Learning, mastery and ageing: Alternative narratives among british practitioners of traditionalist chinese martial arts

Eastern movement forms such as the non-sporting, ‘traditionalist’ Asian martial arts are important components of everyday Western society that offer alternative philosophical concepts which continue to be modified through cross-cultural diffusion. One significant notion spreading in some Western body cultures is an alternative narrative of the mind–body ‘problem’ related to ageing based on shared learning and personal development. Such an alternative narrative is supported in various traditionalist Chinese martial arts (TCMA) subcultures and pedagogies, as found within my own life history and (auto) ethnographic project in England. In this paper, I seek to explore this mind–body problem via three core, interconnected narratives currently being shared and promoted by British exponents of TCMAs: refinement-learning, perfection-mastery and respect-ageing. Consequently, this article contributes to a consideration of the embodied stories of everyday Asian martial arts devotees. At the same time, it offers narrative inquiry as both theory and method to explore these personal, institutional and cultural stories in other Asian body cultures.