Yes, people are roughed up a little. People are struck. People are taken to the floor.
Martial arts cannot be practiced without physical contact taking place.
Yet, no one takes offence. No one bullies. And no one is embarrassed, hurt or made to feel useless.

The mood of the class is one of fun and exploration.

Instead of strutting around pretending to be Bruce Lee, our students are like scientists; amazed by how the art enables them to evade and counter with such seeming ease.

The simplicity and the wider implications of the kung fu cause wonder, not fear.

Students should appreciate their true relationship with tai chi.
The art is manifested by you.
Hence, the quality of the art is your responsibility.

You cannot expect amazing skills when your body has not been trained, conditioned and honed.
Only you can do the work.
We offer the material and the practice partners, but you must make the effort.

How can the tai chi be anything other than what you make it?

You cannot force progress in kung fu. To even try is self-defeating. 
Remember what you can. Practice as little or as often as you want to. Decide for yourself.
Let it unfold as it will.

Give up trying to master anything. Drop the images and fantasies you harbour.
Perfection is a condition of untouched naturalness. 
It cannot be achieved through any form of trying or doing. 
Let-go of your ambitions and relax.

Students are taught according to their ability to understand.

If the advanced level of practice were offered to a student of a lesser grade, it would be entirely meaningless and confusing.
The student lacks the cognitive skills and the physical awareness and sensitivity to understand what they are being shown.

Therefore, students are shown what is necessary. They are offered a pared-down, crude outline of the real thing.
As the student proceeds through the grades, they unlearn, dismantle, reconsider...
The material slowly becomes more accurate and internal.

The danger lies in quitting at any point during this learning process, for the student leaves with what they have learned to date and mistakenly believes this to be the end product,

We were working on the psoas muscle around 2005 after my Pilates teacher had introduced me to the work of Liz Koch.
It had a passing relevance to the kung fu but was overall just something of interest rather than a key element.

Years later, I was told that an ex-student (a beginner) of that time was now teaching tai chi and that his website predominantly mentioned psoas and Liz Koch.

There is an Indian folk tale about six blind men inspecting an elephant:

The first man encounters the side of the animal and believes it to be a wall.
The second man imagines the tusk to be a spear.
The third man thinks that the trunk is a snake.
The fourth man considers the leg to be a tree.
The fifth man feels an ear and believes it to be a fan.
The sixth man finds the tail and is certain it is a rope.

This ex-student appears to have based his understanding of tai chi on those few lessons from 2005.
Unfortunately, he still thinks that the tusk is a spear and does not yet see the elephant.

What is pain? Surely pain is a warning. Pain is your body suffering damage.
In kung fu you do not ignore your body and impose force.
If you are in pain, you are doing something incorrectly.

If you damage your body through exercise, you may have to live with it for the rest of your life.

The slogan 'no pain, no gain' is often used in conjunction with exercise.
Being healthy sounds like an ordeal.
But not everybody wants to sweat and strain their way to fitness.

A beginner must set aside conceit, competition and violence.
You focus upon play. You lighten-up. You realise that the class is a fun place to be.
You cease to be fearful and uptight. You begin to let-go and relax. You start to behave more like yourself.

This process of letting-go usually takes people a few weeks. 

We believe that self defence should be taught in an environment of fun and mutual respect.
People are more likely to be laughing than wincing in pain. They are too busy enjoying the cleverness of taoism and kung fu.

Nobody is paying to get beaten up.