The Tai Chi Notebook – Details, episodes & analysis

My guest for the latest episode of The Tai Chi Notebook Podcast is Tina Faulkner Elders, chief instructor of the RuYi School of Taijiquan and Qigong in Aberdeenshire. We talk about Tina’s training in qigong, first with her father, then in Beijing, China, and then on Wudang mountain itself, the legendary home of Taoism.

Links:

RuYi School of Taijiquan and Qigong

https://ruyischool.com/

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/RuyiAberdeenshire/

Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsfluLjYWYdD7T8HhJ7BZOQ

The Tai Chi Notebook

http://thetaichinotebook.com

In episode 32 of The Tai Chi Notebook Podcast, I’m joined by Augustus John Roe, who is an author and martial artist living and working in Vietnam.

In our interview I get a chance to ask Gus about what traditional martial arts are like in Vietnam, how the MMA scene there developed and how popular Tai Chi is, not to mention the surprising involvement of Ho Chi Minh in the early development of the 24-Step Tai Chi form.

Links:

Augustus John Roe:

https://www.augustusjohnroe.com/

Ho Chi Minh Tai Chi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfIl0dKrP0c

https://thetaichinotebook.com/

In this episode I catch up with my old Xing Yi training partner Mike Ash who has been doing marital arts for years. We talk about how we met, Mike's training history and the different martial arts he's trained in over the years as well as his latest adventures in Yang style Tai Chi and Chi Kung. We also discuss what makes a martial art popular and the current trend towards MMA, why Tai Chi is still so popular and why Xing Yi isn't in comparison.

Enjoy the episode and check out thetaichinotebook.com for more articles about internal arts.

In the latest episode of the Tai Chi Notebook podcast host Graham is left all on his own without a guest, so he’s decided to pick up a book and read it to you! He’s gone for The Tai Chi Classic, one of the core works which make up a collection known as The Tai Chi Classics. Graham goes through the text a paragraph at a time and gives his interpretation of what the classic is saying. We hope you enjoy!

The Tai Chi Classic

In motion, the whole body should be light and agile,
with all parts linked as if threaded together.

The chi should be activated,
The mind should be internally gathered.

The postures should be rounded and without defect,
without deviations from the proper alignment;
in motion, your form should be continuous, without stops and starts.

The jin should be
rooted in the feet,
generated from the legs,
controlled by the waist, and
expressed through the fingers. 

The feet, legs, and waist should act together
as an integrated whole,
so that while advancing or withdrawing
one can take the opportunity for favorable timing
and good position.
If correct timing and position are not achieved,
the body will become disordered
and will not move as an integrated whole;
the correction for this defect
must be sought in the legs and waist.

The principle of adjusting the legs and waist
applies for moving in all directions;
upward or downward,
advancing or withdrawing,
left or right.

All movements are motivated by Yi,
not external form.

If there is up, there is down;
when advancing, have regard for withdrawing;
when striking left, pay attention to the right.

If the yi wants to move upward,
it must simultaneously have intent downward.

Alternating the force of pulling and pushing
severs an opponent’s root
so that he can be defeated
quickly and certainly.

Full and empty
should be clearly differentiated.
At any place where there is emptiness,
there must be fullness;
Every place has both emptiness and fullness.

The whole body should be threaded together through every joint
without the slightest break.

Long Boxing is like a great river
rolling on unceasingly.

Peng, Lu, Ji, An,
Tsai, Lieh, Zhou, and Kao
are equated to the Eight Trigrams.

The first four are the cardinal directions;
South; Heaven, North; Earth, West; Water, and East; Fire.

The second four are the four corners:
Southwest; Wind, Northeast; Thunder,
Southeast; Lake, and Northwest; Mountain.

Advance, Withdraw,
Look Left, Look Right, and
Central Equilibrium

are equated to the five elements:
Metal,
Wood,
Water,
Fire, and
Earth

Taken together, these are termed the Thirteen Postures

Hello and welcome to the first Tai Chi Notebook podcast of 2023! Happy Year of the Rabbit! 

My guest for this episode is Will Wain Williams. Will has a background in Taiji Mantis Kung Fu, which he trained in China, where he also lived for 13 years. He’s  traveled around Asia documenting ancient Kung Fu systems for his YouTube Channel Monkey Steals Peach ( https://www.youtube.com/@MonkeyStealsPeach ).

I talk to Will’s about his travels documenting kung fu styles, as well as upcoming trip to Taiwan and how he’s recently started Brazilian Jiujitsu.

 www.thetaichinotebook.com

Matt Hill is the owner of the Systema Academy in Wiltshire, England. Matt has a long history in martial arts, starting with Aikido, training under Morihiro Saito Sensei in Japan in the early 90s. From there he joined the Parachute Regiment leaving as a Captain in 2003. After this he started training in Systema under Vladimir Vasiliev and now teaches Systema, Bushcraft and leads groups trekking through jungles all around the world.

