ABOUT US
Kearns, Howard & Walker is the publishing arm of the Hubert H. & Elsie Lui Family of Students, originally established in Chicago in 1968 and subsequently based in San Francisco and the Bay Area from 1979 to the present.
Our Mission
The mission of Kearns, Howard & Walker (KH&W) is to encourage and facilitate the publication of works by members of the Hubert H. & Elsie Lui Family of Tai Chi practitioners, for the purpose of sharing the thoughts, talents, and interests of the greater Tai Chi family.
Our Story
Hubert H. Lui taught Tai Chi classes in Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, New York, and California. Over time he acquired a following of practitioners who both admired him and even sought to teach as he taught, aspiring to a fullness of understanding of philosophy, ethics, world culture, and the unique energy derived from this system of energy cultivation that is Tai Chi Chu'an. Mr. Lui was born in mainland China but his brand of Tai Chi was American in its gesture to the unique energy like an individual handwriting or calligraphy that emanates from each respective individual practitioner.
Uniformity was a guidepost but not an enforced homogeneity. Mr. Lui cited the expressive dancer, Isadora Duncan, often, for example, with her creative flow and her vision of her own personal "chi" (or energy in Chinese) as the driver of her movement. In this sense, an art and a discipline that is inarguably a product of Chinese culture was imbued by HHL with an American insouciance that incorporated the greatness of China with the best of what is American. He never articulated this forceful synthesis per se with respect to his teaching, but it is undoubtedly part of the magnetism that brought many of us together over his years of teaching.
Indeed, Mr. Lui conducted workshops in the Bay Area around San Francisco for 15 years. Our group has flourished and enjoyed life practicing in Tai Chi retreats together across the country without him for over a quarter of a century longer than he taught these workshops later in his life. Kearns, Howard & Walker is an entity of joyous camaraderie built out of our years of practice together, our love of Mr. Lui's sustaining wisdom, and our own deeply-held love of books.
We would like to thank and acknowledge the support of Bradford C. Bennett in providing access to his website westeastsomatics.com for the temporary housing of KH&W books and business matters. We would also like to thank and acknowledge Jane Chang for the calligraphy on our home page.
2022 Reunion
