Instructor Eliya Arman

I started Kung Fu in 2000, after spending quite a while looking for a martial arts club that felt right. I had tried a few classes that were, to be honest, a little too macho for me, and then I found Dave’s club. It was completely different. There were lots of women training, there was a real sense of community, and at the heart of it all was Dave, an exceptional teacher who made Kung Fu feel both serious and welcoming. I had been fascinated by martial arts since I was a child and I had always wanted to learn a martial art that was genuinely connected to its Chinese roots. Finding Dave’s class felt like I had finally found what I had been looking for.

From that first class, Kung Fu became a constant in my life. I have trained weekly for more than 25 years, through all the different stages and challenges that life has brought. I trained throughout both my pregnancies, including when I was nine months pregnant and very much ready to give birth! After my babies were born, they came with me to class, sleeping in their prams at the back of the room while I trained. Kung Fu has never been something I fitted into my life when it was convenient; it has been one of the things that has helped me navigate life.

Over the years, I have learnt that Kung Fu is about so much more than getting fit or learning how to fight. For me, it is about mind over matter. It teaches you to become the kind of person who turns up, keeps going and can be relied upon. You learn to push through the moments when something feels difficult, to accept that progress takes time and to keep working when you don’t immediately succeed. Those lessons stay with you long after you leave the training hall and they have helped me enormously in every other part of my life.

That is also why I believe Kung Fu can be so powerful for your mental wellbeing. Life can be incredibly difficult sometimes and training gives you somewhere to put all that energy. You walk through the door, focus on what is in front of you and for an hour or two you are completely present. You learn that you can do things you didn’t think you could do, and that feeling of achievement can carry you through some very difficult days. Kung Fu has taught me resilience, not because life becomes easier, but because you become better equipped to deal with whatever life throws at you.

And then there are the people. One of the most wonderful things about Kung Fu is the family you build through training. You see the same people week after week, year after year. You watch each other improve, struggle, achieve things, have children, change jobs, go through difficult times and come out the other side. Your Kung Fu family look out for each other, it’s part of what makes the community so strong.

After more than 25 years of training, I feel incredibly lucky that Kung Fu has given me so much. And now, being invited to become an assistant instructor and beginning to teach students of my own feels like a very special next chapter. I started out simply wanting to learn a martial art; I never imagined that one day I would be helping other people begin their own journey. I hope I can pass on some of what Dave taught me, not just the techniques, but the discipline, confidence, resilience and sense of community that make Kung Fu such a powerful part of my life.