Become a Friend of the Notebook

The Tai Chi Notebook has been going for a number of years now, and while I’ve always enjoyed writing blogs about Tai Chi and Chinese martial arts for free, it’s becoming increasingly time consuming, especially now I’m also producing one podcast a month too! Without your support the venerable Notebook is in danger of grinding to a halt, but luckily there is something you can do about it!

If you’re a fan of what I’m writing then you might like to consider becoming my first patron. Over on my patreon page you can sign up and support my work. My first tier starts at just £3, which is $4.50 a month.

This money will enable me to keep making the content you’re enjoying, and inspire me to make more time to make more of it too! Plus, it will give you access to exclusive content, and each new patron will get a mention in the next edition of the podcast.

I plan to have exclusive posts and articles for patrons, plus the ability to download an ad-free version of the podcast (downloads are currently not supported, it’s streaming-only.). In the longer term I want to add a higher tier that will contain video clips, but that’s all to come. Right now I’m going to concentrate on adding my first exclusive patron-only article in the next couple of weeks.

Sign up, support my work and become a patron today!

Two recent stories

I’m still using this blog for posting my ideas and blog posts, but I’ve decided to start putting a few new stories onto my new Medium page.

I’m using Medium as a place to post more polished articles. They’re basically my better blog posts that I’ve tidied up a bit and made more coherent.

Here are the first two I’ve done:

Let me know what you think!

 

 

Update: New URL = no more ads!

two persons holding drinking glasses filled with beer

Photo by Tembela Bohle on Pexels.com

Just a quick site update – I’ve opened up the purse strings, watched the moths fly out and blown away the dust, put my hand in my pocket and upgraded the site to a proper URL – www.thetaichinotebook.com

That means there will be no more adverts spoiling your viewing pleasure (hurrah!),  and maybe I’ll get a few more visitors.

If you like the sort of content I’m producing feel free to donate to keep the site going Disclaimer: nobody has ever donated 🙂

That’s it, no other news, except that I’ve updated my post on my History of XingYi podcast series to include all episodes. We’re now up to part 9 and we’re not even out of the Song Dynasty!

Oh, and the latest episode of my Heretics podcast showcases a really rare Japanese religion called Pana-Wave. Check it out.

 

I’m now a writer for Jetli.com

So, a while back I mentioned that I’d been contacted by a major martial arts website about writing some articles for its launch. Well, today that website launched!

Please check out Jetli.com

Yes, that’s the famous martial artists and film star Jet Li!

At Jetli.com we strive to bring you content that is exciting and inspiring. We are drawn to stories that highlight people all over the world that chase their dreams no matter what. From the boxing gyms of London to the favelas of Brazil, we have found heroes who live with the values of martial arts at the center of their lifestyle. You’ll see dedication, courage, humility, and generosity. Amazing stories await you at Jetli.com!

I’ve written quite a few articles for Jet already – it looks like two have been published, so here they are:

Coming Full Circle: How Movement Culture is Taking Martial Arts Back to its Roots

 

How to Avoid Being Attacked

 

Look out for more from me coming soon here:

 

Top 20 martial arts blogs 2017

The Tai Chi Notebook has made it into Feedly’s top 20 martial arts blogs on the planet. Woot! I get a medal and everything. Look!

So, if you’re looking for more martial arts blogs give their list a look-over. Nice to see Slideyfoot in there. Can Sonmez refereed at a BJJ competition I was in many moons ago, so at least that’s somebody I’ve met. His blog is great – if you’re into BJJ. (I also run a BJJ blog, so check that out if it’s your cup of tea). I was a blue belt back then – here’s my best match from that day.

Anyway, I’ve also been recommended by Qialance in their top 15 Tai Chi blogs if you want even more blogs to read. They also did an interview with me.

 

 

 

The top 30 martial arts blogs

We’ve been noticed…

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Good news! The Tai Chi Notebook has been picked as one of the top 30 martial arts blogs by bookmartialarts.com

It’s worth a look at the full listing because it has links to the other 29 martial arts blogs, which you might want to check out. I certainly discovered some great new ones there, along with some old favourites.

Thank you BookMartialArts, I’m honoured to be included amongst such great talent. I guess I better up my game now!