Hiromi Johnson

Hiromi was born in Tokyo, Japan and began her practice of T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung in 1980 to rehabilitate her knees after surgery. She studied under two Masters of the Cheng-Ming School in Tokyo in 1988 and continued practice after she moved to Charlottesville in 1998.

In 2002, she started studying under Grandmaster Wang Fu-Lai, the lineage holder of Cheng-Ming School in Taiwan. She was certified as an International Cheng-Ming Instructor for T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung in 2008 and Hsing-I in 2010, and was inducted as the last indoor student of Grandmaster Wang. Hiromi has been practicing Japanese Tea Ceremony and Vipassana Meditation since 1978. She finds these practices complement the practice of Internal Martial Arts. She believes that integrating T’ai Chi practice with her daily life benefits not only her wellbeing but also her teaching. Her teaching focuses equally on the martial applications, health benefits, and meditation aspects of the Internal Martial Arts.

Hiromi believes that one of her missions is to help increase awareness of the health benefits of T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung. In 2004, she founded a non-profit educational organization, the Charlottesville T’ai Chi Center, to reach out to the community. Besides her regular classes at her downtown studio and UVA, she actively teaches at senior communities, Worksource Enterprises, Charlottesville Parks & Recreation, and gives workshops and presentations. To observe the Japanese national holiday, she started a “Respect the Elderly Week” program three years ago. She visits local assisted living care centers to give free T’ai Chi presentations for seniors.

Hiromi Johnson was awarded the Mildred W. Spicer Award (November 2018) which recognizes people around Charlottesville who help create artistic opportunities for those with disabilities.

Read the Q&A with Hiromi here.