Overview

Taking something and making it your own makes a big difference. It's not just copying something, it's breaking it down, feeling what's going on and experiencing it for yourself.

(William Lewis)

Not all those who wander are lost

Sifu Waller is a full-time professional martial arts instructor.

He has been training martial arts since 1975, tai chi since 1990 and baguazhang since 1994. He has over 30,000 hours of practice behind him.
His classes are held in the North East of England.

Every school has their own unique way of exploring tai chi. We are no exception:

If you want a more detailed explanation, please browse the site or attend some lessons.

Agenda

Our school has no agenda, philosophy or political position to promote. We are not salespeople.

We do not believe that our way is the only way. It is simply the way that works for us and for the people we teach.
Other schools and teachers should find their own way.

Our way is a quiet one, anonymous and unremarkable.
It is drawn from the long-term study of tai chi, taoism, zen and self defence.
We will teach anyone who wants to learn and we will not impose our way upon others.

If this site or any of our words are not to your liking, that is ok. It was not written for you.

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Awareness

We must always begin with awareness.
Awareness is the act of seeing. Of hearing. Of feeling.

Awareness is the passive quality of openness that enables us to experience reality directly.
We want to be in the here and now, in the moment, present and experiencing.
We do not want to be caught up in our thoughts, opinions, conditioning and preconceptions.

Being in the present moment is essential. We call this condition 'meditation'.

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Being genuine

Modern culture has embraced phoney behaviour. People forget how liberating it is to be simple and honest.

Many people are locked-up tight inside and profoundly uncomfortable with themselves.
When you let your barriers fall and learn how to be yourself, it is very refreshing.
The pressure of maintaining a front will vanish.

Until you let-go and express how you feel, you cannot be spontaneous.

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Beyond form

There is more to tai chi than form.
The internal arts are about how we use the body. They are about moving naturally and easily.
Without strain. Without discomfort.

Your movements will be agile and your spirit of vitality will be high. You will begin to feel that your tai chi practice goes beyond simple form training, and you will be able to perceive things as energetic combinations rather than as static physical bodies.

The internal arts are martial arts. They were designed to be used in self defence.
Our comprehensive syllabus aims to teach people how to use tai chi effectively in modern times.

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Composure

Life presents us with many complex situations.
There are countless options, variables, consequences and ramifications.
It is easy to worry, to panic, to become upset.

Anger must have something strong to hit against. If there is no response, no feedback, anger dissipates.

We must aim to remain calm, detached and emotionally balanced.
This is not so easy.
In order for it to become a habit we must gently challenge our capacity to cope.

Stressful exercises and demanding work will not help you to stay composed.
This is why we focus upon fun.
Fun encourages humour and you learn not to take life too seriously.

If you succeed, you succeed. If you fail, you fail.
When you cease to worry about the outcome you change.
When trying stops, things are allowed to operate without force.
Life becomes smoother and easier.

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Curriculum

(i) Progress

We offer students a clear path of progress through our syllabus.
They know where they are, what they should be working on and have an idea of what comes next.

At each stage of the curriculum the student possesses clearly defined skills that can be proven in self defence.
We know how to organise material in a structured manner and teach it systematically.
This way, each student is free to progress at their own pace.

(ii) Rank

There are 17 ranks in the syllabus.

(iii) Grading

We offer grading all year round.

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Direct experience

Talk is cheap in the modern world, so we encourage direct experience instead.

Nobody in the class is expected to take the teacher's word for it. Find out for yourself through practical exercises.

Belief is not a requirement, nor is faith. You are not a disciple.
We adopt a scientific approach. The evidence is to be found in the doing and the proof in the effect.
This is called 'empiricism':

Empiricism - finding valuable facts and discoveries through observation and experiment in the absence of any theory.

Discover the facts for yourself. Feel it for yourself.
This is the heart of zen.

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Dynamic balancing

Balance is commonly seen as being a condition of stillness and rest.

Yet, people cannot reasonably find a fixed point of balance in their lives because life is not static.
The changing nature of existence means that we need to be re-adjusting constantly.

This process of continual re-adjustment is called 'dynamic balancing' and occurs in relation to the changing nature of what is happening.

We cannot expect to be 'balanced' because nothing in our lives will ever remain stable and fixed.

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Innovation

(i) Unique

We offer innovative classes that challenge the student to understand the art for themselves, on their own terms.
Students learn to be open, receptive and fluid.

Every single lesson is an opportunity to consider new ideas.
Students make connections and associations. They have new insights. They explore possibilities.

People are constantly learning, evolving, incorporating and changing. So is their tai chi.
Nothing is static.

We are the only school in the North East of England offering a curriculum of this kind.

(ii) Reflective teaching

'Reflective teaching' means that the teacher should be adjusting what and how they teach as their own understanding and insight grows.

Life teaches us constantly.
How we do things can usually be improved.
We need to be open to change and willing to re-consider how we approach things.

Every aspect of the class/syllabus/teaching serves one purpose only: to improve your capacity to learn and practice the art skilfully.

As a teacher, nothing else is relevant.

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Internal power

Our tai chi uses internal power.

This is a unique way of using the body, completely unlike the external arts.
Internal power does not require tension. Strength is not pitted against strength.
The muscles remain soft and loose, and the framework is gently connected, heavy and relaxed.

This sounds easy in principle but is quite hard to achieve in practice. It takes an awful lot of work to accomplish and a lot of guidance.
We incorporate 50 internal power concerns into our practice, with each new quality strengthening how the body works.

