From time to time we have special events. Sometimes we invite accomplished instructors in our class, sometimes we have events open for public in our facility. Other events we attend are organized by World Taiji Boxing Association events in the USA and overseas.

Every year WTBA (World Taiji Boxing Association) holds a three day weekend workshop at WTBA USA headquarters in Salisbury, Maryland.  The instructor is Eli Montaigue who is the head of WTBA.  The workshop topics change every year, see here for the latest information.  The topics include all aspects of taiji: solo forms, self defense, qigong, partner forms, weapons, push hands and sticky hands, mostly taiji but some bagua as well.  Some years different aspects of taiji are mixed every day, some years each day has a specific focus so students can choose to attend only the parts of the workshop that are consistent with their interests.  This workshop is also an opportunity to meet our style practitioners from all of the USA and Canada.  Here is the link to ABC news station reporting about this event.

The local community event in Meadowood Park (located in north Baltimore County, Maryland) was focused on the basics of healing and balancing part of taiji.  Sifu Mike showed and explained the basics of several taiji stances, showed how to blend them together into movement sequences, and practiced with the attendees until they got it right. Everybody had a lot of fun following him and hopefully some of them decided to give taiji a further try.   

In our taiji boxing class we teach different aspects of self defense including fighting with and against weapons,  tactics against wrestlers, escapes from grabs and chokes, etc.  Our extensive experience in martial arts is sufficient to teach and practice these aspects of self defense.  However, it is extra beneficial to get a lesson from somebody who is currently actively training and competing in their discipline.  Here is a video of such an invited lesson on stick fighting from Sifu Gary Berger (Baltimore Martial Arts and Fitness), well recognized instructor in multiple martial arts.  Stick fighting Dog Brothers style is his latest passion, and as usual he fully commits to it, practicing physical, spiritual, and tactical aspects of the art.  

World Taiji Boxing Association (WTBA) teaches an annual combat taiji workshop in Cardiff, UK. Unlike all other WTBA workshops, the only focus of this workshop is fighting and self-defense. Specific topics for each year change so you always learn something new. I went there for the first combat workshop in 2023. It was a high intensity event, everybody had a great time, the restaurants around were great, and we stayed in AirBnB that came with a friendly and a bit grumpy orange feline named Jenkins who looked a bit like Vito Corleone from Godfather movie. The workshop is focused on practical self defense applications of taiji, including kicking, punching, ground work, weapons (e.g. sticks and knives), sparring.  Some time is also reserved for doing foundational form, stretches and qigong though it is not intended for people who want to do only healing part of taiji.