Shirsha Marie Director and Senior Instructor-------- of BYRON LIVING TAO Health & Martial Arts Centre

Tai Chi - Chi Kung
Yang Style (since 1985)

Hapkido :
4th Dan Blackbelt (A H A)

Wu Shu
2nd Dan Blackbelt (W T M K F A)

Soo Bahk Do
1st Dan Blackbelt (K S B D A)

Hapkiyusul :
1st Dan Blackbelt (H Y S K)

Shirsha Marie is the Founder and Senior Instructor of Byron Living Tao Health and Martial Arts Centre and the Director of Byron Living Arts, which markets Vitality Chi Kung Retreats and other products.

Shirsha established the Health and Martial Arts Centre in 1986. Her initial focus was Hapkido and Meditation, and the Centre quickly grew with a large following of dedicated students. Over time, she expanded the curriculum to include Tai Chi and Chi Kung. She continues as Senior Instructor of the flourishing Byron Shire Hapkido Centre, and today also instructs an enthusiastic group of Tai Chi and Chi Kung practitioners. Her Vitality Chi Kung Retreats are a significant outcome of many years of dedicated teaching and training in traditional practises of Taoist and Buddhist healing, meditation and martial arts.

Since 1986 Shirsha's training has been focused on the understanding and development of ‘Ki' energy. This has involved much attention on the Tanjien energy centres, and physical movement generated around these fundamental bio-energetic phenomena. This internal focus is a defining feature of the training provided at Byron Living Tao Centre.

Shirsha began training in Hapkido with Grandmaster Sung Su Kim, founder of the Australian Hapkido Association. She received great inspiration from his powerful and generous warrior spirit. It was he who invited and supported her to open the Hapkido school in Byron Bay.

Because of his inspiration Shirsha realised that she needed to travel to Korea to immerse herself in Eastern Culture and full-time training. She lived in Korea for two years, between 1991 and 1993, during which time she trained in a variety of martial arts, including Hapkido, Soo Bahk Do, Wu Shu and Tai Chi. It was in Korea that she refined her understanding of the application of ‘Ki' internal energy in the martial arts. This involved a strong realisation of the role of the feminine, or ‘yin', in martial arts and Eastern philosophy and culture.

Circular yielding, sensitivity, fluidity and grace are aspects of Hapkido that she continues to weave into her martial art style. While in Korea, Shirsha attained her 2nd Degree Back Belt in Hapkido and also Black Belts in Soo Bahk Do and Wu Shu.

After returning to Australia in 1993, Shirsha began teaching Chi Kung at her Centre in Byron Bay. As a full-time martial arts practitioner and instructor, she has a considerable talent for communicating the depths and subtleties of the art. Her teaching style is well regarded and enjoyed by many students in the region.

In 1994 Shirsha began intensive training in the Yang style of Tai Chi, with Roger Cotgreave, a student of Patrick Kelly. Patrick was the closest Western student of Master Huang Sheng-Shuan who, in turn, was one of the most outstanding students of Cheng Man–Ch'ing, who extensively promoted the Yang Style in the West. Shirsha became a student of Patrick Kelly in 1995.

In 2001 Shirsha opened the Tai Chi classes at Byron Living Tao and under Patrick Kelly' guidance she continues to teach the traditions and training methods of the Yang Style. Shirsha offers highly refined instruction in the art of Tai Chi. She is renowned for her fine attention to detail and her ability to deliver the subtleties of the art with clear and precise instruction.

Shirsha's training today continues with a daily practice of the art of Hapkiyusul, the root of modern Hapkido. In 2003 she met her Korean Hapkiyusul teacher, Grandmaster Kim Dojonim, who is 74 years of age. and trains on the mat twice a day. He is a living proof of the power of the Internal Style Martial Arts and Chi cultivation to strengthen, heal and transform the body-mind system. Shirsha attained her Black Belt in Hapkiyusul with Grandmaster Kim Dojonim on October 15 th 2007, at the International Hapkiyusul Headquarters in Geumsan, South Korea.

With the Byron Living Tao Health and Martial Arts Centre thriving, Shirsha continues her vision of providing training programs of martial arts, meditation and healing for personal development and spiritual growth. She joyfully creates a training environment that supports the cultivation of physical energy with a loving heart and peaceful mind.