Welcome to Wudang Tai Chi Chuan

Welcome to the Nottingham School of Wudang Tai Chi Chuan. Tai Chi Chuan is an exciting and profound martial art. Tai Chi is essentially a union of Taoist health and therapeutic methods with self defence using both bare hands and traditional weapons.

Nottingham Wudang is part of the Practical Tai Chi International School of Tai Chi Chuan; a pan-european school headed by Master Dan Docherty. Master Docherty's teacher, Cheng Tin-hung, taught Tai Chi in Hong Kong for most of the latter half of the 20th Century. He clearly distinguished his school's approach to the art by naming naming it Wudang after the area of mountains in central China where Tai Chi is said to have been created and developed by Taoist adepts.

It is traditional in Chinese culture to look at the world and its content in numerical groupings. This is seen in the technical theory of both the health side and the martial aspects. Also in a general overview of the art we have 5 Aspects :

  1. Handform - a slow flowing sequence of solo movements. Harmony of mind, body and breath.
  2. Pushing Hands - working with a training partner using pushes and diversions. Listening and following.
  3. Self-defence - redirecting physical attacks and counter-attacking using Tai Chi principles. Intelligent use of force.
  4. Weapons - working with sabre, sword and spear. Cultivating martial spirit and gymnastic ability.
  5. Internal Strength - developing internal energies and durability of the body and physical power.

Beginners - what you will work on

Beginners work on the the first three of these aspects in their first classes with the school though with college courses it is usual to practice the first two only. We take the beginning student through four main essentials

  1. Stance work - to build a firm foundation a correct stance is essential so we will practice static and repetitive flowing exercises to achieve a good start to his aspect. Work in this area is continuous throughout our study of Tai Chi.
  2. Commencing form practise - either in a structured way called "square style" or in a flowing "round style ". we begin to apply ideas of of posture, alignment and coordination to a sequence of movements.
  3. Single handed and seven stars step push hands - to promote rooting, whole body movement and for developing agility and the ability to "follow" training partner.
  4. Basic Self Defence - to introduce the student to practical Tai Chi self defence.

Again we welcome on this road of practice and enjoyment. Tai Chi is a never ending journey of development and learning. Why do it? - one must travel on the road to see the view and smell the air.