Nabil Ranné is a Chen style teacher living in Berlin who offers classes and online training at CTN Academy https://www.ctn.academy/ Nabil is a student of Chen Yu who is the only son of Chen ZhaoKui and grandson of the famous Chen Fake. Here’s what we talk about: Timestamps: 1.00: Nabil’s background in martial arts and what attracted him to Chen style Tai Chi 3.40: What is Jin in Tai Chi? 7.30: What makes Tai Chi different to other marital arts? 11.15: What is the strategy for Tai Chi? 16.00: What is the function of Tai Chi push hands? 17.55: Competition push hands vs Tai Chi push hands ..read more

This month's guest is Richard Johnson a long-time student of Joseph Chen of Chen Style Practical Method. As well as a Tai Chi practitioner and teacher, Richard is a full time movement coach working with athletes, so he brings an appreciation of athletic movement to his views on Tai Chi. In our discussion Richard delves deeply into the internal workings of the Chen Style Practical Method and we talk a lot some interesting movement principles based around rotation. We also talk about how the Practical Method is different to the Chen Village style of Tai Chi. You can get in touch with Richard ..read more

Jess O’Brien is the author of the book Neijiaquan and co host of the Neijiaquan podcast, which he runs with Isaac Kamins. Since 1999, Jess has studied extensively under BK Frantzis. Over the years, he has also trained with other, preeminent internal martial artists like Luo De Xiu. He has been active in martial arts since his teens. In this episode we discuss what drew Jess to the internal arts and how he trained with various different teachers before becoming a student of Bruce Kumar Frantzis. Links: Neijiqaun podcast: http://www.theneijiaquanpodcast.com/ Water Tradition Internal Arts ..read more

Bruce Lee will be no stranger to anybody listening to The Tai Chi Notebook Podcast - even 50 years after his death he remains the most famous martial artist in the world. But could he actually fight? World Champions in karate competition have gone on record to point out that he never once competed in tournaments. So, were his martial abilities simply a trick of the camera? My guest for this episode is Bruce Lee authority and bestselling author John Little. John has a new book out called Wrath of the Dragon: The real fights of Bruce Lee, in which he takes a hard look at Bruce Lee’s real-lif ..read more

Bājíquán (八極拳) or shorter just Baji, is commonly known as “the martial art of bodyguards”. It emphasises the use of attacks that close down the distance as well as explosive close combat techniques such as combinations of elbow, knee and takedown techniques. Both Rikard Elofsson and Miika Wikberg are senior Baji students of Lü Baochun, based in Finland who has over 40 years’ experience in the training and practice of baji. He has trained under many of the famous martial artists who used the style, such as Han Longquan and Zhang Xuchun. Timestamps: 0.40: - Rikard - Introduce yourself/how ..read more

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Tai Chi Notebook podcast! My guest today is Simon Cox, who co runs the Okanagan Valley Wudang (https://www.okanaganvalleywudang.com/) with his wife Brandi in Penticton, British Columbia. Simon and Brandi spent six years living and training in China under master Yuan Xiu Gang at the Wudang Daoist Traditional Kung Fu Academy. While there they studied Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, meditation, herbal medicine, Daoist music, and ancient and modern Chinese language.  After returning to the West, they started a Kung Fu school and community group in Hous ..read more

Episode 24: Tai Chi and Taoism on Wudang Mountain with George Thompson George Thompson is a film maker and Tai Chi teacher who studied on Wudang Mountain in China under Master Gu. His videos at https://www.youtube.com/@George-Thompson have been watched by over 15 million people and has over 200K subscribers. He runs the Wayfinder Academy at https://www.wayfinder.academy through which he teaches online courses for balanced living. In this episode I ask George what it is like to live and train Tai Chi on Wudang Mountain, what Wudang Tai Chi is like and what lessons he’s learned from Taoism ..read more

In this episode I catch up with my old Xing Yi training partner Mike Ash who has been doing marital arts for years. We talk about how we met, Mike's training history and the different martial arts he's trained in over the years as well as his latest adventures in Yang style Tai Chi and Chi Kung. We also discuss what makes a martial art popular and the current trend towards MMA, why Tai Chi is still so popular and why Xing Yi isn't in comparison. Enjoy the episode and check out thetaichinotebook.com for more articles about internal arts ..read more

Hello and welcome to the first Tai Chi Notebook podcast of 2023! Happy Year of the Rabbit!  My guest for this episode is Will Wain Williams. Will has a background in Taiji Mantis Kung Fu, which he trained in China, where he also lived for 13 years. He’s  traveled around Asia documenting ancient Kung Fu systems for his YouTube Channel Monkey Steals Peach ( https://www.youtube.com/@MonkeyStealsPeach ). I talk to Will’s about his travels documenting kung fu styles, as well as upcoming trip to Taiwan and how he’s recently started Brazilian Jiujitsu.  www.thetaichinotebook.com ..read more

Matt Hill is the owner of the Systema Academy in Wiltshire, England. Matt has a long history in martial arts, starting with Aikido, training under Morihiro Saito Sensei in Japan in the early 90s. From there he joined the Parachute Regiment leaving as a Captain in 2003. After this he started training in Systema under Vladimir Vasiliev and now teaches Systema, Bushcraft and leads groups trekking through jungles all around the world. Matt was kind enough to give me a 1-1 in Systema before we recorded this podcast at his academy, where he focused on the four pillars of Systema - breathing, relaxat ..read more