I have been fascinated by the martial arts since I was 10 years old.  The idea that it was possible to train your body to perform unbelievable feats was the initial hook for me, but it has been the improvement of my mental and physical being that has maintained this fascination for over 30 years. I began my martial arts training as most people did in the seventies by taking karate. 

I trained very hard for years until finally I obtained my black belt in Tae Kwon Do in 1978.  I had achieved my cherished goal, but to my surprise I found no satisfaction in this accomplishment. I sought answers to questions I could not articulate, so I began my search by training in various styles: Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Aikido and Hsing-I. 

However, it was not until 1995 that I experienced taijiquan, while attending a Wu Style taijiquan seminar with Sifu Wen Mei Yu.  I enjoyed the flowing motion and power that was suggested in the set and the sword form.  I followed up this introduction by training in Yang Style taijiquan in New York where I completed the long form and began to experience the health benefits so often associated with taijiquan.  I also understood that my training was only scratching the surface of what was possible with taijiquan.

Two short years later I had to begin my search again, because of a career move to Providence, Rhode Island.  It was there I met Sifu Mark Bram.  I spoke to him about continuing my training in Yang Style taijiquan, but it was clear from the start that this sifu would be different from anyone I had trained with before.  Sifu Bram talked and moved differently than my previous instructors; he discussed the form, health benefits, power and martial applications as all being an integral part of taijiquan. It was Sifu Bram’s ability to demonstrate the power and flexibility of Yang (Yeung) Style taijiquan that blew me away.  The way he applied taijiquan it was explosive, elusive and impossible to counter. There was no pre-configured positions or applications; every movement flowed seamlessly, just like in the Yang form.  

I have experienced many martial art applications from various styles (Wing Chun, Kenpo, Kickboxing), but few have left me confused after the experience.   I attacked him with all of my best techniques – he countered them all with ease by just touching me and responding to my intent.  This exhibition illustrated his skill as a martial artist; however, it also proved that my search was almost over.  I heard several testimonials from students of how Sifu Bram had enriched their lives.  Some had physical limitation from arthritis that were removed from training in taijiquan, others had stress or other burdens that were put into perspective by “living in the moment” as Sifu Bram reminds them to do regularly.   Finally it was his desire to pass on taijiquan as he had learned it from his Sifu Lee Wah Yook, unfiltered with the principles intact, which re-initiated my training in this unique martial art of taijiquan. Based on my experiences with Sifu Bram I thought it was important for him to share his unique insights on taijiquan with a larger audience.  It was this common desire by all of his students that convinced him to allow me to tape a recent question and answer session. Here is the transcript of that session. 

Mike: Explain why other martial arts tend to use preset forms to teach applications where in tai chi we tend to just learn to flow with it and be at ease, or however you want to choose to explain it.
Mark: Well, I don’t know why they do it, I just know why we don’t do it. In a real situation, you are not using a preset form, and we feel that using a preset form gets you into trouble.  In most  other styles, especially hard styles, you are told that when somebody punches you, you block, then you strike. Not everybody is going to hit you like that; they are not going to hold out their arm while you do your cute technique and by the time you scroll through your dictionary of techniques, you’re going to get hit.
Taijiquan endeavors to teach you how to be a natural fighter by possessing all these elements: a natural fighter is relaxed and they don’t think. They have a lot of power and they are very fast. We teach you how to move. First of all you learn the set. You train your legs. Because you are doing a real taijiquan set, where you’re using a low stance and your knee is over you toe, your chi is sunk, so you’re training your dan tien , where you keep your chi. You’re training your chi by moving it, by having intent. By that I mean the intent to strike. But you need to be relaxed. It’s the idea of power but you’re not using muscle. But you have that idea, that intent to strike, so your mind is moving your body, and your body is moving your chi, so you’re actually exercising your chi. Whereas in a lot of taijiquan that are out there, which are just for health, you see them do “brush knee twist step” and it’s just this very graceful, flowing movement. But when we do “brush knee twist step,” we have the intent to block very low either a hand or a foot strike to the groin. When we’re striking, we have the intent to strike the ribs or the chest (there are at least five  or more different applications to every hand movement, but it is teaching you how to move). What is happening is: because you’re using it as a block and as a strike, your spine is in line, your chin is tilted down, like your crown is being held by a string (as it says in the classics), so your throat is protected and because you’re slightly tilted your energy goes up to your head and can go down again, your chi is sunk, your knee is over your toe so there won’t be any knee injuries, and you actually have the intent to strike so you are using your chi.

