Lishi is a system that was developed for the physical, spiritual and personal growth of it’s practitioners. It is thousands of years old and was originally practiced by ordinary peasant folk in China.

When people first come to a Lishi class they learn to train with the “empty hand”. It is safer that way until they develop a level of body-awareness, co-ordination and skill.

Teachers at Lishi Leeds Tai Chi quickly develop a student’s ability through the Tai Chi classes learning forms and partner exercises like Pushing Hands.

It is very important to train the “Open Hand” before introducing weapons training.

The most basic implement we use in Lishi is the Tai Chi Stick or Kung Fu Staff. This wooden rod is used as an extension of the hand.

Originally, these were tools that were used in the daily lives of the peasants.  They were used for farming the land and were often found on their person. It made sense that they would use these implements to develop their abilities in Tai Chi and Kung Fu in their daily kungfu training.

There are many examples of indigenous people such as Chinese or Philipino peasants using these simple daily objects when fighting off imperial invaders such as the Japanese in the 1930’s and the Spanish in the 1560’s even though they were up against more sophisticated weapons such as metal swords and sabres.

Fighting off invaders is not the main intention of Lishi Daoist practice. The lessons learned by gaining skills in these implements help us understand ourselves and others. They’re also a lot of fun 🙂

We are running a couple of weekend workshops in June for anyone who would like to get to grips with the ancient moves of Lishi Daoist Stick and Staff work.