He does not wear a cassock, he's not taken a vow of silence and does not live in a monastery.

Reporter MARK PAYNE met him to find out more.

T all started through an interest in martial arts.
Not that Mike got a kick out of fighting.

The Hartlepool 35-year-old found himself warming to the more gentle stress-busting exercises.

Its effects were so spellbinding, he decided to devote his life to it.
He is now a fully-fledged Taoist monk.

The former financial services worker looked back to those early days when it all started through an interest in martial arts.

He said: "I wasn't into the combative side of it and got to a point where I wasn't getting what I was looking for, so started searching for something else."

That something else was Yujia Gong which is essentially a Chinese form of yoga.

When translated, it means unity skill.

It was this turn of events which led Mike to the Taoist culture.
But what does it mean?

It is all about living in a certain way to unite the mind, body and spirit in order to get the most out of each one.

Mike said: "The difference was absolutely immense. When I first started doing the practices I was working in an office and this rolling ball of vitality kicked off inside me.

"It is like running a car on the best possible fuel and keeping it serviced rather than running a diesel car on chip fat."

Around five years ago Mike even quit his job in financial services to devote himself full time to the way of life.

He studied under a local Taoist master called Yu Jin Li in Durham before becoming a fully-fledged Taoist monk.

"There is absolutely nothing religious about it but it is an entire lifestyle," said Mike.

"I try to incorporate it as much as possible into everything I do."

The practices Mike uses originate from a Buddhist monk called Bodhidharma and the yogic teachings he took from India to China in around 400AD.

A key part of Mike's monk lifestyle involves doing a series of intense Chinese yoga exercises morning and night.

They are designed to gently awaken the bodily systems before blasting them with oxygen to start the day firing on all cylinders.

On a night he performs another 20-minute routine to rid the body of and mind of unwanted energy accumulated during the day.

Mike, who is single, explained: "What the practices bring about is pure creativity. We call this creativity the unconditioned intelligence which is the intelligence beyond the programmed mind.

"When a practitioner performs a workout the movements are formless. We do not learn forms as these involve the programmed, or logical, mind, which is not conducive to creativity.

"What then happens from this daily practice is the slow and gentle building of a rolling ball of vitality which empowers the whole physical organism for enhanced day to day living."

To get the most out of these exercises Mike uses weapons like staffs and wooden swords, belts and deep breathing.

He has also learnt to enter deep states of meditation that Mike says can help the body heal itself.

He said: "By doing this, we more readily slip into the alpha state which is only ever accessed in deep dreamless sleep and deep meditative states.

"Chinese medicine has the philosophy of prevent rather than cure and this is never more apparent than in Yujia Gong."

Now Mike, who lives off Grange Road, Hartlepool, has started teaching Chinese yoga to introduce others to its benefits.

Two years ago Mike travelled to China where he stayed in temples with Taoist monks in the spectacular Wudang Mountains to learn more about the way of life.

"It was brilliant," he said. "I was the first Westerner privileged to stay with them in the monasteries while there was a big spring festival with great big musical rituals."

There was no heating and Mike slept on simple straw beds.

And although he does not live in similar surroundings back home in Hartlepool, Mike says he sticks to the same principles.

He said: "All I strive to have is food, shelter and warmth.

"If I had a lot of luxuries and was too comfortable I wouldn't be able to work on my psyche."

He has changed his diet to make sure he does not eat foods that will have a negative impact on his body under a system called "ultimate nutrition". He makes sure he does not mix proteins and carbohydrates and pays attention to not over eating.

Mike has recently started running weekly classes in Hartlepool (Owton Manor Primary School) and Hart village to help fund his lifestyle. They are attracting people from all walks of life keen to reap the benefits in their hectic lives.

He said: "Your body becomes this sensitive instrument able to deal with anything life throws at it."