Shaolin Tai Chi

Shaolin: Tai Chi Chuan & Kung Fu

We teach in the tradition of 'Shaolin'; our style is called Shaolin Long Fist and Bak Shaolin Tong Long (Northern Shaolin Praying Mantis). There are hundreds of regional and family styles, and dominant styles in the West are Yang, Chen, Shaolin, and a few more.

Whereas Tai Chi Chuan is soft, flowing, and meditative, Kung Fu is harder and faster. Classic Shaolin students used to learn both; the two systems share many of the core skills, such as stances, basic moves, form work, etc. In our school, you will find Tai Chi only classes, and classes that also include Kung Fu elements, in a safe and controlled manner.

We specialise in teaching older adults, therefore, there is no hard fitness workout or sparring. Even though we cover self-defence applications, our training is more about health, inner energy work, mediation, and the principles of Shaolin, which can be applied to daily life. If you practice on a regular base, you will still increase your fitness and strength, and improve your balance, focus and agility.

Specifics of our Tai Chi Chuan Style

Tai Chi Chuan is a Chinese martial art that uses gentle, flowing movements to create and balance inner energy (called Chi). It has mental, emotional and physical benefits, such as increased agility, balance, self-confidence, better memory, mindfulness etc.

The Shaolin style of Tai Chi Chuan is a bit 'harder' than some other traditions. Our moves sometimes may look almost like 'slow motion Kung Fu'. Every single move in our system has a health and a martial arts application. For example, lifting your arms in a certain way may strengthen some muscles and massage the glands. At the same time, it also could serve as a blocking motion for an incoming strike. The core goal is always building and balancing our energy (and enjoy our training, of course).

A bit of history

Our way of doing Tai Chi Chuan is related to Shaolin Kung Fu. Kung Fu is the hard/fast training style (the 'yang'), Tai Chi Chuan focuses on soft/flowing movement (the 'jin'). It is still a powerful martial art.
Shaolin is one of the oldest of the established martial arts, having originated in the famous Shaolin Temple in Northern China many centuries ago. Legend has it that an Indian monk, Boddhidharma, travelled to the Shaolin temple some centuries BC and introduced yoga to the resident monks, who were already training martial arts at this point.
This gave rise to the original Shaolin Kung Fu system, which combined training in a variety of effective self-defence techniques with yogic disciplines of relaxation, breathing and postural development. This was very useful for the monks who spent a long time sitting and meditating. Through practicing Kung Fu, they could keep their bodies fit and relaxed, and also enhance their energy flow (Chi) and mental focus.

Even though we value our Shaolin ancestors, our practicing of the Shaolin martial arts has no religious undertone any more. Everybody is welcome.

Inspiration for our style comes from...

Tai Chi Chuan

Tai Chi Chuan literally means 'Great Ultimate Fist'. It is an ancient Chinese martial art. Many modern Western schools only focus on the meditative aspects of Tai Chi. However, Tai Chi Chuan is probably one of the most powerful self-defence systems. We still honour this in our school by practising applications.
Tai Chi Chuan exists between hard, external, self-defence systems such as Karate and Kung Fu, and natural therapies such as Yoga and Chinese Medicine.
Tai Chi movements are practiced in slow, relaxed and fluid manner, with the emphasis on breathing, posture and accuracy of technique.
The goal of Tai Chi training is to build up more internal energy, which can then be used for health or self-defence. The self-defence strategy of Tai Chi Chuan is mostly about deflecting attackers' energy into circular motion and directing it away from the body.

Kung Fu

The term Kung Fu original means 'hard work', and can refer to any discipline or skill that requires intense time and effort to achieve.
In the 20th century, the term was used as an umbrella term for Chinese Martial arts. But to be correct, if talking about martial arts, we would call it Kung Fu Wu Shu (Kung Fu Fighting Arts).
There are hundreds of styles of Kung Fu - they vary from region to region, and many Chinese families had their own style that was handed down the generations by their ancestors.
Most styles taught hard, external techniques (punches, kicks, blocks) which were used for self-defence purposes. The original systems also contained yogic disciplines of relaxation, breathing and postural development. Unfortunately, these skills have been lost in many modern-day Western martial arts schools, but we still teach them in the our classes.

