I am an intermediate level instructor for the Wudang San Feng Pai tradition, and have been teaching since 2015. I am a member of the Tai Chi Union of Great Britain (TCUGB) with instructor’s insurance and UK DBS clearance. My existing and ongoing training is recognised by both Wudang mountain (15th Generation Masters Zhong Xue Chao and Yuan Xiu Gang, see photos) and Wudang Spain, in addition to various European Tai Ji Quan and Qi Gong organisations. I am also a healthcare clinician and use taiji and qi gong within neurorehabilitation.
My journey here has been as a spiral, circling closer and closer to an attuned expression of myself and my place in the universe through movement, philosophy and spirituality, a system which has been waiting for me at the centre to arrive and discover it all along.
My entry into martial arts started in Tae Kwon Do in 2000. I loved the kicking and spinning aspects to the movements but wanted a style that flowed more and explored deeper, qualities that took me towards Chinese martial arts and Kung Fu. A trip to China in 2006 focused on some training at Shaolin, but also a day hiking around Wudang mountain as a tourist. I had not had much exposure to Wudang culture before then (other than the referents in the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon movie). My day walking through the mists on the forested slopes of Wudang, discovering the Daoist temples scattered over the mountain range and seeing depictions of Tai Ji Quan forms and sequences, left something in me. It wasn’t a sudden urge to learn the art at first, but a steady and growing beating of something that gently but persistently insisted I keep may gaze on Wudang and find out more.
On my return back to Oxford in the UK I started a regular training in Shaolin gong fu. In addition to the martial art, itself this training group has taught me the value of a small but committed collection of folk who share a love for a martial art style and camaraderie with each other, plus the importance of financially-accessible tuition, something I am very committed to as an instructor myself.
During my Shaolin training, the background beat of Wudang persisted. I found myself spending more time looking at videos of Wudang forms and techniques on the net and reading more about the background Daoist context to these practices. I started to do some distance learning of the basic forms, but realised I needed the face to face instruction, despite the dearth of Wudang schools in the UK.
Then in 2012 a new opportunity arose: a work trip to China allowed me to spend a short time training with a 15th Generation San Feng Pai Wudang monk, Shifu Zhong Xue Chao (Master Bing), at the remote Five Dragons Temple (Wu Long Gong) on Wudang mountain. This was a life-changing experience: the location was beautiful (most of the photos on this website are taken there) and the study was exhilarating and inspiring. We focused on Long Hua Quan and I was also introduced to a lesser extent to Fu Hu Quan, Baxian Gun, Tai Ji 28 and Wuxing Qi Gong. I could see during that stay how much I would come to love the whole syllabus of San Feng Pai, if only there were more opportunities to learn and study it.
During my Shaolin training, the background beat of Wudang persisted. I found myself spending more time looking at videos of Wudang forms and techniques on the net and reading more about the background Daoist context to these practices. I started to do some distance learning of the basic forms, but realised I needed the face to face instruction, despite the dearth of Wudang schools in the UK.
Then in 2012 a new opportunity arose: a work trip to China allowed me to spend a short time training with a 15th Generation San Feng Pai Wudang monk, Shifu Zhong Xue Chao (Master Bing), at the remote Five Dragons Temple (Wu Long Gong) on Wudang mountain. This was a life-changing experience: the location was beautiful (most of the photos on this website are taken there) and the study was exhilarating and inspiring. We focused on Long Hua Quan and I was also introduced to a lesser extent to Fu Hu Quan, Baxian Gun, Tai Ji 28 and Wuxing Qi Gong. I could see during that stay how much I would come to love the whole syllabus of San Feng Pai, if only there were more opportunities to learn and study it.
During 2012-2014 I looked for any Wudang-related opportunity in the UK to study more, and had some valuable learning experiences from the Wudang Xuan Wu Pai lineage, via Shifus Lucia Ring-Watkins in London and Cristian Lopez in Portsmouth, and a workshop on 13-step Taijiquan by Shifu Yuan Li Min from Wudang (see photos).
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In 2014 Wudang San Feng Pai arrived in the UK. Shifu Pablo Salas opened a school in Sheffield and Shifu Jeff Reid (Zi He, disciple of Master Yuan Xiu Gang) started teaching in London. I trained intensively with both during 2014-2018, covering the majority of the San Feng Pai qi gong, taiji, liangyi, gong fu and weapons syllabus, plus some Xuanwu Pai forms. Under the auspices of Shifu Pablo Salas (now back in Barcelona) and Alex Miexa from Wudang Spain, I was in the first cohort in Europe to complete Master Yuan Xiu Gang’s San Feng Pai 3 year instructor training. Also during this time I won several medals in national and European competitions.
While commitments in the UK have precluded a return back to Wudang itself before 2020, the COVID pandemic that year created both limitations and opportunities. Having previously been unable to train more with Master Bing (who was based in either China or the USA only), he began to teach online and I was able to resume my studies with him, while supporting his online classes for all European students. In 2022 Master Bing started his own Instructor’s training course and I have enjoyed deepening my practice further with the Master who started my Wudang journey a decade before.
I continue to teach in Oxford, UK, both in the city and whenever possible in the wooded slopes of the surrounding hills, my ‘Xiao Wudang’. I am blessed with a thriving and dedicated student community (both adults and families) that has been cultivated and nurtured since 2015. My students enjoy ongoing tuition from both myself, my assistant instructor Sylvain Prudhomme, and my own masters (Master Bing, Pablo Salas and Jeff Reid) who provide ongoing courses and workshops for us in Oxford and Barcelona.
While commitments in the UK have precluded a return back to Wudang itself before 2020, the COVID pandemic that year created both limitations and opportunities. Having previously been unable to train more with Master Bing (who was based in either China or the USA only), he began to teach online and I was able to resume my studies with him, while supporting his online classes for all European students. In 2022 Master Bing started his own Instructor’s training course and I have enjoyed deepening my practice further with the Master who started my Wudang journey a decade before.
I continue to teach in Oxford, UK, both in the city and whenever possible in the wooded slopes of the surrounding hills, my ‘Xiao Wudang’. I am blessed with a thriving and dedicated student community (both adults and families) that has been cultivated and nurtured since 2015. My students enjoy ongoing tuition from both myself, my assistant instructor Sylvain Prudhomme, and my own masters (Master Bing, Pablo Salas and Jeff Reid) who provide ongoing courses and workshops for us in Oxford and Barcelona.
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