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Generation Women

generation women

Belfast

I spent the first half of my career in a thick fog, and of course I got lost and ended up somewhere I didn’t want to be. I felt lost, miserable, and what little confidence I had was waning by the minute. I also became a total bore. I was consumed by how unhappy I was. I couldn’t even apply for another job because I didn’t know what I’d do. So I felt stuck. I had, by many measures, a great job, a great salary, in a great company. But I was in the wrong place. I was ambitious with nowhere to direct it, so it evolved into frustration! It took a fair bit of effort to turn it around, which started with working out what I wanted and developing some much needed confidence to get there. Thankfully I had a good basis with my Psychology degree, throw in a mountain of self-help books, a coaching and NLP qualification, a mountain of training on presenting and the like…and a real desire to build my brand, visbility, and expertise, meant I built a reputation for business and leadership transformation. That experience of having a big impact, being recognised, and having real influence made me feel like I could achieve anything. My values, purpose, and strengths were all aligned and I felt amazing! It came as quite a shock then to be confronted by my inner feminist one day. I’d had my first daughter (I now have 2), and was having a cheeky nap. You know how it is, I love my sleep! So for the first time ever, I sat her down in front of Nickelodeon so I could get some zzz’s. I was happily snoozing away when the advertising started to filter through to me. The ‘boys toys’ were all exciting and adventurous. The ‘girls toys’ made me want to vomit. All about being pretty and vacuous. I jumped off the sofa with an ‘oh hell no’! Ever since I was a little girl I’ve been driven by fairness. I think it may be because I’m the youngest of 4 and nothing ever seemed fair from my standpoint. My sister tells me of times I used to fight for gay rights at the dinner table and I was always arguing for what I felt was right (because it is). The one thing I’d never have called myself back then, or until that day, was a feminist. No, I’d been well trained by society to see feminists as embarrassing, hairy, dungaree-wearing angry women who made a show of themselves. This moment set a chain of events into action that lead me to start a political party where I live, and gave me the direction for the business I would later start.

Mann Family School of Kung Fu (Ip Man Wing Chun)

mann family school of kung fu (ip man wing chun)

5.0(5)

Brigg

Being a teacher of Wing Chun is a big responsibility and one I am proud to have. I feel it's important you know a little about my family and my background, as we all have our own stories to share, and it explains the reason I started training and still train today. 8 years old I started training with my dad. My Father was a complicated man, he was in the army for 28 years during which time he was involved in many conflicts ranging from Ireland to the gulf. Starting as a rifle man in 3 RGJ Royal Green Jackets, he joined at 15 years old by lieing to the recruitment office and geting away with it. He quickly moved through the ranks and became an SAS soldier, British Army boxing champion and left the army as a captain and intelligence officer. My Father also helped train Andy McNab who later became famous for an SAS operation called Bravo Two Zero where he was captured behind enemy lines. The chief of general staff (CGS) and commander of the British Army's land forces Sir Richard Dannatt attended my Fathers funeral and he was cremated with full military honours and regiment bugalair, I was very proud as you can imagine. My dad, having an interest in boxing was also attracted to all types of martial arts. At the beginning of some time in Borneo he told me he met someone after seeing them training Qigong just outside a town on the edge of the jungle. I don't know much about this other than what I remember my dad telling me but I know the person he trained with was old not young and very powerful, but I don't know what his lineage was. After training Iron Shirt Qigong during his time in Borneo it had an impact on his life that changed him forever and his outlook on Kung Fu and Qigong. By the time I started training with my dad he held instructor qualifications in karate, boxing, judo and western sword fighting (fencing) but also was training and a teacher of Tai Chi and Qigong because of his influence in Borneo and continued development there after in these skills, in fact he stopped training all other skills to focus on Tai Chi and Qigong for the rest of his life as this had the biggest effect on him and most benefit in his opinion. After this time and because of the high skill level he had developed through his training he was also invited and asked to become a coach for the British Bob-sledge Team. Under his guidance they won bronze in the 1998 winter Olympics training traditional methods along side modern methods to develop more power and speed when getting the bob-sledge off the track. Despite all of this and many other opportunities to become well known due to his past he kept himself to himself. He was actually a very thoughtful and quiet man who generally liked his own company and to be by himself if not with family. Until I left school I would train with him most mornings. Sometimes boxing, sometimes Kung Fu and 18 Qigong exercises as well as just talking strategy or just about life in general and how the arts connect to this. He used to always say to me that I was a second generation of our family to study martial arts and this was very important to him. He would say, like him, I must keep up training and studying my whole life so these skills can be passed down my family and every generation would get better and achieve more. This is one of the reasons I' ve worked towards achieving this, besides my love for this art form. When i left school i started to follow in my dads foot steps and became a out door instructor and fencing sword instructor, i moved to the island of white to teach full time, however it wasn't till i came home before also joining the army i came across Wing Chun Kung Fu for the first time.