What do school members get for their money?

• Attend once or twice a week 
• Train up to 2 hours a night
• Fully-differentiated syllabus 
• Authentic skills 
• High quality tuition • Professional learning environment
• Extensive range of skills available  • Address individual health concerns & training requirements
• Extremely thorough exploration of the art(s)
• Study new material every week
• Work through the full curriculum
• Receive regular corrections, tips & pointers
• Request bespoke tuition
• Access to highly detailed school DVDs
• Discuss taijiquan theory and related philosophies with Master Waller
• Attend workshops, boot camp and class social events • Advanced level of understanding
• Follows the teachings of the Tai Chi Classics
• Explore 1300 page on-line taijiquan database with guidance from Master Waller

Feedback

When I first looked at shuai jiao it was fascinating. The bio-mechanics enabled an unexpected degree of manipulation and control. At that stage I had no real sense of it's potential.

Years later, I share the same loathing and fear of shuai jiao as the other intermediate students.

With experience comes realisation; Sifu's shuai jiao is very, very serious and offers no opportunity for recovery or safety. As the attacker I'm totally at the mercy of the defender - praying that they're  friendly and considerate. Which thankfully they are!

Sifu's demonstrations of more flowing shuai jiao application are very intimidating. He finds applications within countless form movements and self defence opportunities, and employs them spontaneously: switching, combining and adapting as the need arises. His bagua shuai jiao is particularly scary!

(Rachel)

Shuai jiao & chin na applications

Freeform bagua

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ukEJk2oCSg

Freeform bagua

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WCPG1Bjtms

Sifu got this from the bagua students

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmOjdh41unA

Form applications: 3 expressions

Sifu sees form applications as being examples of chin na, jing or shuai jiao - sometimes all three skills combined. It doesn't matter whether its bagua or tai chi, he just sees applications within the form.

In Sifu's mind, a student who cannot apply the form readily and thoroughly remains a novice.

Thorough & convincing

I personally find the bagua applications the hardest to fathom. Peter Southwood quotes Wang Shu Jin to Sifu regarding bagua; explaining how the student must find the applications for themselves. Accordingly, Peter expected Sifu to produce at least 7 applications for every form posture (tai chi & bagua), and then he assessed them for viability.

This emphasis upon martial credibility was at the heart of Peter's teachings and is the centre of Sifu's as well.

Form application

Sifu's skills stem mainly from his ability to apply the bagua and tai chi in self defence.

He applies all 3 unarmed forms effortlessly; often spontaneously developing new applications whilst teaching existing ones.

We once tried to catalogue all of the Yang Cheng Fu form applications he could think of but it just got silly. There were hundreds from just the first half dozen postures.

'External' shuai jiao

Not all shuai jiao practiced in the world is internal.
It is often taught as an external martial art in its own right, akin to judo.
Force, tension and aggression are used. There are even fighting competitions.

This is not what we teach.

Grappling

Tai chi is something like 80% wrestling and 20% striking. Does pushing hands look like boxing or wrestling? Wrestling!

 The reason why the originators of the internal styles gravitated toward the grappling portions of their art is that you can practice grappling moves 99% the same as they will be used in a street fight.
 
 (Tim Cartmell)