We use white waxwood staffs. They have a very organic feel. We also make sure that they are thick and heavy. Then we did some strikes while moving and so on. And if you remember, I showed you strikes against a weighted object so you could see how to strike, be relaxed, use energy, and not hurt your wrist or fingers. You have to make sure that when you strike you will be rooted, you won’t feel jarred, you won’t hurt your back or you wrist. You need to be in a position to send your energy and to strike with efficiency. I want it to be effective as well as a good learning tool. In the sword form, I start you out on wood before you graduate to metal. All the movements would actually work and you are using energy, moving closely (not big movements), and using everything that you learn from taijiquan. You’re learning chops, slashes, stabs etc. while you are using movements from the form. I know it sounds gruesome, but after all, it is a sword and you are learning how to use one, not dance. This is just for learning purposes and tradition. You are not going to travel around with a sword, you are learning how to get your energy into a weapon so that it is an extension of your hands.
John: You speak of achieving certain levels. Can you speak about the importance of reaching certain levels before you move on and how do you know when someone is ready to move on?

Mark: There are many different levels in taijiquan and it’s related training. As you know, I will not teach you standing meditation until you are at a certain level in your training and at a certain point in your life. The way that we do the form is very strong, and it’s like chi gong. A lot of the more “tai chi for health’ that’s out there supplement their tai chi chuan with chi gong. This form, done right makes you feel as though you have done strong chi gong. The chi gong and standing meditation that we do is so strong that I won’t let you do it until you have been with me for a long time, have trained hard, worked on your personality, and are grounded in your life. It can make you feel crazy if you are not grounded. That’s why I take exception with people who try to teach  these secrets and other techniques in books. I feel that it’s irresponsible. Any real teacher knows that you can’t learn these things from a book. You can actually get hurt if you do this wrong. You’re built differently than she is, she is built differently than he is. Everybody has different  personalities, everybody has a different way that they inherently move their energy and the teacher has to discern this when they teach, and teach to the individual. Otherwise the student can get hurt. So, the teacher has to know if the student is ready to go on at this point, are they strong enough inside, are they strong enough outside. You need a good teacher who can guide you, and adjust the teaching to your personality, body type, and disposition. A teacher who, if you do something wrong and hurt yourself, they can fix it. And, just as important, can judge if you are ready to receive this knowledge.

Sifu felt that it was important for the art to carry on. There were sifus in Chinatown that were not happy that Sifu was passing on all this knowledge to me. What they didn’t know was, I was the bank. He passed on this knowledge to me so that I could teach his son and so that this knowledge wouldn’t die with him if his son didn’t want to learn (which he does, I’m still teaching him). It upset him that so much had been lost over the years and he was very much into reconstructing it.  If you listen, as I said before, and you know the history and where it came from, it comes back.
Taijiquan is a very commonsense art. If you stick with the principles, what the classics tell you to do, and you follow the Dao, it makes sense. You don’t do these giant flowery movements exposing your ribs and lymph nodes. Common sense will tell you: “I’m going to get killed.” You follow the principles. You keep your shoulders and elbows low, chest hollow, tongue to the roof of the mouth, try not to go over the shoulder, high and low, open and closed, empty and full, and so on. If you know these things and you do something wrong, you will know and tell yourself that somehow you must have gotten out of line. That’s why I don’t stand up in front of the class and have you imitate me, I teach you all individually. A lot of times a student will imitate the teacher and not get it right (maybe their hand is to high). Then if they eventually teach, their student might do the same, and on, and on, until it is hugely out of whack.

