Chan (Zen) principles of non-assertion, non-resistance, the harmony of yin and yang, oneness, and the present moment. I Liq Chuan is an art that is growing rapidly worldwide with Instructors and Practitioners in 30 countries. A brilliant synthesis of Tai Chi, Hsing-I, Ba Gua, Shaolin and Hakka arts, I Liq Chuan is also a merging of Taoist and Buddhist teaching. Master Sam Chin was trained in martial arts from childhood by his father - the founder of I Liq Chuan, Grand Master Chin Lik Keong. As a system of Kung Fu, I-Liq Chuan emphasizes the development of internal power through mental attitude and awareness. Martial training develops sticking and merging abilities, circular spiral energy, Chin Na (locking), Fa Jing (projecting force), Nei Kung, Chi Kung, and most importantly, the integration of the mind's complete awareness in the present moment. I-Liq Chuan trains the ability to sense the opponent's intention through awareness and to redirect the force and use it against the opponent or incorporate the use of Fa Jing.
His pioneering methods have transformed how martial arts, meditation, and somatic education intersect. Students describe his teaching not as instruction, but as revelation—an invitation to see clearly and act effortlessly.
About I-Liq Chuan: http://www.iliqchuan.com/ I-Liq Chuan (roughly translated as "Mind Strength Fist") is an art of cultivating consciousness based on Tai Chi and Chan (Zen) principles of non-assertion, non-resistance, the harmony of yin and yang, oneness, and the present moment. I Liq Chuan is an art that is growing rapidly worldwide with Instructors and Practitioners in 30 countries. A brilliant synthesis of Tai Chi, Hsing-I, Ba Gua, Shaolin and Hakka arts, I Liq Chuan is also a merging of Taoist and Buddhist teaching. Master Sam Chin was trained in martial arts from childhood by his father - the founder of I Liq Chuan, Grand Master Chin Lik Keong. As a system of Kung Fu, I-Liq Chuan emphasizes the development of internal power through mental attitude and awareness. Martial training develops sticking and merging abilities, circular spiral energy, Chin Na (locking), Fa Jing (projecting force), Nei Kung, Chi Kung, and most importantly, the integration of the mind's complete awareness in the present moment. I-Liq Chuan trains the ability to sense the opponent's intention through awareness and to redirect the force and use it against the opponent or incorporate the use of Fa Jing.
The submit button on the Registration form will only work if your computer has a default email program defined.
Otherwise, you will have to save the Registration form on your hard drive, fill it out and attach it to your email and manually and send it to [email protected]
If you are not attending a session or you are enrolling for the discounted package price - fill the amount for the required field as '0'.
Download or fill out the PDF with the link below
Otherwise, you will have to save the Registration form on your hard drive, fill it out and attach it to your email and manually and send it to [email protected]
If you are not attending a session or you are enrolling for the discounted package price - fill the amount for the required field as '0'.
Download or fill out the PDF with the link below
| june_11-15-2026-_sifu_sam_chin_-_in_motion_center_seminar_registraiton.pdf |