Tai Chi in Lewes

Step-by-step Tai Chi teaching for beginners and intermediates in Lewes.

Tai Chi in Lewes with Esaias Hobbs

Tai Chi is not mysterious – but it is profoundly transformative.
It’s a practice rooted in stillness, movement, and an ever-deepening understanding of the principles that guide both body and mind.

At my classes in Lewes, I teach a system of Tai Chi that encourages steady, lasting progress. Students are supported to grow through direct experience – not by chasing idealised outcomes, but by feeling into the reality of their own body, energy, and breath.

If you're someone who finds meaning in slow, consistent insight – whether through movement, meditation or reflection – then you may find that our Tai Chi is exactly what you’ve been looking for.

What Tai Chi Can Offer You

People come to Tai Chi for many reasons.
Some are seeking balance – physical or emotional. Others are recovering from burnout or chronic health concerns. Some simply want to move well and age with grace.

Whatever your reason, this practice meets you where you are.

Over time, Tai Chi can help you:

  • Improve balance and coordination

  • Calm the nervous system and relieve stress

  • Reconnect to your centre – physically and energetically

  • Build strength without tension

  • Cultivate awareness and resilience

I’ve seen students of all ages and backgrounds benefit from this work – not by striving harder, but by learning to soften, pay attention, and allow change to unfold.

Grounded posture from the Cheng Man-Ching form, taught by Esaias Hobbs

Grasp Sparrow’s Tail – Yang Style Tai Chi | 37-Step Form

This short video demonstrates Grasp Sparrow’s Tail, a foundational posture in the Yang Style 37-Step Form I teach in Lewes, East Sussex.
It’s a posture that expresses both yielding and returning force, combining the core energies of Peng (ward off), Lü (rollback), Ji (press), and An (push).

This clip was filmed at WKJ Langley in 2022 and captures the structural integrity and internal connectivity we focus on in class.
Watching it can help you review key transitions or prepare for upcoming movements in the form.

The Tai Chi We Practise

Our classes begin by settling the mind and creating space.
We start each session with “Movement Zero” – also known as Open-Close or Hun Yuan Zhang. This foundational practice allows us to experience what it means to open the joints, relax the muscles, and synchronise movement with intention.

From here, we explore the Five Loosening Exercises, designed to train the body to move with natural connection through rising, falling, turning, and stillness.

The form we study is the 37-step Tai Chi form, passed down from Cheng Man-Ching and developed by Grandmaster Huang Sheng-Shyan. This form teaches us how to move as one integrated whole – with softness, clarity and internal strength.

As students deepen their understanding, we introduce partner work, including:

  • Eighteen Fixed Push Hands

  • Set Pieces

  • Sensing Hands

  • Free Pushing

These exercises are not about winning or resisting, but about listening. We learn to feel another person’s movement without collapsing or reacting – and to find the still point inside ourselves even as we respond.

My Journey into Tai Chi

I first came across the martial arts at age 16 through Wing Chun Kung Fu. There were lofty ideas passed around – about using another person’s force against them – but the deeper understanding of what that meant was missing.

Over the years, I studied various Tai Chi forms within the Yang and Cheng Man-Ching traditions. Then, in 2002, I met my teacher Wee Kee-Jin at a masterclass in Bristol – and everything changed.

It was during that session that I caught a glimpse of the true depth of Tai Chi. The clarity, simplicity and rootedness of his teaching resonated deeply. I knew then that this was the path I wanted to walk.

Wee Kee-Jin was the last live-in student of Huang Sheng-Shyan, and he was told by his seniors that it was a rare and valuable time to be learning – Huang had finally begun to reveal everything he knew. That lineage now shapes everything I share.

Join Us

If you’d like to experience this way of working for yourself, I invite you to join one of our classes in Lewes.

Whether you’re brand new to Tai Chi or returning after time away, there’s space for you here.
I offer half-price classes for new students, so you can explore the practice at your own pace.