Tao of Peace: Martial arts as a driver for character development

The Tao of Peace, Kimberley’s new martial arts school, just opened its doors last month on the corner of Mark Street and St. Mary’s Ave. 

Tao of Peace Martial Arts and Life Skills was founded by Chris Leigh-Smith in Calgary in 1992. He and his wife and fellow owner Kathy recently passed the torch of their Calgary school, partnering with instructor Lucas Wilson to open the Kimberley school on Aug. 6, with classes commencing on Aug. 11. 

The Bulletin recently sat down with Chris, Kathy and Wilson in their space to learn more about their school, the discipline of martial arts that they’ve cultivated over decades and the many lessons they bestow to their students that extend beyond the mats. 

Chris explained they’ve essentially created their own “genre” of martial arts, and because their martial art is very non-traditional and unique from any other style, they couldn’t simply go out and hire a martial arts instructor to take over their Calgary operations. 

“Almost every one of our martial arts instructors is pretty much home grown, so they’ve been with us for a minimum of usually five to seven years, some of them have been with us since they were five years old,” Chris said, adding Lucas started training with them as a teenager and has been with them for around 27 years. 

“We decided that we were looking to retire out here, then the pandemic hit,” he explained. “So, we stayed on [in Calgary] until the pandemic was over, but our core group of instructors — who were like family — they wanted to purchase the place and so we just passed it on.” 

Kathy had a place in Wasa, and during their regular holidays to it, they discovered how much they liked Kimberley as well. Both are avid skiers and are into mountain biking so the lifestyle here suited them well. 

“Initially we decided to invest in a place in Kimberley, so we bought one in 2019,” Chris said. “We move a lot so we thought ‘oh we’ll probably end up selling it and moving,’ but we just had fallen in love with the street, we fell in love with our neighbours. Kathy and I both adore this small community and the mountain culture.

“Then we knew we might start up something. We’re not quite ready for retirement, but we’re also not ready to do it completely on our own, because we know that that’s like a seven-day-a-week job.” 

Enter Lucas. 

Lucas had been working in Calgary where they have anywhere from 500 to 800 students enrolled; a massive studio with a lot of instructors, meaning you may teach a student and then not see them again for several weeks. Lucas said he’s lived all over, including years spent working in B.C. as a paramedic, before returning to Calgary to teach at the Tao. 

He said the opportunity to move to Kimberley — “where there are trees” — and getting the chance to not only work with kids more consistently, but having Chris and Kathy out here and being able to train with Chris again was too appealing to ignore. 

Both Chris and Lucas have trained in many different forms of martial arts. When Chris was first starting out as a kid he studied Judo and then went to Shotokan Karate, then Wado Kai Karate. He’d often train back and forth between two styles, so he’d be doing Wado Kai and Taekwondo at the same time, then changing between different Taekwondo studios. 

He studied Kung Fu privately and then moved into Hapkido. 

“Hapkido really checked off some of my boxes, because it was already a blended art of Judo, Akido and Taekwondo,” he said. “And then from there I went into Budo Ryu Kempo, which is an offshoot of Kung Fu in a lot of ways.

Their goal, he explained, is to amalgamate all the myriad styles they have trained in to create an experience that meets the needs of any particular student who is more interested in “self defence, fitness, fun, mobility, general wellness.” 

They also incorporate what they refer to as life skills, or life-skill coaching. 

“People say, ‘Well where does that come from? Does it come from a religion, does it come from Buddhism, where does it come from, East, West?

“For us it doesn’t matter where it comes from. If it doesn’t need to be attached to anything, if it’s just a concept that can be applied by people that will help them to be better communicators, more honest with themselves, more self aware; happier individuals because their relationships are stronger. Things that help them to be able to access their potential. We use the martial arts as a driver for character development and for people to learn life skills that empower them.” 

Another important aspect of their program that both Chris and Lucas highlighted is that they always try to be very accepting. 

“Something that we offer that’s really cool is because we have a broad set of skill sets, people can orient themselves to the parts they like better,” Lucas said. 

Chris added they always work to be as flexible as possible, accommodating the diverse needs of their students.

“So, we’re not here for the elite athletes, or the kids that are really flexible and not here for the kids who are motor delayed or have focus issues — we’re here for everybody,” Chris said. “And we try and treat everybody the same knowing that to do a good job for everybody we need to make accommodations.”

Beyond the physical aspect of their curriculum, they also focus on bestowing life skills to their students; communication, emotional intelligence, self awareness. They tell their students, even the very young ones, that they want them to recognize that they are their own unique individual, and should therefore develop their own style to train. 

“And yes we do have a curriculum that they go through for their belts and so there’s things that we do ask of them to try and meet a certain standard and certain area, but no two green belts are going to be alike,” Chris explained. 

Lucas added they set and adapt goals for each student as needed, and have had people progress past their black belts in very different ways. 

“You can achieve what you are trying to do and grow and not feel stuck, but we can also push people to excel if they’re finding that they need more challenge,” he said.

Classes are open to anyone, including kids as young as five, and registration is open year round and can be found at topkimberley.ca

Children aged five and six are in the Little Ninjas category, with seven, eight and nine-year-olds in Junior, and then children 10, 11 and 12 in intermediate. The rest are, for the most part, grouped into teens and adults. 

Chris said the reception from the community since they set up shop has been very positive and supportive and that they’ve already exceeded their target of 80 registered students they’d set for their first year in their first three weeks.