Tai Chi Oasis

We enjoy informal, laid back classes that promote a friendly atmosphere, while at the same time aspire to be an oasis of Tai Chi learning and ongoing internal research in the midst of a small town setting. The largely rural nature of Central Virginia’s beautiful rolling hills tend to reflect this relaxed, informal state of mind.

Students have ranged in age from their 20’s to their 80’s with many having endured joint problems which prompted them to seek out a low impact form of exercise and therapy.

Our chief instructor, L.M.“Buddy” Jett Jr., was raised in Orange County; but his Tai Chi pilgrimages to learn from high level instructors have taken him far away from his Virginia roots. He has traveled to San Francisco, Nevada, and Florida to live, work, and study Tai Chi in depth, as well as various other martial arts along the way.

Now retired after working for 32 years in the graphics side of the printing industry, Mr. Jett makes use of those attributes by providing the Tai Chi students with pages of illustrated literature that he creates on various aspects of Tai Chi, Chi Kung, and meditation related subjects to help enhance their Tai Chi experience.

Involved in the study of martial arts for over five decades, his fascination with the amazing depth of Professor Cheng Man Ching’s Tai Chi teachings has now endured into it’s fourth decade.

Mr. Jett's martial arts journey began in Fredericksburg in the early 70’s under the tutelage of Okinawan Isshinryu Karate master Karl Kazuo Hovey. Then later, as a member of the Blue Ridge Zen Group in Charlottesville during the early 80’s, he met his first Cheng Man Ching style Tai Chi teacher, Peter Yadlowsky, in 1983. Peter was a protege of the famous Tai Chi teacher/author, Robert Smith. By 1986 Mr. Jett made the move to San Francisco to study with Ben Lo in 1987 - 1988. Before leaving San Francisco, Mr. Jett was able to learn a rare Chi Kung style, Guay Ling Bai Chin Kung (1000 Year Turtle - 100 Year Bird Chi Kung), from Gung Shen Shung. Guay Ling Bai Chin Kung is a style that is not martial in intent but is superlative in it’s ability to open up the joints. 

Mr. Jett moved to Las Vegas for a year where he attended seminars with master Rich Lamoureaux at Sifu Jack Soderberg’s CDF Academy,  where he was exposed to the concepts of Filipino Kali and Indonesian Silat. Then moving to Florida he took private lessons from Goju Ryu Karate master and former tournament champion, Manny Calo, where they collaborated on researching the hidden martial applications in the Tai Chi form. 

Once again studying in San Francisco from 1992 – 1994, Mr. Jett was a student of the Bagua Chang master, Lin Chao Zhen. In his early 80’s, Lin Chao Zhen was one of the last living disciples of the legendary Fu Zhen Song, known in China as one of the "five tigers from the north.” Other notable masters Mr. Jett studied with in classes, seminars, and workshops include Robert Smith, Maggie Newman, Dr. Yang Jwing Ming, Liang Shou-Yu, Huang Wei Lun, William C.C. Chen, Bok Nam Park, Chris Luth, Jian-Ye Jiang, and Stephen J. Goodson.

" I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to my long-time friend, Zen Brother, and Tai Chi mentor/fellow internal arts explorer, Peter Yadlowsky, for his vigilant and ongoing maintenance of our Floating Cloud Tai Chi website. " - Buddy Jett, April 24, 2021.