Theda Zawaiza, PhD, is a local and national presenter of education programs designed to help people experience the benefits of holistic wellness or body, mind, spirit health. She is a certified teacher in Integral Tai Chi and Qigong, a Tai Chi Easy™ Senior Trainer, an Empowered Relief instructor and a certified Esalen massage practitioner. She leads community practice groups in qigong online, in-person in Washington, DC, and Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader trainings in the US.  

A native New Yorker with Caribbean roots, Dr. Zawaiza began her career as a special education teacher working with autistic children and went on to serve over 30 years as a policy analyst, program officer and senior executive within both the legislative and executive branches of the United States Government. She worked to develop and promote equitable, inclusive, policies and programs that valued and fostered diversity and social justice in education. Prior to that service, Theda was a psychoeducational diagnostician and resource specialist for youth with learning disabilities in NYC and CA. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1990 in education, specializing in policy analysis research.  In addition to conducting seminal research on mathematical problem solving for her dissertation, Theda was instrumental in formulating and successfully implementing several federal laws and regulations, having helped draft notable pieces of legislation regarding protected classes. 

Dr. Zawaiza was drawn to explore human potential, spirituality and movement from an early age so has been a lifelong student of human behavior, growth and transformation.  She was especially attracted to exploring the transformative power of love as espoused by her graduate school teacher, Dr. Leo Buscaglia.  She studied movement with Emilie Conrad (Continuum™) and Gabrielle Roth (Five Rhythms™); her energy and healing work derive from Reiki I (Usui method), LightBody Infusion™ spiritual massage (Maria Lucia Bittencourt Sauer) and Spiritualist mediumship (Rev. Edmund Foard and Mavis Pitilla.) Theda studied qigong with Dr. Roger Jahnke (Integral Qigong and Tai Chi™), Chungliang Al Huang (Taiji Dance), Master Junfeng Li (Sheng Zhen Qigong™) and Daisy Lee (Radiant Lotus Qigong™.) She uses the Integral Qigong and Tai Chi model to promote awareness of body, mind and breath, cultivate an appreciative connection with nature, spotlight the significance of movement in daily life and to empower individuals to take control of their own health. 

Theda has assisted Dr. Jahnke’s Primordial Qigong and TaiChi Easy™ Practice Leader training at Esalen Institute and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Dr. Zawaiza serves on the boards of the National Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP), The Immortal Sisters of the Tao Foundation (TISOTT) and the Healer Within Foundation (HWF.) She is committed to promoting the practice of qigong for personal and planetary transformation. Theda is a lifelong student of the songs and dances of the African diaspora. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her son, currently a PhD candidate in Philosophy at Emory University.

Charlessa Thatcher’s passion is teaching children and adults to use Qigong as self-care tools in their daily life. Charlessa is a NYS Licensed Master Social Worker, a certified teacher of Kripalu Yoga, Creative Kids Yoga, Holden Qigong, Integral Qigong and an IIQTC Tai Chi Easy™ Senior Trainer. She is a Reiki Master, Qigong Healer, and a Core Faculty Teacher for Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y. teaching group classes for staff and program participants. She has assisted Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader Trainings in the United States and has extensive experience teaching in a variety of settings and with diverse populations. She is currently teaching private and group Qigong, Tai Chi and Yoga classes and is a choreographer and musical director at a local middle school, integrating these practices into the theater experience. Charlessa is co-founder of Theda and Charlessa WELLNESS ESSENTIALS (TACWE), Theda & Charlessa Wellness Essentials curated body/mind tools to empower people to develop and maintain a daily wellness practice to restore, recuperate, recover and/or build resilient and radiant health.

Charlessa’s vast teaching experience has taken place in training centers, gyms, county government, private and public organizations. She has taught county employees techniques to use in their offices to help them to reduce stress, enhance concentration and foster energy. Additionally, she provided trainings for the employees on the subjects of Honoring Diversity, Sexual Harassment Prevention, Ethics, developed curricula and supervised a peer mentoring program with children experiencing emotional, behavioral and or social challenges. For 11 years, Charlessa has worked with Cappella Festiva summer choral group through movement and breath work ways to focus, reduce worry and enjoy their performances.  She has helped bodybuilders with flexibility and various breathing techniques and has 15 years of supporting and inspiring children/teens to use their creativity as they explore movement and breathwork while connecting with nature. Working as a choreographer and director at a local private school with middle school aged students for 14 years, Charlessa has integrated Yoga and Tai Chi/Qigong practices into the theater experience.

Charlessa has taught yoga for over 30 years, and Qigong and Tai Chi for 4 ½ years (although she has practiced Qigong for over 15 years).  She loves to see how these practices of movement and breath work have helped children and teens with mental focus and concentration for preparing for a performance or sporting event, to ease test anxiety, and to be strong, confident and relaxed as they find ways to manage the stress/anxiety in their daily lives. As for the adult student, Charlessa has seen how these techniques have empowered them to help themselves through situations of discomfort or stress, anxiety and insomnia.

 As influential as these eastern practices have been in Charlessa’s life, it never became more personally important than when in 2019, she was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. She was hospitalized for a month for a stem cell transplant and before, during and after this hospitalization, these practices helped her to manage all the experiences she had. In fact, she was so overcome with how the benefits helped her that during her stay in the hospital, she shared her love of qigong with the nurses and doctors. Upon her release and subsequent remission, Charlessa has found strength in her practice and the strong desire to guide others on this journey.  With this motivation, Charlessa went on to train with Roger Jahnke, Robert Peng and Lee Holden.      

A lifetime resident of the Hudson Valley, NY, in her spare time, besides her love for Qi Gong, Tai Chi and yoga, Charlessa enjoys being in nature and dancing for joy with her family and friends.