Instructor

My Kung Fu Journey

I always wanted to do martial arts, but I hated PE! In fact, I hated most physical activities which would increase my perspiration and make my face red. I preferred to read books and hitchhike with friends to the mountains, where we would wander for days away from civilisation. For years, hiking and later Iyengar yoga were the only physical activities I did until, in 2012, I discovered the Tiger Crane Kung Fu club in Islington.

That childhood idea of learning martial arts stayed somewhere at the back of my mind. It returned when I completed my second degree in Modern and Classical Chinese at SOAS and started my first full-time office job. I had a growing realisation that doing something physical and challenging was necessary for me to find balance in my life. Up until that point, my life was a routine of commuting to and from work, staring at a computer screen from 9 to 5, and going out with friends. Standard London life.

My first class

As a research analyst, I thought that finding a “perfect” Kung Fu club for me would be straightforward. However, I found it took me as much time and brainpower as searching for a new job! Thankfully, my research skills paid off, and I found Tiger Crane Kung Fu classes in White Lion Street. I sent an email to Dave Courtney Jones, got a quick reply, and almost didn’t go to my first class!

I had decided to try Kung Fu one Saturday morning after my usual yoga session. However, on the way there, I was having second thoughts. I started thinking that maybe Kung Fu was not for me, that I was too old, not fit enough, and perhaps I should go home and go to class on Monday instead.

Then, suddenly I heard a voice in my mind: “If you don’t go now you will never go, and you will always find an excuse not to do something”. I turned 180 degrees and went straight to Claremont Hall.

Kung Fu Life

Kung Fu became an important part of my life. Hours spent on training different techniques, pad work, sparring with big sweaty men (and women), learning new patterns, or practicing Tai Qi taught me discipline, patience, and attention to detail, which I apply in whatever I do. I could never imagine that the skills I learnt in the first three years of my training would one day help me to overcome adversity in my life.

Imagining myself doing the Tai Qi forms I had learnt in class and concentrating on the breathing helped me calm my mind after I woke up in the ICU after a long and life-saving surgery in November 2015. During recovery, I missed my training and the club. The eagerness to resume my training definitely helped me to recover quicker.