Julian Hodgkiss of Dales Radio interviews Julie Jones of Tai Chi Skipton
live on April 12th 2024
Tai Chi Skipton’s Teacher (Sifu)
Julie Jones is a Registered Instructor of Tai Chi Chuan with the Tai Chi & Qigong Union for Great Britain, a Qualified Teacher of Li Style Tai Chi with West Yorkshire Taiji and Wushu, and holds a Black Jacket (green belt) and 1st Dengji grading. She has been practising Tai Chi since 2015.
My Tai Chi Journey
Having heard about Tai Chi in the late 1980’s from a friend, I had always planned to ‘have a go’ at this Martial Art when I had chance.
That opportunity arose many years later in July of 2015, when I started attending a class in Horbury, near Wakefield, with Pat Gay on a Wednesday evening. I was hooked at the first class, and continued to attend Pat’s classes until I left the area in October 2019. Pat usually had around 15 people attending her class, many of them having practiced Tai Chi with her for 10-15 years. Most of them could complete the whole 140 moves of the Form.
I met Mark Popplewell at one of Pat’s classes, and began also attending his monthly Saturday classes in November 2015. In September 2016, Mark’s wife Kate started a Beginners class in Dewsbury. I decided to join so that I could learn everything from scratch, as most of the classes I attended were with very experienced groups, and so I felt I had never really had enough of the basics explained fully. I also attended some of Howard Gibbons classes near York. Howard was one of Chee Soo’s pupils for many years.
Having worked my way through the Tai Chi gradings from 9th Pan to 3rd Pan, I moved to the Skipton area in 2019. I continued to travel back to Dewsbury for Mark and Kate’s classes when Covid Restrictions allowed, and took my Teacher Training Course over Zoom, although the written and practical exams were taken in person!
At this point I started some classes of my own in Cracoe and Skipton. I achieved the coveted ‘Black Jacket’ grading of 1st Dengji (Green Belt) in November 2022, and continue my training with Mark in Dewsbury, receiving 6 hours of further Tai Chi training each month, over 2 Saturdays.
I now have 6 classes running in the Skipton area, from Beginners, to a more advanced Intermediate class. Many of my pupils have continued to attend classes with me from those early days. I also hold occasional ‘Special Saturday’ classes which are usually 2 hours long with invited Black Jacket teachers to help. In 2022 I started an Annual World Tai Chi Day class followed by a public demonstration at the Canal Basin in Skipton. These are held on the last Saturday in April, and weather permitting start at 2pm.
The benefits to my own health since starting to practise Tai Chi have been many. I no longer suffer from colds, and have not had to cancel any of my weekly classes though ill health. I feel relaxed and energised; calmer and more tolerant. I plan to continue practising Tai Chi until at least my late 90’s! As they say, Tai Chi is easy to learn but takes a lifetime to master.
