Most people who practice T’ai chi go along to a class, learn some form, breathing and stretching exercises and take their practice no further. Others, like me, want to learn more and seek out opportunities to learn and practice more of these arts. Lee style is particularly good for people wanting to take their practice further because the leading teachers and their organisations have masses of skill, and lots of experience build up over many years.

My own teacher Howard Gibbon has practiced the Lee Style arts for over forty years and obviously his knowledge is extensive. When I first went to train with Howard back in 2010 he persauded me to try learning the Feng Shou martial art. I was reluctant at first as I had only ever really been interested in the T’ai chi. Now I am glad I started to learn the Feng Shou. One of the first things that I learnt was how extensive Chee Soo’s knowledge was and also how good he was as a martial artist himself. Although Chee Soo credits the origin of the system to the Lee family he developed a number of aspects of the system himself. The Shou Pay Fah set, which contains 90 moves was one of his contributions. This set contains sequences that emulate moves you would use to restrain or take down an opponent. The rollaways which are taught are another Chee Soo innovation along with the very extensive range of kicks. In may not be immediately obvious how this relates to the T’ai Chi. However, as you learn more Feng Shou you notice how many of the T’ai chi moves are similar to moves in the Feng Shou. Knowing this can help you put more intention into your T’ai chi as you notice and visualise when moves are parries and punches. Similarly practicing stances also improves.

These days there are many more T’ai chi classes then Feng Shou and I can’t get regularly to a class, but if you do have a class and a teacher nearby it is worth going along to try.