Taiji & Bagua Combat and Healing
An introduction workshop in Caerphilly, for these traditional systems of self defence and health.
The fighting area of the internal martial arts are trained for self
defence rather than competition. The main difference is, you learn to make use of all the illegal strikes, such as attacking the eyes, groin, neck and back of the head, as well as stomping on a grounded opponent, things that will give you a fighting chance against a bigger opponent. We never take a fight to the ground, it's not a good place to be in a street fight. If we do end up on the ground however, we have grappling skills to get us back to our feet. Gloves are for training without hurting your partner, but in a real fight you won't have these, therefore we do most of our training without gloves, this means that even though some of the strikes might seem similar to western boxing, the philosophy behind them and how we move is very different.
The internal arts are built on Fa-jing and Dim Mak, but not in the same way you
see all over the internet where people make it out to be almost supernatural. Fa-jing simply means Explosive Energy, this is how we strike with great power
over a short distance, the whole body shakes like a sneeze and
we concentrate that force down into the striking weapon. You don't see this is western boxing due to the gloves. To do
damage with a boxing glove, you need to compress the padding in the glove, this means you need to punch in much deeper, Fa-Jing is an explosive snap which only works bare handed, giving you the ability to strike from a shorter distance.
Eli now runs the WTBA with his wife Fran, who is training under Eli to become an instructor herself. Their two children Clara and Gaby have also begun training.
Eli's brother Ben does not teach, but still trains with Eli.
An introduction workshop in Caerphilly, for these traditional systems of self defence and health.
December 7th 2025 from 10am till 1pm. Abertridwr, Caerphilly.
Free if you register by December 1st, otherwise it's £10 at the door. Click here to register.
After this introduction workshop, regular evening classes will begin January 6th and 8th 2026. More details on these classes will be given when registered.
After this introduction workshop, regular evening classes will begin January 6th and 8th 2026. More details on these classes will be given when registered.
What will be taught
Taiji & Bagua are both systems of Fa-jing Chuan, meaning Explosive Energy Chinese Boxing. There is often a lot of esoterically mumbo jumbo associated with Taiji and Bagua. But, if you can filter though and find someone teaching how it was originally intended, you'll find a beautiful balance of brutal fighting methods and amazing health forms and qigong.
Your Instructor Eli Montaigue
Eli has been teaching the internal martial arts for 21 years, starting his training as a child under his teacher and father Erle Montaigue. After a few years of teaching a few classes per week, teaching soon became Eli's full time profession. He was then made head of the World Taiji Boxing Association in 2009. The WTBA now has schools in over 20 countries with close to 1000 members which Eli visits annually to give weekend seminars. For those who do not have access to regular classes, Eli has a huge online training platform for people to train from home. Eli also runs weeklong training retreats where students come to live together and train all week, either in small group intensives with around 10 people for more hands on time with Eli, or at the big ones where we have up to 50 people attending from as far as Australia and the USA.
For more information about who we are, please scroll down, or contact us here with questions or to register.
Combat & Healing
It's an odd concept for most, but fighting and healing go hand in hand. Often people think that only the forms and qigongs are for healing, but in so many ways the combat training heals you. For example, if your emotional baggage is from some kind of violent assault, that trauma you hold inside might still be there because you're are scared. By putting yourself into these rough situations and learning how to break free of them, toughening yourself up, you can let go of this trauma. We have seen this happen many times. Aside from that, even if you don't have any trauma, this area of your training will make you so much calmer within yourself. The calmest most chilled out person you ever see, is one who knows how to fight, but also has nothing to prove. If you're afraid of being attacked, you'll never find peace, you're also far more likely to seriously injure or kill someone if you are untrained, learning how to fight also teaches you about control.
You want to get the yin calmness, you need to train the Yang! It's all about balance :-)
The internal martial arts are about creating balance of the internal and external systems of the body, so the practice incorporates these into your training. Just because it's an "Internal" Martial Art, doesn't mean we focus purely on qigong and negate the physical and external areas of the body, so the practice will work every area of your body, stretching and strengthening, cardiovascular, bone health, qigong and the mind everything is included. Sometime we focus more on either the physical or the internal depending on what the student needs, but ultimately the two should become one.