You may know two hundred different martial arts but what is the quality of your movements? It's still just movement, it doesn't matter how many forms you know.

People with wisdom will use a tool properly, but a person with lower knowledge will recognise only one function of the tool. In the same manner, internal martial arts can be used for many functions because you use the same tool. This training method is only one tool, but it has many different uses.

You need to use one form for practice and include everything in it - mind, structure, movement and qi. If you can easily do all of these within each motion, that is the internal martial arts.

It is difficult for many people to appreciate the nature of softness, the power of yielding and the liberty of gravity.
It seems to go against how we typically use our bodies.

You need an open mind. You need doubt. You need curiosity. You need commitment.

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Jing

Martial arts people tend to thrust their limb at a target and continue to push through upon impact.
This approach is not good physics.
Much of the kinetic energy bounces back into the martial artist, and fails to enter the opponent.

Inertia is the key to all tai chi strikes in our school.
The arm is thrown out from the body, then the arm returns and the kinetic energy continues.
Just like a whip.

The ability to generate and project kinetic energy is one of the principle skills in tai chi.
Your muscles are used to move the arm in space, not push against the target.

The study of energy and its effect upon somebody else is called 'jing'. Not all jing are concerned with striking.

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Natural body

You must learn how to work with your body, rather than against it.

Martial arts stances and postures often ignore the physics of the body and exert constantly.
Tension is created as a consequence of strain and the body is subjected to sustained pressure.
Deep, long, narrow, awkward stances... these can lead to strain.

Tai chi movements are really very simple but students insist upon making tai chi difficult by adding extra moves.

Tai chi is not complicated; people are complicated.

We need to feel where our natural range is, and work within that.
We need to be in our backs, legs and our torso, not out in the hands.

The internal arts can never simply involve copying what somebody else is doing.
You must feel what is right for your body. What is comfortable. What causes no injury or strain.
What works.

We teach spontaneous, comfortable, natural, effortless, healthy movement.

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Neuroplasticity

There is growing scientific evidence that the brain can be kept healthy and functioning as we grow older.

Challenging existing modes of thought, dropping long-held opinions and learning new skills causes the body to grow new brain tissue to cope with the demands of change.

Students come with less than perfect faith. It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.

Our syllabus encourages people to fundamentally change the way in which they perceive reality.
This is one of the reasons why tao and zen study are so important.

We experience reality in our minds. All sensory data is processed and interpreted by the mind.
This is where the tai chi study really takes place.

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Relationship

Tai chi and life involve constant interaction with other people.
It is necessary to make these relationships harmonious.

Being in conflict with another person is unpleasant.
We look at how to meet incoming force softly, neutralise, re-direct, smother or evade.
There are no blocks in our tai chi. We never oppose force.

The equivalent process to seeking the "Holy Grail" in internal arts is the ability to move more slowly than your opponent and consistently win.

Slower speed that wins out requires three types of speed coming together simultaneously:

1. Timing.

2. The signals required to maintain some level of conscious power.

3. The ability to release the internal gears of your body, which, if they freeze up, can create a momentary mental gap that breaks the connection between you and your opponent.

This method is referred to in the tai chi classics in the form of a question:

"How is it possible that an old man can defeat a group of younger men?"

Obviously, elderly men, even the most talented, are not physically capable of moving at the speed of young men. Virtually, by definition, the elderly move with slowness, and yet those old men internal arts masters by slipping in between the gaps, are justifiably well-known for defeating younger and faster men.

Instead of moving within the framework of our rigid thoughts, opinions, plans and ideas, we move with what is happening.
Every situation in life offers a tremendous number of variables, possibilities and choices.
Learning how to adapt, change and improvise is essential.

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Self defence

Tai chi was developed in ancient China to address the self defence needs of the time.
It can be just as relevant in the 21st Century if we remain practical.

Westerners have some very good ideals. One is that they like the guts, they want to go to the heart of the matter and get the real stuff. They don't care about all the fluff. How does it work? Tell me how it works, then I'll do it.

The Chinese way is to have faith, do it a long time and maybe I'll tell you how it works.

There is a functional martial art at the root of tai chi.

The repertoire is incredible and the possibilities considerable.
But you must keep your mind grounded in the real. In the here and now.

Our students work through simple skills at first.
They learn how to be loose, soft and sensitive. They use gravity and balance rather than force.
They learn how to have fun and be exuberant without hurting one another.

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Self defence (graded students)

Over the centuries many variations of the movements have been taught, but provided the principles are adhered to there is no need for the student to doubt the authenticity of what he is being taught.

When you adhere assiduously to the tai chi principles and the internal way of moving the body, the skills emerge progressively.

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What is different about our classes?

(i) Learning a skill

We teach a relatively small, thorough syllabus which offers considerable scope for deeper study.
Instead of learning things superficially, we encourage our students to look more carefully.
Understanding takes time. It requires specialism.

(ii) Access to all

In our school the stances are high and we focus upon natural, comfortable body movement.
This means that there is no strain, regardless of age. Anybody can learn the skills if they put in the work.

Self defence is just the same. We do not rely upon size, strength or speed.

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Yielding

Yielding is all about creating space.
When you have room to move, to choose, to adapt - you can cope.
The pressure is removed and you have time. You have an opportunity.

Yielding also enables you to move with what is happening.
This is not as easy as it sounds, and requires softness of mind and body. It requires true sensitivity.