“..mild but chronic pain in my lower back and neck began to disappear because the Tai Chi form as taught by Susanna corrected my poor posture and improved my balance.”
“I started practicing Tai Chi in 1994 at the age of 45 with Susanna Derosa as my master because I simply thought it was a beautiful form of exercise. But soon the mild but chronic pain in my lower back and neck began to disappear because the Tai Chi form as taught by Susanna corrected my poor posture and improved my balance.
Tai Chi was making me more aware of my body and how I was moving.
Susanna also taught the importance of the breath while in motion, integrating Qigong with Tai Chi. While I am not normally an anxious person, the neurological benefit of the breath in Qigong is that it promotes stress reduction. It places me ‘in the moment’ so that anxiety associated with past mistakes and future failures becomes irrelevant.
So I practice both Tai Chi and Qigong just before I give a scientific presentation to my peers; this improves clarity of thought and makes me calm, and that helps to place my audience at ease. Finally, I have also taught Qigong to some of my students at Rutgers University who suffer from serious anxiety problems that compromise their ability to take exams. I do this in my office with the door closed because it makes my students more comfortable; and I can’t imagine explaining what I am teaching to accidental onlookers in the hallway of a science department!“
Claude Herzberg is a Professor at the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Rutgers University (http://geology.rutgers.edu/), and is married with two beautiful daughters.
“Her approach to teaching Tai Chi allows one to translate its deeply holistic lessons to living with integrity and spirit…“
“I am a physician who specializes in mind/body integration, with professional degrees in Family, Sports and Integrative medicine. My experience includes a black belt in Tae Kwon Do Karate as well as various other Somatic-oriented systems. I have studied with various Tai Chi teachers, and with Susanna for approximately 15 years. Thus I believe I can give an accurate assessment of her qualifications as a teacher of Tai Chi. Susanna has an in depth understanding of the philosophical and spiritual roots of Tai Chi and its related practices – Chi Kung (energy work), I Ching (the philosophical underpinnings for Tai Chi) and Taoist meditation. Her understanding is grounded in regular practice and practical real life application. While she is quite capable of the martial aspects of Tai Chi, the main focus of her classes are the spiritual and health aspects. Her approach to teaching Tai Chi allows one to translate its deeply holistic lessons to living with integrity and spirit in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Susanna’s teaching style is gentle, playful but firm. She has developed the rare ability to perceive the student’s subtle energy state and corresponding degree of integration of movement. This allows her to make necessary corrections that would be missed by a less attentive teacher.
Class size is small enough that she can give adequate attention to each student, and her prices are very reasonable.
I know of no better teacher in the Central and Northern NJ area, and highly recommend her classes to anyone who wishes to re-connect with their body and spirit, get some exercise, have fun and join a little community of like-minded students.”
Alan Remde, MD, is a specialist in Mind/Body Integration, Family, Sports, and Integrative Medicine
Susanna T. DeRosa is a senior disciple of the late Master Jou, Tsung Hwa, with whom she studied for 25 years. She traveled to China with Master Jou in 1984 on his first Taiji tour, where she studied with local masters and visited the Chen Village and sites related to Taijiquan history. Susanna is a devotee in the Daoist spiritual tradition of Zhang Sanfeng, as transmitted by Master Jou. She has also studied with Masters Yang Zhen Duo, Chen Xiao Wang, and Chen Zheng Lei and others.
Innerspace Taijiquan 