When I was a kid I did Judo and Karate. I wasn’t especially good and I found both quite scary to tell you the truth however I’m glad my parents encouraged me.

When I was 19 and at University I got interested in Bruce Lee and soon after Wing Chun Kung Fu which was Bruce’s art from when he lived in Hong Kong.

I was full of bravado and wanted to get good at fighting mainly because I felt inadequate as a male and wanted to feel like I could defend myself.

My Wing Chun teacher who I lived with for a while was also into Tai Chi and had attained some skills that at the time I found almost magical. He could easily over power bigger guys and knew joint locks, throws and how to deliver power at close range - the controversial ‘inch punch’.

So I was fascinated by all this. He told me that the problem with Tai Chi was that ‘yes you can use it for fighting however it takes a very long time to get proficient’. He thought around 20 years.

I then moved south and started to train internal martial arts in London learning with a few different teachers. I did mostly Chinese arts - Ba Gua Chang, Qi Gong and Wu Style Tai Chi. I realised at that time that these arts can certainly make you strong and flexible but that doesn’t necessarily equate with fighting skill. One of my teachers told me “if you wanna get good at fighting, go out on the street and fight!”. In other words he was saying there is no substitute for the real thing. I wasn’t interested in doing that at all and my interest in fighting was starting to wane at this point.

I started to consider that building strength, structure and robustness were valuable self defence components. For example the ability to take a punch. And a calm mind under pressure. Later I considered the skills around diffusing a potentially violent situation before it kicks off using your wits - sometimes known as ‘the art of fighting without fighting’. I now consider these things to be of the utmost importance.

When I got into my 30s I started to learn what I considered to be ‘real fighting arts’ - Thai boxing, Western boxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Later still I started to learn Japanese Kempo. However throughout this period Tai Chi was the staple practice that I kept returning to. And I realised at this point that it had become part of me.

When I would roll with the jiu jitsu guys or spa with the Kempo and Thai guys it was really Tai Chi that I was doing at least internally. So for example I might be throwing Thai kicks but the internal mechanics of what I was doing - sinking and releasing my mass - was from the Yang style.

When grappling I would be using ‘Song’ to stay as relaxed as possible and not waste energy. My grips would be more Tai Chi related too - gently touching into the opponent to feel what they were doing and not oppose their force directly but move with it so I could control them - ‘stick, adhere, join, follow’ .

Yeah I know sparring and free exchanges are not fighting and to be honest I had really lost interest in fighting at this point. Friendly sport fighting and sparring with your buddies is way more fun - and better for your health and mental state. Losing the aggression of youth I now believe is an important milestone in martial arts development.

I want to wrap this post up by saying that fighting is definitely not my thing and I am probably drawn to Tai Chi for this reason - because it offers a vehicle for developing martial skills that are not aggressive or violent.

Now just to contradict myself I’m not saying that all Tai Chi people are like this. Many are not and in fact the Yang family were renowned for being formidable fighters. I believe they knew and practised devastating martial techniques and you can still find those skills in Yang practitioners today. I’ve met a number who have abilities way beyond my own.

But the Yangs also knew how to immobilise someone without hurting them at all. They could neutralise a situation without anyone losing face which was an important cultural skill during those times. I suspect these ‘softer’ skills are much rarer in the world today and perhaps of a higher calibre I don’t know. I’m just a minnow in a big pond and my perspective constantly changes as I practice. Hopefully that will continue.🙏