User:Nancy watterson/sandbox

Lan Tran,, (born [Vietnam], 1965) is a teacher of martial arts, especially of Yang Tai Chi Chuan Yang Chien-hou, Xingi, Baji. Sifu Tran, Founder of Internal Fusion Martial Arts, has a long history of training and competition in the martial arts, a career which has included medals in Judo, Karate, American Tae Kwon Do and Tai Chi Chuan with over 10 years of experience as a judge at tournaments around the region. Lan Tran first began Judo at the age of six and acquired his first black belt by the age of eleven. “The Martial arts have been a highlight of my life,” says Tran, “and I love teaching them.” In fact, he’s been training or teaching martial arts for nearly 42 of his 49 years, 26 of them steeped in the internal arts—the energetics and universal principles behind the mechanics of movement and what makes the martial arts “effortless.”

In his early teen years, he began studying Shorin Ryu Okinawan Karate under Master Clarence Murray III. [link] And a few years later took up American Tae Kwon Do (he achieved his second degree in that sport in four short years). In 1986 that Sifu Tran first discovered Tai Chi Chuan and he’s been involved in the study of Internal Arts ever since. His passion for teaching led him to open the Wu Shen Tao Health and Martial Art Academy [link] with Sifu Paul Ramos in 1991, and through that connection he taught Tai Chi Chuan even as he competed nationally for the next 13 years. Fifteen year later, Sifu Tran moved up to Philadelphia from Maryland and spent some years studying Hsing-I and Baji while continuing to teach Tai Chi Quan. These years of studying many and multiple arts ultimately led him to exploring the universal principles that span and connect the internal arts and in turn led him to begin developing his own system—"Internal Fusion"—which combines the principles of Tai Chi, Hsing-I and Baji into one unifying concept.

In addition to his life-long interest in martial arts, Tran is also interested in cats, guitars, motorcycles, jazz, and cooking.

Tran currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.