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My Tai Chi journey
My Tai Chi Story - Briefly
My first ever experience of Chen Tai Chi was with Master Liming Yue, I attended one of his classes and was blown away! The way Master Liming moved and the power he generated was something I had not seen before and that was the beginning of my exploration in all things Chen Tai Chi. That very same year Master Liming invited Grandmaster Chen Zheng Lei to visit and teach for a month in the UK. If you don’t know, Chen Zheng Lei is considered one of the best Tai Chi practitioners in the world and is an 11th generation direct-line successor of Chen family Tai Chi Chuan. After watching Chen Zheng lei and learning from him, I knew Chen Tai Chi was for me.
"Kicking Keeps you Young"
A year later Master Liming invited another one of his teachers over to the UK, Grand Master Gou Kon Jie. Master Gou stayed for three years and taught alongside Master Liming. Master Gou was in his 60’s and at the time he would jump, roll around and throw people about 30-40 years younger than him in push hands practice. Master Gou really emphasized the martial aspect of Chen Tai Chi and would always say to me in his broken English ‘kicking keeps you young’ although I never got an explanation from him about this but through his teachings he emphasized lots of mobility, stretching, rolling and off course lots of kicking drills. As I’m getting older I can feel what he means by ‘kicking keeps you young’!
Becoming an Instructor
Out of all the teachers I have trained with Master Liming taught me the most and opened so many doors for me and had the most influence in my martial arts journey. One of the most memorable moments was in 2005; I was still at university looking for part time work, eventually I found work and I was telling Master Liming , the next day he came up to me and asked if I would teach 5 classes a week at his school and he would pay me the same as the job I found (I think it turned out to be more) of course I said yes. He gave me the keys to the school and said I could come day or night to train…. I was like a kid in a candy store!!!! A year later I started to teach full time alongside Master Liming Yue at his school the Tai Chi Centre in Manchester, UK. I learnt so much from Master Liming Yue but one thing that stands out is the ability how to interpret forms for the martial applications and information they contain. This helped me unlock and decipher what I had learnt previously and looking back now it has helped me pick up and learn new material a lot quicker.
Tai Chi & Shaolin Tour
In 2007 – 2008 I had the opportunity to perform around the Uk in the ‘Tai Chi & Kung Fu Show’ alongside Chen Tai Chi masters Like Chen Zheng Lei, Zhang Dong Wu and Shaolin Masters Such as Monk Shi De Jun and many other notable masters.
This was such an awesome experience spending time with so many top martial artist and getting to know them personally. Building this bond with them was invaluable as they trusted me and started to share lots of their Kung Fu and training methods…. I remember one particular moment were Master Zhang Dong Wu (one of Chen Zhenglei's top students) started to give me a lesson in Chen Tai Chi Chin Na (joint locking) and Shuai Jiao (Wrestling) techniques. It kind felt like he took me under his wing as he was showing me stuff everyday… a few years later I ended up studying in his school in China.
Invite to China
In 2010 I was invited to Guangzhou, China to teach and train by Chen Juan, Chen Zheng Lei’s daughter. I stayed with Chen Juan and her younger sister helping them teach beginners and kids in exchange I got to train and learn from them both. In this time in Guangzhou I also got to train under Cheng Bao Rong one of Chen Zheng Lei’s top disciples and trained with the Guangzhou Sanda team… one of the scariest moments in my life!
After my stay in Guangzhou I was invited to Zhengzhou this is where Chen Zhenglei and his Son Chen Bin have schools. I would help teach at their schools in exchange I got to learn from them both. At the same time there was a big push hands competition going on, I wanted to enter but they did not let foreigners enter for some reason. However, I got to train with the guys entering and learnt so much about Tai Chi and it’s combative effectiveness when trained correctly. Four weeks later I decided to visit Zhang Dong Wu’s Tai Chi School, I ended up staying for 6 weeks training twice a day. After the evening sessions I would train with his students who were training for push hands, sanda and shuai Jiao competitions.
Competitions & Coaching
Early on in my Tai Chi journey I began entering Push Hands and Tai Chi forms competitions both in the UK and in China winning over 20 medals. I have also had success as a coach with all students who I have trained for competition, always placing within the top 3 in their respective categories and divisions.
Birth of Tai Chi Space
In 2017 after giving it much thought I decided to quit teaching at the Tai Chi Centre. I took a short break and later that year decided to set up my own school. At first it was difficult to find a suitable and affordable venue so me and my very loyal students (love you guys) I actually like to refer to them as my training partners… we would train where ever we could. We used random church halls even a photography studio and mostly the great outdoors. Eventually we found a place and it was perfect, not much to look at but ideal to train Tai Chi and Martial Arts. It was a big space and eventually we got mats so we could throw each other around safely. As i didn't get a sign for the studio or give it an official name it got called the ‘Space’ and then eventually the Tai Chi Space’. Unfortunately in 2020 the Covid pandemic hit and the landlord sold the complex and we become homeless!!! Since the pandemic I have been teaching online and in outdoor spaces.
Enter the Wu
As I continue to train and teach outdoors I met my Wu Style Tai Chi teacher Master Simon Wong from Hong Kong. We touched hands in a friendly exchange of push hands and I could immediately sense his high level skill in Tai Chi and immediately asked to learn push hands from him. After a few meetings he agreed to teach me however to learn his push hands skills he said I also had to learn his Wu Tai Chi - as that was the foundation of his skill. It was a bit of a no-brainer! My training with Master Wong continues with a heavy focus on the internal energy practice of Tai Chi Chuan and push hands.
The Journey Continues...
I continue to train and teach both online and outdoors covering all aspects of Tai Chi Chuan from breathing exercises to form and weapons, push hands to Kung Fu and martial applications. Whatever your age, ability, or goals, I can help you get where you want to go on your journey.