Chi Gung

Chi Gung means 'Energy Work' and is not a martial art, but part of Chinese Medicine (together with herbalism, acupuncture, etc.). The goal here is to build, balance and unblock energy flows in the body. This can release tension and pain, and hence improve many illnesses.
To create a better understanding of the Chinese approach to health, we can use this very simplified image: You could look at your body as a big garden with a system of watering hoses. If one of these hoses gets blocked, twisted or starts leaking, then some parts of the garden (your body) will not get nurtured and may get damaged. These ‘hoses’ are the Meridians in our body - the energy channels.
We use Chi Gung exercises – mostly of the Crane Wing style - as a warm-up at the beginning of our classes and to help with the integration of yin and yang - hard and soft energies.

One of the difference between our style and other Asian martial arts systems (such as Japanese Karate or Korean Taekwondo) is the emphasis on circular movements and getting the opponent out of balance, versus using a 'force-against force' approach in more linear punch/block movements.

Our Heritage

In our short-lived and distracted times, it gives us special satisfaction and grounding to know that our style has a long lineage and goes back centuries to Northern China. Two major parts of our heritage are Praying Mantis and Eagle Claw Kung Fu.

When we enter our gym we usually give a quick bow
to honour the ancestors, the ancient masters whose dedication created our style and all the teachers and students who came after them.

Our Teachers and Ancestors

Sifu Jeff Ayres

Andrea's teacher is the founder of the Tai Chi Tong Long association (translated as Grand Ultimate Praying Mantis), which provides the core curriculum of our school. Now retired, Jeff taught for over 30 years, and many students remember him as a witty Sifu with a great personality. His vision was to create a new system by combining the fluid, 'internal' techniques of Tai Chi Chuan with the hard 'external' techniques of Praying Mantis Kung Fu.
He developed a curriculum that contained traditional forms (Long Fist and a variety of animal styles) and new forms, which were given to him visions. Examples are the Spirit of the Sword form, the Grey Crane form and the Two Person Mantis form.

Grandmaster Fu Leung

The late Grandmaster Leong Fu Lung was the head and founder of the Bak Shaolin Eagle Claw Institute. He built a variety of Martial Arts schools worldwide, and has been teaching Kung Fu to thousands of people for over 35 years. Combining his Mexican and Chinese heritage, he brought both Eagle Claw and Praying Mantis Kung Fu to England, and was one of Sifu Jeff Ayres' main teachers.
Besides Grandmaster Fu Lung, Sifu Jeff had other teachers. He also had an interest in natural medicine, studying Kinesiology and Iridiology. He incorporated this understanding of the health benefits of energy work into his teaching and the development of Tai Chi Tong Long.

Ancient roots of our style

The roots of our style lie in Northern China. Over the centuries, many different styles had been developed, all with their unique strengths and weaknesses, which resulted in frequent conflicts between masters and schools keen to prove their techniques superior. Legend has it that five brothers, who each mastered one the main Kung Fu styles of the day, set out to combine the best elements of each style into one elite system.
This became known as Bak Pai Ching Wah - the best of the Northern Boxing systems. Training would involve the techniques of Bak Pai Ching Wah, followed by specialization in one style of Kung Fu. Meditation and mental mastery were part of the training.

We are deeply grateful to our ancestors and teachers.

Shaolin Animal Styles

An important inspiration for the development of the system came from the 18 main animals of the Indo-Chinese iconography (tiger, cobra, deer, dragon, etc.).
Observing their movement and fighting style helped the monks develop their stances and moves.

Today in our school, we still practice different animal styles. It is fun to do, and can teach us a lot. The strength of the Tiger, the agility of the Snake, the trickery of the Monkey can help us explore and develop aspects of ourselves which we might not have known so well in the past.

The Art of Shaolin Weaponery

Weapon training is an important part of Shaolin martial arts. There is a whole arsenal of weapons, but the most important ones are broad sword, double-sided sword, staff and spear. Weapons are considered an extension of the human body. They help students project their focus and their energy/chi further out, whilst being very clear and disciplined with their stances and moves.
Sifu Jeff Ayres always said: "Weapons don't lie", meaning; the students may get away with poor technique, but once they hold a weapon, the effects of poor technique will multiply.
On the other hand, when we trained with weapons and then go back to freehand training, things will come much easier. It is a bit like running with heavy weights in your hands, and then go back to regular running.

In our school, we teach Shaolin weapons only for advanced students - in a peaceful way and just for training purposes. We focus on broad sword, double sided sword Tai Chi sword, staff and iron fan.
The training starts with basic exercises and free-style movements with the weapon in hand, then we teach forms and applicatons. Advanced students will choose a certain weapon as their core training tool, and do some self-study with videos and books.