Instructor
Craig Jones
I'm a registered instructor with the Chinese Internal Arts Association and the Tai Chi Union for Great Britain with almost 30 years experience of practising Chinese internal martial arts starting in 1995. Please refer to links below and search for Fareham to find my details:
CIAA instructors qualified to teach Tai Chi and other Internal Martial Arts (taichiforeverybody.com)
Find a Tai Chi Instructor (taichiunion.com)
I've always had an interest in the highly refined skills that can be accomplished in the traditional Chinese martial arts and the dedication that an individual has to go through to get anywhere near achieving this level of skill.
I started training in different aspects of Chinese internal martial arts, including Taijiquan, Xingyiquan, Baguazhang and Yiquan (also known as Dachengquan). After a few years I settled on Yiquan as I was drawn to the focus on the core training techniques without the distraction of the long forms to learn. At this time I started learning from Lam Kam Chuen who is a direct 3rd generation disciple of Yiquan. I became a student and practised with Master Lam for a few years initially only being taught Zhan Zhuang (standing posture practise) and then subsequently also learning Yiquan with him. After Master Lam relocated to the US I looked for other teachers who were skilled in this art and also who had a lineage connection to recognised Chinese masters.
This is when I discovered Karel and Eva Koskuba who run the CIAA (Chinese Internal Arts Association). They were direct students of Master Yao Chengguang (3rd generation lineage holder in Yiquan and one of the leading practitioners in the world) as well as being formally recognised as 20th generation disciples of Chen Taijiquan after many years studying with Master Chen Xiaowang.
Initially starting to learn from one of their senior students (Sam Moor who runs Sussex Tai Chi), I started training with Sam in Yiquan and then after a couple of years started Chen style Taiji training with him. Since then I have dedicated myself to Chen style Taiji, subsequently becoming a direct student of Karel and Eva and completing their 3 year Taijiquan instructor training course. I've been teaching since 2019 but I still continue to study regularly with Karel and Eva to learn and improve my Taiji.
Since starting Chen style Taijiquan over 10 years ago, I’ve also been fortunate enough to train directly with Chen Xiaowang as well as his son Chen Yingjun and nephew Chen Bing on several occasions at seminars and residential retreats in the UK and Greece.