Steve: How do you think that you’ve changed as a teacher since you first began?
Mark: I’ve learned to listen more. And I’ve evolved and my energy has evolved. I remember when Sifu was still alive and I was training my push hands. My deltoids and triceps were so tired. I kept hearing his voice in my head telling me to push without muscle and I had no idea how to do this. Finally I had nothing left and I just sunk and threw my hands forward and the guy went flying and slammed into the wall. Everyone came rushing over to see what happened. So, I got the clue then. Eventually it became consistent and I learned to send people flying and as I mentioned before, after I pasted Brian on the wall we started to use a pad

Nothing! He laughed at me. It felt like I hit bone. He said: “I pull them up.” It blew me away. He told me that he’d teach me but I declined, telling him I liked them where they were, thank you. I had no idea that taijiquan was this ultimate fighting art because, especially at that time, not many people in America had ever seen that aspect of it before. He was of a mind that this will die unless people learn how to do it. And if it doesn’t work, it has no use for him.

Mark: The sticky hands that we do in this system is so utterly, totally, relaxed or it doesn’t work. Other systems try to set you up, they are thinking and plotting, it’s like a chess game. In this you are totally empty and listening to the other person’s energy. You don’t strike until you have a relaxed, unimpeded opening. You are attached to them, sticking to them, so lightly. You are not putting weight on them, you are just listening to their energy, so the slightest little movement redirects their energy. You are feeling what they’re doing and becoming so attuned to their energy. You learn to send your energy into them and make them feel confused by overloading them. Just like the set, there are different ways to train this. You can go very slow and circular, you can do it at a medium speed. You can do it very fast mixing circular and linear moves. You can also barely move at all. This really teaches you how to fight because someone is in your face and you are creating the moves as they happen. My saying for sticky hands is: “You think, you die.” If you think while you are doing sticky hands, you will get hit. You have to be empty. A good practitioner of this will be listening to you energy and, as soon as you start thinking, they are going to be aware and take that opportunity to strike you. Because they know you are not present anymore. You really need to be in the moment when you do sticky hands.

Mark Bram studied Yeung (Yang) Style tai chi chuan with the late Sifu Lee Wah Yook (former President of the New England branch of the Eastern United States Kung Fu Federation), for 12 years one on one, in the back of his Chinese Restaurant. Mark was Sifu Lee’s senior student, and after his passing in 1991, inherited the Lee Wah Yook Qi Quan system. This system uses Yeung Style tai chi chuan as a basis, and then adds various training forms of other Chinese gung fu
(Shaolin, Fu Hok Tai He Morn) and He Gung [Chi Kung (standing meditation and internal power training)]. These training techniques are done in an internal martial arts style, which combine to form a system that more closely resembles the “old style” taijiquan. Students learn traditional Yeung (Yang) Family tai chi chuan. After many years, advanced students begin to learn Lee Wah Yook Qi Quan training methods. Mark has trained in this system for over 23 years.  Sifu Lee  learned Yeung (Yang) Style tai chi chuan from Chu Gin Soon and Yeung Sau Chung, and learned Fu Hok Tai He Morn from Kwong Tit Fu. He also was trained from childhood in Sil Lum 
(Shaolin) gung fu. After Sifu Lee’s death, the family passed the system on to Mark and he named the system after Sifu Lee. Lee Wah Yook Qi Quan (pronounced Lee•Wä•Yook•Kee•Koown) means “Lee Wah Yook’s Chi Fist” or “Lee Wah Yook’s Chi Boxing”.

Mark teaches at his school Internal Arts, located at 999 Main St. in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. .
Mark has also been the lead guitarist and vocalist for the rock band Ruby Topaz, since 1983