Robert Tangora teaches Wu style Tai Chi Ch’uan, Spinal Chi Kung, Push Hands, and tai chi sword publicly and privately to experienced practitioners. He teaches Yang style Tai Chi Ch’uan privately to practitioners with substantial experience only. Robert also studied Filipino weapons with the late Sonny Umpad.
Tangora began studying the internal arts and meditation when he was 18. During the early 1980s, he taught T’ai Chi Ch’uan in New York at Shr Jung, the school founded by Professor Cheng Man Ching, and studied extensively with three of Professor Cheng’s senior students: Lew Kleinsmith, Maggie Newman, and Stanley Israel.
In 1988, Robert travelled to China where he studied qigong privately for six months with Master Jiao Guo Ryu. His training focused on three areas: meditation and breathing practices for gathering and circulating chi, Spinal Chi Kung posture set used for the treatment of spinal injuries and for opening and balancing the major energy channels, and the diagnosis of spinal and structural alignment and the use of corrective standing postures to facilitate healing. At that time, Tangora also learned the 108 posture Yang Style Long Form from Fu Zhong Wen, the nephew of Yang Cheng Fu.
After studying Buddhist meditation in Tibet for six months, Tangora traveled to Maylasia where he became a formal disciple of the late Master Tok Seng Gim. Under Master Tok, Robert Tangora became the Singapore Push Hands Champion, which more resembled free fighting than Western push hands tournaments.
Upon returning to the United States, Robert Tangora continued to teach Yang style tai chi ch’uan, Spinal Chi Kung, and Taoist mediation, and began his study of Wu Style Tai Chi Ch’uan with Master B.K. Frantzis. Tangora is also certified as a senior level instructor in the Wu Short Form.