Master Sean's Training and Lineage
Master Sean’s post certification training continued from 2013-2017 in once monthly weekend intensive training in Connecticut. In 2017, Grandmaster Aiping relocated to Austin, Texas. Despite the distance, Master Sean’s training continues to involve private instruction and mentorship with Aiping. Sean spends two intensive weeks a year with Aiping in Austin advancing his proficiency in the subtleties of Tai Chi (Yang, Sun, Chen) and in Qi Gong. Sean’s 2020 and 2021 training in Austin will focus predominantly on Chen Style.
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Sean Boutin earned his certification for operating North Country Tai Chi in 2013. Sean is proficient in three distinct styles of Tai Chi: Yang, Sun, and Chen. It is rare for a Master to study and teach in more than one style outside of China.
After many years of personal development in Tai Chi, Sean’s professional certification required an intensive two-year full-time curriculum as a “live in student” with Wushu Grandmaster Aiping Cheng. Training in Internal Gong Fu, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong instruction was overseen by Grandmaster Aiping Cheng while Research Geneticist Dr. Du Jing, MD/ TCM of East Haven Connecticut oversaw Sean’s progress regarding Holistic Health, Eastern Philosophical Guidance, and Career and Business Advising. 
Specialized Qi Gong Teacher TrainingDuring his certification training Sean received specialized Qi Gong instruction for instructors from Professor Jiang Juan (People's Republic of China). In 2012 he participated in her weeklong intensive seminar offered by the Chinese Health and QiGong Association (People’s Republic of China). He received specific instruction in how to teach Ba Duan Jin (Eight Section Exercises) and Wu Qin Xi (Five Animals). In 2019, Master Sean received further Qi Gong instruction from Professor Jiang Juan on a return visit to Connecticut where Master Sean trained in the classic Qi Gong of Yi Jin Jing (method of bringing Qi to the tendons).
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Mentors
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Grandmaster Aiping Cheng
A Champion Grand Master, Aiping Cheng is a former Chinese National Tai Chi Chuan Champion and member of the elite and highly selective Chinese National Wushu team. She is one of the world’s foremost authorities in Chinese Martial Arts and holds the honorary distinction of 8th Duan from the International Wushu Sanshoudao Association. Overall, she has 40 years of training and coaching world champion students. 
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A young Aiping was a member of the 1974 China National Wushu Team, the most famous and historically significant of Chinese wushu teams, as they introduced wushu to a world audience. In 1974 US President Richard Nixon opened relations with China and engaged in a series of cultural exchanges between the two countries including inviting the 1974 China Wushu Team to perform for President Nixon on the White House lawn followed by a performance tour in the United States. Grandmaster Cheng, along with (Gong Fu movie star) Jet Li and other fellow team members, introduced wushu to a fascinated American public.
Grandmaster Aiping coached multiple World Championship Gold Medalists prior to immigrating to the United States. From 1996-2017, Grandmaster Aiping operated a world class Tai Chi and Gong Fu School in the New Haven Connecticut. In 2018, a new campus was created in Austin Texas where Aiping continues to instruct Americans in the art of Tai Chi. |
Dr. Du Jing
Doctor Du Jing is a retired expert in Eastern and Western medicine and genetics. She practiced medicine (MD) at China Medical University (Shenyang, People's Republic of China) before moving to New Haven CT. She is a peer reviewed research geneticist (Yale/ Harvard), Grandmaster of Internal Gong Fu (Sixth Generation of Family Practice), Traditional Chinese Medical Doctor –TCM (China Medical University), Western Medical Doctor-MD (China Medical University), and an Acupuncturist. She worked closely with Master Sean in the art of "internal cultivation" or "chi" balance in order to understand (and experience) the movement of chi in the human system and the relationship to Chinese Philosophy. Dr. Du is now enjoying her retirement and family in sunny southern California.
Doctor Du Jing is a retired expert in Eastern and Western medicine and genetics. She practiced medicine (MD) at China Medical University (Shenyang, People's Republic of China) before moving to New Haven CT. She is a peer reviewed research geneticist (Yale/ Harvard), Grandmaster of Internal Gong Fu (Sixth Generation of Family Practice), Traditional Chinese Medical Doctor –TCM (China Medical University), Western Medical Doctor-MD (China Medical University), and an Acupuncturist. She worked closely with Master Sean in the art of "internal cultivation" or "chi" balance in order to understand (and experience) the movement of chi in the human system and the relationship to Chinese Philosophy. Dr. Du is now enjoying her retirement and family in sunny southern California.
Tai Chi Lineage
Through Grandmaster Aiping, North Country Tai Chi LLC is in direct lineage to the creators and lineage holders of three styles of Tai Chi: Yang, Sun, and Chen.
Li Tian Ji 1914-1996 “The Flying Dragon” was Aiping's main mentor. He was the first official Wushu coach for the People’s Republic of China and connects us with the contemporary version of Yang style. In 1956, he was responsible for leading the team of Masters (Chu Guiting, Cai Longyun, Fu Zhongwen, and Zhang Yu) that created the world standardized 24 and 48 forms we practice at North Country Tai Chi LLC. 
Fu Zhongwen 1903-1994 was Master Aiping’s Teacher of Old Style Yang which we practice in the 108 at North Country Tai Chi LLC. He was the disciple of Yang Chengfu (grandson of the Yang lineage creator Yang Luchan). At the time of Fu’s death in 1994, he was listed as one of the “100 Living Treasures of China.” 
Sun Jianyun 1913-2003 was the lineage creator of Sun Style and combines the neijia (internal cultivation) of Tai Chi, Xingyiquan, Baguaquan, and Qi Gong. His style of internal martial arts combined the linear leg movments of Xingyi, the circular movements of Bagua, and the softness of Tai Chi. Granmaster Aiping studied both under his disciple Li Tianji and Sun Lutang’s daughter Sun Jianyun. |
Western Education and Background
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Massachusetts Quakers educated Sean for his first ten years of schooling, conditioning an intellectual freedom of conscience, a fixation on personal creativity, and a sense of cultivating peace at a person’s center. His first research paper described the philosophy of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching. Some years later, Sean received his Bachelor or Arts in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University. Sean centered his interests on socio-political difference between "Eastern" and "Western" civilizations and their effect on militarism and religion. 
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Sean then spent considerable time and energy in graduate studies at Cornell University, where he received a Master of Arts, a Master of Public Administration, and was ultimately a PhD Candidate in the Department of Government. His studies centered on the origins and development of civil liberty, philosophy of law and jurisprudence, and the comparative development of state Bills of Rights and Liberties.
While writing his PhD dissertation and engaged in tenure track job search, Sean shifted his intellectual and spiritual focus from the outwardly oriented philosophical and political environment, to an inward and intuitive investigation of being. It is at this point that he shifted away from becoming a professor of politics and began down a different path, rededicated himself to the study of internal martial arts and to teaching meditative and contemplative practices. Sean considers himself to be in line with contemplatives of Western religious thought and practice. Sean is married to Associate Professor Kristin McKie of St. Lawrence University. |
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