Notes on Practise — with Shkar Sharif

For this episode of Notes on Practise, I step away from martial mechanics and combat training to talk about liminality, high strangeness, and the strange atmosphere that sometimes surrounds inner practise. Not in the sensationalised internet sense of “mystical experiences”, but in the quieter and often more unsettling way that perception itself can begin to shift through long-term practice, attent...

Most people believe that time spent training automatically leads to transformation. But years of practise do not necessarily change a person. In this episode I reflect on why some people are deeply reshaped through martial arts and cultivation work while others remain fundamentally untouched by the process. We explore repetition, foundations, psychological resistance, novelty, ego, and the uncomfo...

Why is it that martial arts training and spiritual practice so often lead into each other? On the surface, they seem completely opposed. One is physical, confrontational, rooted in pressure. The other is often associated with stillness, reflection, and inner work. But if you’ve spent any real time in either, you start to notice the same patterns emerging. In this episode, I explore the deeper conn...

In this episode of Notes on Practise, I explain how I teach Qigong and the internal arts, the influences that shaped my approach, and why I always bring the practice back to the body. I talk about the White Crane lineage methods I teach, including standing practice, moving work, body-opening exercises, purging methods, and stepping patterns. I also reflect on the different streams that have influe...

In this episode of Notes on Practise, I explore the difference between what a teacher can guide and what must be discovered alone. Using the stages of Western alchemy — nigredo, albedo, citrinitas, and rubedo — we look at the process of psychological purification and preparation that many traditions describe as the outer work. Beyond this lies a deeper stage of cultivation often described as cross...

In this episode of Notes on Practise, I explore how traditional Kung Fu systems were actually taught — particularly in Southern China — and why training often begins with conditioning and forms rather than immediate fighting techniques. Historically, these arts were designed to develop a resilient body, structural power, and reliable skill over decades, not just short-term combat ability. Sparring...

In this episode of Notes on Practise , I reflect on walking without destination and what begins to change when attention is no longer shaped by efficiency. Drawing on decades of living in central London — and the stillness of the lockdowns — this is a meditation on drifting through a place, on memory layered into streets and buildings, and on the quiet reciprocity that can emerge when we slow down...

White Crane Kung Fu is often treated as a single, unified system. In practice, there are several distinct flavours, each emphasising different qualities — technical precision, softer internal work, or clearer links to earlier ancestor arts. In this episode, I look at White Crane as a final layer of refinement built on Taizuquan, and at San Zhan as the method that runs through both. The aim is not...

For the first episode, who better to sit down with than Kristina — the person who’s been in the middle of all of it with me. We talk about what it really takes to build a martial arts school. The version with empty rooms, long days, bad months, doubt, pressure, and the slow work of turning an idea into a place where people actually belong. We talk about: – how this all started – what nearly broke...