About · Mindful Moves Tai Chi Chuan

A person is practicing tai chi on a paved area near a body of water with green hills in the background.

Welcome! I’m Loura Coons, and I teach traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan in Southeastern Massachusetts. I believe tai chi should be gentle enough for anyone to begin and deep enough to last a lifetime. There is a strength that comes with its practice. A strength that is rooted in softness.

My path to learning tai chi

I first trained in the Wah Lum Northern Praying Mantis Style Kung Fu system in 2002 with Sifu Jamie McGuire at the Wah Lum Kung-fu Academy and Tai Chi Center, taking my first Yang Style Tai Chi class at 17 years old and falling in love with it. I left to attend UMASS Lowell and eventually earned a master’s degree in Applied and Computational Mathematics. It was during this time, after a short stint in Shotokan karate, I returned to Wah Lum in 2006 at the Concord, MA school, where my partner Charles joined me in 2007, training under Sifu Andrea Sheffield and Mary Driscoll. This time cemented my joy in Martial Arts and I participated in the competition team and learned traditional Chinese Lion dancing.

A group of six people dressed in black martial arts uniforms pose with red and black fans and a traditional lion dance head in a room with various martial arts weapons displayed on the wall behind them.

I stepped away from 2011 to 2014 to start a family, then returned to train with Sifu Jamie. That’s when I realized tai chi was what I’d been missing.

How I started teaching

In 2019, my father’s knee problems kept him from attending classes, so, with Sifu Jamie’s blessing, I started teaching him myself. During the pandemic, more family and friends joined us. We practiced outdoors, where everyone could train safely.

Three people dressed in winter clothing are practicing martial arts or tai chi in a wooded outdoor area.

Since then I’ve taught small groups, including a summer of classes at Berkley Beer Company in 2024, and I currently teach a weekly class at Body Blast Fitness Studio in Taunton, MA.

Further training

After I had studied with Sifu Jamie McGuire for many years, learning a variety of Yang style tai chi empty-hand and weapons forms, and knowing my love of Tai Chi Chuan, he encouraged me to seek out other teachers.

That led me to study Guang Ping Yang tai chi, often called “old style Yang,” with Sifu David Chosid at his school Yulong Tai Chi Chuan in 2025. He is a 7th-generation practitioner through the Wen Wu School and Peter Kwok’s Kung Fu Academy, and past president of the Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi Association.

Also in 2025 I attended the 15th New England International Chinese Martial Arts Championships where I received a silver medal in Yang Style 24 movement form and gold medals in Combined 42 movement form, Yang Style broadsword form, and Yang Style 18 movement fan.

How I teach

Every movement in tai chi has a purpose. When you understand what a posture is for, finding the right body structure becomes much easier. This is essential even for those whose primary interest in Tai Chi is its health benefits. That’s why my teaching includes martial applications alongside the forms and pushing hands as a partner exercise.

What I teach

Empty hand: Yang Style 8 movement form, Yang Style 24 movement form, Combined 42 movement form, Yang Style Long Form
Weapons: Yang Style 18 movement fan, short Yang Style sword form, Yang Style broadsword form, Yang Style stick form, Two person Yang Style Twin Tsun sword

Two individuals are practicing martial arts with wooden sticks in a training room.

Outside of Tai Chi Chuan

I’m busy raising two wonderful teenagers and I work for the Center for Improving Youth Justice as a senior software engineer.