The Tai Chi Notebook

My guest for this episode is Matthew Kreuger who hails all the way from sunny Alaska where he runs a his own podcast called ‘Walking with the Tengu’, which explores classics texts and writings for the modern martial artist. Matthew is also a fellow practitioner of Brazilian jiujitsu and also practice the Japanese sword art of Iaido and the Chinese throwing art of Shuai Jiao. Today we mainly discus...

Today’s episode is an interview with my old friend Professor Paul Bowman of Cardiff University who is something of a mover and shaker in the academic field of martial arts studies. Paul has written several academic books on martial arts including Martial Arts Mythologies, The Invention of Martial Arts and Theorising Bruce Lee. He also co-edits the Martial Arts Studies Journal for the Martial Arts...

My guest in this episode will need no introduction to anybody who trains in the Chinese styles of Xing Yi and Baguazhang, especially in the United States. Tim Cartmell is a lifelong martial artist who spent many years living in Asia learning the internal arts, before heading back to the US where he took up BJJ, becoming a black belt. Tim is now the head jiujitsu coach at Ace Jiujitsu Academy in Fo...

In this episode I’m teaming up with Ken Gullette, to answer the kind of questions that Tai Chi teachers get asked all the time. Ken is an all-round good guy and owner of the Internal Fighting Arts website where he teaches the arts of Xing Yi, Bagua and Tai Chi at a very reasonable monthly cost. Check him out at www.internalfightingarts.com Ken is a Chen style guy, and I’m a Yang style guy so it’s...

In this episode my guest is Phil Duffy, a senior student of Sifu Wan Kei-Ho from Hong Kong, who carries on a lineage of Northern Shaolin and Buk Sing Choy Li Fut from the famous masters Ku Yu Chang and Tam Sam. Buk Sing is a much rarer sub style of Choy Li Fut that involves less long forms and more conditioning and drills, and it’s the same style of Choy Li Fut that I learned in the UK, so when I...

In this episode my guest is Seymour Yang, a long time acquaintance of mine who is also something of a legend in the BJJ world, where he goes by the name Meerkatsu and is famous for his BJJ artworks, which get turned into beautiful t-shirts, rash guards and gis.  Seymour is also a black belt in Brazilian jiujitsu and teaches at the Roger Gracie academy in South Hertfordshire. So, it’s no surpr...

My guest in this episode is Michael Babin a Tai Chi practitioner from Ottawa, Canada who has been teaching Tai Chi since the 1980s. He’s primarily a Yang style practitioner, but also does a bit of Sun style Tai Chi on the side. Michael is now officially retired from running his own school, but still keeps his hand in training 3 or 4 times a week with his old students. In our discussion we talk a l...

Arlene Faulk is the author of Walking on Pins and Needles, her memoir of living with multiple sclerosis without a diagnosis for many years, spending two years not getting up from the couch and how she eventually found Tai Chi and how it helped her combat the disease and regain her health, eventually becoming a Tai Chi teacher herself. Make sure you listen right to the end as we have some tips from...

Welcome to the first Tai Chi Notebook Podcast of 2022. Happy new year of the tiger and I hope you are in good health.  In this episode my guest is David Rogers of the Rising Crane Chinese Marital Arts school in the UK.  David has an extensive background in Chinese martial arts and has been training since 1984 and teaching for over 25 years, mainly in Tai Chi  and Hap Gar, but he’s a...

This episode I’m talking to the man, the legend, that is Stephan Kesting, Stephan has taught thousands of people martial arts through his famous website grapplarts.com which, back in the day, was one of the first sites to put out quality Brazilian jiujitsu instructional material and is still putting out top notch instructional material today Stephan is a fireman, he has competed in marital arts, h...

My guest this episode is Rob Poyton a veteran of the UK Tai Chi and martial arts scene. These days Rob is a teacher of the Russian martial art of Systema, which he has been teaching in the UK since the early 2000s and has run workshops and seminars all over Europe.  Rob is also a prolific author of Systema books and videos which you can get via his website Cutting Edge Systema which is found...

