It is with sadness that I write that John Kells died today,
6th January 2017.
John Kells was a pioneering T’ai Chi Ch’uan teacher in the
UK. Born in 1940, he started T’ai Chi in 1967 and opened the British T’ai Chi
Ch’uan Association in London in 1970, teaching in the basement of his father’s
house in Upper Wimpole Street. In1977 he started teaching full time with
classes every day and it is thought that 10,000 students were taught by him
between then and 1993.
John Kells was passionate about T’ai Chi, training day and
night to investigate and understand the principles passed on by his teachers,
who included Liang Tung Tsai, Chi Chiang Tao, Chu Gin Soon and Yang Shou-Chung
(with whom he studied for one month in Hong Kong and gleaned much about
spirit).
John Kells inspired many to go on and teach T’ai Chi Ch’uan
themselves and make it an integral part of their lives. His unrelenting drive
eventually led him to go beyond the forms of T’ai Chi Ch’uan and explore deeper
connections from 1991 to the present day which he came to call Heartwork,
focusing on the Thymus centre as an indirect approach to the Heart. This came
about through the fusion of T’ai Chi Ch’uan and the internal instruction he
received from an ancient European lineage.
John Kells cared little for the politics and posturing of
the T’ai Chi Ch’uan community, just wanting to get on with his own work. He was
once challenged to a pushing hands contest by another teacher and his response was
magnificent “No thanks, I’ve got enough problems with my own Ego”.
He will be deeply missed by his family , friends and
students.
I'm sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteHi Rick, thank you. He was unique.
DeleteChristian, Thank you for notifying the T'ai-Chi community of John's death. Condolences to all the sangha of his many, many students. I studied with him from 1986-1990 and have been teaching and learning about life through t'ai-chi ever since. Which I am sure many others do too.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Man. I met him in 1975. My first time traveling out from Argentina. I went to that beautiful basement almost everyday of my stay in London (6 months). He guided my first steps in TJQ. Later, W.C.C.Chen...Wang Peisheng. The Journey started with him. Forever indebted. Cheers, Mr. Kells
ReplyDeleteExtraordinary man. I studied with him from 1984 to 1994. I last had contact with him in 2015. I take something of him with me every day.Thank you soft warrior. So grateful for your generosity.
ReplyDeleteI really miss John he inspired me to teach Taichi for the past 25 yrs I will always remember him, he was the first..
ReplyDeleteJamie Bloom.