Matt was kind enough to give me a 1-1 in Systema before we recorded this podcast at his academy, where he focused on the four pillars of Systema - breathing, relaxation, posture and movement. We discuss all these things in the podcast as well as the next destination for Matt's jungle trek.

Links:

Systema Academy:
https://www.matthill.co.uk/

Salvatore Pace, or Salvo for short is a 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu and owner of Gracie Barra Bath, the Head Quarters of Gracie Barra in the South West of the UK, Gracie Barra West Wilts and co-owner of Gracie Barra Gillingham. He is a two time NAGA European Champion and Grappler's Quest champion. Salvo grew up in Sicily and had a passion for martial arts as a young boy, practicing everything he could get his hands on, from boxing and Kung Fu to wrestling, and then MMA in the emerging combat sports scene in the UK, but it was his first encounter with Brazilian Jiujitsu and his main teacher Professor Carlos Lemos Jnr, that changed his life forever and put him on a plane to Brazil and then the USA, where he trained with some of the biggest names in the sport.

Returning to the UK Salvo had a dream of teaching jiujitsu for a living and set up Gracie Barra Bath in 2007, back when most people hadn’t even heard of Brazilian jiujitsu. And that’s where our paths crossed,  I first met Salvo way back in 2011 and I’ve been with him ever since, getting all my belts from white to black from his hands and it’s been a pleasure to watch his students and academy grow and develop and expand to new locations around the South West.

Jiujitsu has certainly evolved a lot since those early days, but we can let Salvo tell that story, so here he is.

Links:

Gracie Barra Bath (South West HQ) www.graciebarrabath.com

Gracie Barra West Wilts www.graciebarrawestwilts.com

Gracie Barra Gillingham www.graciebarragillingham.com

My guest for this episode is Matthew Kreuger who hails all the way from sunny Alaska where he runs a his own podcast called ‘Walking with the Tengu’, which explores classics texts and writings for the modern martial artist.

Matthew is also a fellow practitioner of Brazilian jiujitsu and also practice the Japanese sword art of Iaido and the Chinese throwing art of Shuai Jiao. Today we mainly discuss the topic of warriorship, but we actually start off with the topic of the performance aspects of martial arts and finish off with a discussion of how Matthew combines his three martial arts in his personal practice. 

Links:

Walking with the Tengu:
https://walkingtengu.wixsite.com/tengu

You can support my podcast by becoming a Patron, get the podcast early and get exclusive videos and articles. Head over to www.patreon.com/taichinotebook

Today’s episode is an interview with my old friend Professor Paul Bowman of Cardiff University who is something of a mover and shaker in the academic field of martial arts studies. Paul has written several academic books on martial arts including Martial Arts Mythologies, The Invention of Martial Arts and Theorising Bruce Lee. He also co-edits the Martial Arts Studies Journal for the Martial Arts Studies Research Network.

Years ago I taught Paul attended my Tai Chi class- and now we both train Brazilian jiujitsu in the same organisation so this is quite an informal chat. We talk about what Paul’s been up to since he last appeared on my podcast (that was back in episode 3 if you want to check it out), his upcoming book on self defence and the sublime, plus his unhealthy obsession with the Internet personality Master Wong. 

Links:

Join my Patreon! Head over to www.patreon.com/taichinotebook

Martial Arts Studies Network: http://mastudiesrn.org/

My guest in this episode will need no introduction to anybody who trains in the Chinese styles of Xing Yi and Baguazhang, especially in the United States. Tim Cartmell is a lifelong martial artist who spent many years living in Asia learning the internal arts, before heading back to the US where he took up BJJ, becoming a black belt. Tim is now the head jiujitsu coach at Ace Jiujitsu Academy in Fountain Valley, California where he teaches classes and trains professional MMA fighters. https://www.acejiujitsu.com/ 

In this podcast I ask Tim about his training tips, especially for older martial artists, where he thinks martial arts is going in the future and his approach to combining all the arts he knows into a single principle-based, reality-driven approach.

You can find out more about Tim at his website www.shenwu.com and don’t forget to check out the Shen Wu Martial Arts group on Facebook. 

I hadn’t talked to Tim before this interview, but many of the people I’ve had as guests on my podcast have rated him highly, and now I know why - for somebody with so much experience of martial arts Tim is a very humble and genuine guy, as I hope you’ll discover over the next hour or so. 

You can support The Tai Chi Notebook Podcast by becoming a patron. Head over to www.patreon.com/taichinotebook and become a patron today! You'll get a version of the podcast you can download, exclusive video clips and articles.