Hello and welcome to a special bonus edition of the Tai Chi Notebook. This time I’m interviewing Joe and Brad from The Fight Bible, a popular YouTube martial arts channel. I used to train jiujitsu with Brad back in the day, before he went on to become a UFC fighter, so I’ve known him for years. Brad is retired from the UFC now, but he recently accepted a fight offer from the famous D.K. Yoo, who t...

In this episode  Tai Chi Notebook podcast my guest is Ken Gullette, a native of Illinois, USA, where he trains in all three of the main internal arts - Tai Chi, Bagua and Xing Yi. Ken also runs a website called internalfightingarts.com where he trains students from around the world in the three internal arts using a combination of recorded and live classes.  Ken is quite famous for his f...

My guest in this episode is my first from the world of Brazilian Jiujitsu. He’s Estonian Jiujitsu coach Priit Mihkelson.  For over 15 years now Priit has been pioneering an innovative, logical and defensive style of jiujitsu that has been taking the BJJ world by storm.  He’s just back from running a training camp held in a castle in Italy and his seminars are sold out until mid June next...

What is Shamanism? And how does it relate to martial arts? In this episode I catch up with my old, friend and teacher Damon Smith to answer some of these questions.  Damon is an incredibly experienced martial artist with a background in various Japanese and Chinese arts including Karate, Kempo, Xing Yi, Baji and Choy Lee Fut. And those are just a few of the arts he’s pursued to a very high le...

Paul Bowman is a professor of cultural studies at Cardiff University. He’s the author of multiple books on martial arts, including several about Bruce Lee, and most recently, “The invention of martial arts: popular culture between Asia and America”, which was published by Oxford University press in 2020. Paul also helped establish the academic journal Marital Arts Studies, and organised conference...

Byron Jacobs is a teacher of Xing Yi and Bagua based in Beijing, China. He’s a student of the famous Shifu Di Guoyong and is heavily involved in the martial arts scene in Beijing. As well as training traditional martial arts he’s also a BJJ practitioner and competitor.  If you’d like to be taught by Byron in the arts of Xing Yi and Bagua, then he has an online learning platform available at h...

Ep 1: Daniel Mroz on defining Chinese martial arts. What is the relationship between Chinese martial arts and Chinese theatre, religion, mime, serious leisure activities, fighting and military tactics? How do all these factors intermingle and produce the arts we have today? In this wide-ranging discussion between Graham Barlow of The Tai Chi Notebook and Daniel Mroz, Professor of Theatre at the Un...

Which came first in Xing Yi, the 5 elements or the 12 animals? This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thetaichinotebook.com/2021/06/29/is-xing-yi-a-nature-based-martial-art-any-longer/

Dim mak, pressure points, high kicks and nerve strikes! This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thetaichinotebook.com/2021/05/25/pressure-point-striking-is-back/

Does lineage reallt matter in Chinese marital arts? This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thetaichinotebook.com/2021/05/18/does-it-work/

One admonition from Yang Cheng Fu’s 10 important points , that has become something of a law in Tai Chi Chuan, is to ‘keep the head suspended, as if from above’. In the Tai Chi Classics it also states “ Stand like a perfectly balanced scale and move like a turning wheel ”, whilst also saying, “ Don’t lean in any direction; suddenly appear, suddenly disappear. ” This episode is also available as a...

Some advice on how to stop trying so much in Tai Chi and learn to go with the flow. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thetaichinotebook.com/2018/08/24/dont-put-power-into-the-form-let-it-naturally-arise-from-the-form/

Are you hydrated? How do you know? Should you be drinking a certain amount of water a day? Find out in this episode of The Tai Chi Notebook. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thetaichinotebook.com/2021/05/19/how-much-water-should-you-drink-a-day/

I’m going to have a bit of a rant today about Tai Chi people who still think that their art is too deadly for the ring, so please bear with me. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thetaichinotebook.com/2021/05/13/tai-chi-is-still-too-deadly-for-the-cage/