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For information about what Evolutionary Martial Arts is all about, keep reading.

Evolutionary Martial Arts is born from Sigong Paul Horrobin’s practical and progressive approach to traditional Gongfu training, now taken to its next level by Sifu Josh Nixon and The Evolutionary Concept.

What is Evolutionary Martial Arts?

What is now called Evolutionary Martial Arts has been in development for a long time, and has at different stages of its development taken different names as an attempt to give a name to something which is, ultimately, beyond names. Evolutionary Martial Arts is our continually refined best attempt at giving a form to the formless: creating a system through which we can expose ourselves to a diverse and comprehensive skillset of martial arts concepts, techniques and training methodologies, bringing together the ancient and the modern in order to craft a purposeful and fulfilling way of life.

By the time a student earns their Black Sash, they are then ready to delve deeper as they have built up a solid foundation of skills from which they can then diversify and specialise as they wish in their continued career as martial artists. Evolutionary Martial Arts is the name we have chosen to give to the approach we have created in order to access this deep and broad conceptual framework – in effect, it is the name of our group and the easily recognised name of our approach as an entity online.

The essence of this approach and conceptual framework, though, is what you could call the “martial art” underlying it all that we are accessing and learning about through the training we do, and this is what we struggled for a long time to give an adequate name to. In the end, we have settled on simply calling it 功夫之道 Gōngfū Zhīdào – “The Way of Gongfu”.

At Evolutionary Martial Arts (our group),

we train in 功夫之道 Gōngfū Zhīdào – “The Way of Gongfu” (our art).

What is 功夫 Gōngfū?

No name could ever do justice to what it labels. The opening line of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu reads:

“The Way that can be named is not the eternal Way.”

Names are thus problematic things. To impose a name onto something is to impose limits onto it because when we say what something is, we also say what it is not. When we attempt to fit a vast and nebulous concept into a neat box, we inevitably fail in the attempt, but we have attempted to find the best way to fail that we can with the use of the term Gongfu.

Gongfu does not directly translate to English as a word, but among its definitions can be found: time (to do something), efforts (devoted to a task), accomplishments, achievement, skill, art, workmanship and martial arts. Notice that martial arts is the final entry in its standard list of agreed definitions. Our best attempt at a translation reads:

“Great skill derived through hard work.”

We settled on Gongfu because its definition is sufficiently broad and applicable to everything that our Way can be for us. In the early days, our roots were deeply embedded in Wing Chun (詠春), but as it has grown and evolved, this core syllabus is now complemented with elements from other forms of Gongfu (功夫) as well as other martial arts and relevant disciplines. It is our belief that remaining confined in one way of doing things presents a significant limitation. There is always more to learn and no approach or methodology should be ignored in this respect. In this, our philosophy on training is very much in line with Bruce Lee’s in his famous Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do (振藩截拳道). Someone watching us train might readily pick out some concepts and methods they recognise from Wing Chun (詠春), Krav Maga (קרב מגע), Taijiquan (太極拳), Systema (Система), Muay Thai (มวยไทย), Jujutsu (柔術) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, for example, as well as boxing.

Our definition of “great skill derived from hard work” means the concept of Gongfu can be applied to any aspect of life. Everything that makes us a well-rounded, capable and effective martial artist also makes us a well-rounded, capable and effective person in all other aspects of our life too. For some, Gongfu is just a system of techniques and concepts that allow them to deal with violence effectively. For others, it’s a workout that’s more fun than getting on the treadmill or flinging kettlebells around. For some of us, though, Gongfu can be so much more. It can truly be a way of life: a coherent, deeply held system of beliefs, principles, and practices that an individual or group consistently applies to define their purpose, guide their decisions, and shape their entire existence, transforming routine activities into meaningful expressions of a core identity.

It is this that drives our passion for everything that Gongfu can become: a way of finding meaning, purpose, fulfilment and expression in a world where many find these aspects are far too often lacking. In learning about Gongfu, we learn about ourselves, and in learning about ourselves, we learn how to purposefully and powerfully create an intentional and fulfilling way of life, as a martial artist and as so much more than that too.

Our syllabus started out in the first instance back in 2008 as a simple syllabus: a list of what techniques, concepts and attributes were required for each grading in an attempt to standardise a system that had been diversely expressed in different ways by different instructors since the 1970s. Now, alongside that system, it too has evolved and has become a handbook filled with essential knowledge and understanding for followers of the Way of Gongfu. It is the nature of nature to grow, change and develop over time, and in this we are pleased and proud to see that our system and every expression of it is in line with this continual adaptation. Refinement. Evolution.

What is The Evolutionary Concept?

The Evolutionary Concept represents our philosophy of continual mindful development of ourselves through martial arts, and of the system itself through research, testing and collaboration. It is a reflection of this that each edition of our Syllabus has on its front cover something not often seen on such a thing: a version number. The Evolutionary Concept is the unifying core of three disciplines: Evolutionary Martial Arts, Evolutionary Self-Protection and Evolutionary Health. Brought together, the three form a powerful, positive and progressive way of life for those who choose it.

Sigong Paul’s teaching style (with many life stories and analogies!) is excellent for encouraging the personal development of his students through the martial arts. He invariably becomes a guiding figure in everyone’s lives for those who train with him. A true example of kindness, humility and respect, Sigong Paul lives the virtues he teaches about and we are honoured to continue his dream in its present form.

Sifu Josh Nixon has now taken over the management and teaching of EMA from Sigong Paul, applying The Evolutionary Concept to further develop the art and science of Gongfu. With the influence of his work on Evolutionary Self-Protection, his approach adds a context of realistic and practical self-protection to the traditional martial arts, as well as many outside influences from ESP’s diverse skillset and conceptual base. He is a qualified teacher with training in first aid, safeguarding, health and safety, fire safety and extinguishing, emotion coaching, teaching methodologies to differentiate for special educational needs and disabilities, CEOP, PREVENT anti-radicalisation, etc.

If you have any questions then feel free to contact us following your preferred method and we will get back to you as soon as we can.