Taiji & Bagua VS MMA
The fighting area of the internal martial arts are trained for self
defence rather than competition. The main difference is, you learn to make use of all the illegal strikes, such as attacking the eyes, groin, neck and back of the head, as well as stomping on a grounded opponent, things that will give you a fighting chance against a bigger opponent. We never take a fight to the ground, it's not a good place to be in a street fight. If we do end up on the ground however, we have grappling skills to get us back to our feet. Gloves are for training without hurting your partner, but in a real fight you won't have these, therefore we do most of our training without gloves, this means that even though some of the strikes might seem similar to western boxing, the philosophy behind them and how we move is very different. Full contact fighting will make you the best fighter you can be, but at what cost? The answer is your health. Any full pressure fighting, 
striking or grappling based, will wreck your body. We prefer to train at a medium pressure, negating any health risk. This means you might not become the ultimate fighting weapon, but you will be able to protect yourself and your family from 90% of situations, and maintain a healthy mind and body into your old age. We do use full pressure for some things, like when doing a training method where you know the contact will only be to certain areas of the body, this way the student can still get the feel of how to deal with full force in a safe way.
striking or grappling based, will wreck your body. We prefer to train at a medium pressure, negating any health risk. This means you might not become the ultimate fighting weapon, but you will be able to protect yourself and your family from 90% of situations, and maintain a healthy mind and body into your old age. We do use full pressure for some things, like when doing a training method where you know the contact will only be to certain areas of the body, this way the student can still get the feel of how to deal with full force in a safe way. Sparring is done with and with out protective equipment. We make sure our system can stand up to other styles, not by entering into competitions, but by meeting up and training with like minded people from Boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ etc. If you train for competition, full force to the knock out, you'll have the upper hand on dealing with full force, but if you train for self defence you'll have the upper hand of training your reflexes to go for the most vulnerable points and learning defensive methods that work when there is a large size difference. Who would win in a fight is anyones guess, it's never been tested, but always remember, the chances of a normal kind person getting attacked by a pro level MMA fighter is next to nothing.
If you train MMA without the full force, now you've lost your advantage and would be better off training for self defence. You can't train full force without rules, well you can, but only once. You just need to make sure the system you're following has been tried and tested. Ultimately what you train in is what you enjoy doing, or what you have access to, any good system will teach you to fight, you just need to weigh up the pros and cons of a style to see if it fits you.
Fa-jing and Dim-Mak
The internal arts are built on Fa-jing and Dim Mak, but not in the same way you
see all over the internet where people make it out to be almost supernatural. Fa-jing simply means Explosive Energy, this is how we strike with great power
over a short distance, the whole body shakes like a sneeze and
we concentrate that force down into the striking weapon. You don't see this is western boxing due to the gloves. To do damage with a boxing glove, you need to compress the padding in the glove, this means you need to punch in much deeper, Fa-Jing is an explosive snap which only works bare handed, giving you the ability to strike from a shorter distance. Dim-Mak, simply means to hit the most vulnerable points on the body, no you cannot
touch someone's arm and have them fall to the ground, but you can aim at the
weakest area of a big guy and at least have a far greater chance of getting
away compared with just punching him in the face. You will see this in western boxing, but only on a very basic level due to the rules and the gloves. The rules mean that there are many areas you are not allow to strike, the neck for example. The gloves cushion and spread out the power, meaning a liver shot will still work really well, but a strike to Triple Heater 17 just behind the jaw will not. Point strikes to the arms can work very well on someone not use to it, this can be a great way of subduing an attacker in a not serious situation, but just keep in mind that if they are trained, or are off their face on drugs, these points will not work like they do in the movies.
Baguazhang or Taijiquan?
Most of what we train is applicable to both these styles. However, forms and some training methods are style specific.
Both styles are individual but also complimentary to each other, which one you choose is a personal choice, but we have a page that explains the differences between the two in order help you decide what is right for you. More....
When you learn from the Montaigue's or one of their many representatives around the world
Your instructor will talk with you about what you need/want out of the training, from self defence, injury rehabilitation, calming of the mind and body or powering up a weak system, to general health and well-being. We have an array of traditional forms, single and two person training methods, for fighting, general health and fitness and qigong healing, to make sure you get out of it what you came for.
You can train only form and qigong, or add some partner training like push hands, maybe get rougher and more martial with things like San Sau and pad work, or take it right the way to free fighting, it's up to you. Some people may want to one day become an instructor under the WTBA, for this we will make sure you learn what is needed to become a good teacher.
You will learn to understand the principals behind the forms and training methods. This teaches you how to move, how to fight, under any situation, from any angle, not just to do each form and drill perfectly. We care more about the principles of movement than the sequence of a form, though you will still learn the form.
Every instructor has their own way of teaching, although the information will be same, how that information is explained will differ. This allows the instructor to find their own rhythm of teaching.
Erle's wife Sandra and his 5 children, Erland, Kristian, Ben, Eli and Katalina, have all spent time training with him, as you can see from the picture throughout this page. It was his youngest son Eli however who Erle named as head of the WTBA and his successor to the Erle Montaigue System of Fa-jing Chuan in 2009. Eli was the one who took the training as his full time profession, travelling around with Erle to every workshop, gradually taking over from Erle throughout the years, though Erle kept teaching workshops and making videos till the day he died in 2011.
Eli now runs the WTBA with his wife Fran, who is training under Eli to become an instructor herself. Their two children Clara and Gaby have also begun training.
Eli's brother Ben does not teach, but still trains with Eli.
