Learning in the Basement

In early 1982 I moved back to London. Keen to continue learning Tai Chi I searched for another teacher. Nowadays it seems as if there is one hanging around every street corner but back then they were few and far between.

I had been referred to Paul Crompton but he wasn't teaching at the time. I thought about going to Master Chu King Hung but came across an advert in Time Out for the British Tai Chi Ch'uan Association. It contained a short quote from a student about the beautiful feeling of the form.

I duly signed up and began my relationship with John Kells, which continues to this day. He taught in the basement of his father's house. 30 people crammed into the small space to learn warm ups and the short form, admonished to sink, relax, try softer. Everything is contained in the first lesson, that first contact, first moment, first touch. This is a lesson for life if we can be open to it.