Head Instructor Neil Johnson Profile

Neil Johnson has been involved in martial arts most of his life, starting his martial arts training in Brighton doing Judo and Karate. His Grandfather John James Hill died at 71 having done 51 years of Judo, truly an inspiration to him. As with most children of a young age, there were so many things in life to try his martial arts training came to an end after a few years.

It was not until Neil was 25 years old that he found the Tiger Crane Kungfu and Shuang Yang soft style crane boxing system from the Fujian province, that he really immersed him self into the Chinese arts.

Neil believes that traditional martial arts have so much more to them than what people can ever imagine and it is this depth and interest that has gripped Neil ever since.

Neil's dedication is shown, in his skills after studying under some of the top white crane masters in China over the last thirteen years. He will be going to South Eastern China again this coming February with some of his senior students to continue furthering his research and knowledge of the Bai He Zhan Shu (White Crane Fighting Arts) and DiShu (Dog style ground techniques).

It is known that Master Ang Lian Huat, the founder to the core system, had some knowledge of the Nun style (DiShu) but much of this knowledge has been lost over the years; so Neil has been researching the style under Master Zai Pei Lin's tuition and he is now officially accepted as an advisor to the WCFA club. Neil was accepted to open classes in DiShu Quan in the UK, after our club’s very successful visit in 2008.

Neil won every year in full contact SanDa competitions two times a year for ten years apart from one time when he dislocated his knee the day before and still entered just for the fun.

As his training developed he started winning the open hand forms, and weapons categories also. He has performed in China on numerous trips to Fujian provinces. One of the highlights of Neil's early martial arts experience has been demonstrating in the Yong Chung white crane festival in 2003. People from all over China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Europe all sharing a common passion demonstrated their art and showed just how much dedication they had put into their style or systems of kungfu.

The trips to China made Neil realise just how far he still had to go to improve on his skills and to better the level of martial arts in Europe. Neil's aim as an instructor in martial arts is to teach real traditional kungfu and Taichi that is not only good for an individual's health, but also is an effective martial art. Neil believes that a lot of martial arts nowadays in the western world are too sport oriented and can often forget what martial arts were developed for. In the past kungfu had no rules and so was not about scoring points; it was about survival. Competitions in this day and age provide an excellent way for a student to push themselves on to the next goal and provide them with the mental focus required when up against an opponent. But ultimately you are training against your own self motivation.

Neil has always been good and making thing with his hands and has been described as the perfect thing to take on a deserted island if stranded for survival but as a dyslexic he is most proud of studying the other side of martial arts and that is learning Mandarin Chinese over the last three years and making most of the Shaolin weapons himself in the traditional ways.

A lot of people start martial arts thinking about fitness or how to look after themselves but little do they realise it helps develop a lot more than that; It can help the mind, body, self defence, flexibility, awareness, self control, confidence, respect, social life, good posture and stop asthma ...to name but a few. You only have to read the newspapers today to hear of all the terrible things happening around the world. I wonder if every one did some form of martial arts maybe they would learn to better themselves and help others around them.

Neil believes that if he can pass on his knowledge and help people better their lives on the way, he has achieved his goal and is able to do what he loves to do as a life style. Neil's complete focus is on the art of Fujian Martial Arts so if you would like to learn under a full time traditional instructor, just call Neil Johnson or send him an e-mail on the details listed below.

Tel: 07976 260710

E-mail: neil@whitecranefightingarts.com