Simon Lailey has been actively pursuing the Oriental Martial Arts since February 1975 when he was fourteen years of age. At that time he was practicing Okinawan Goju ryu Karate-Do. Thirteen years later, whilst researching martial arts in South-East Asia, he was invited to Fuzhou City (Fujian Province, South-East China) where he attended an international Symposium the objective of which was to understand the Okinawan karate and pre-Okinawan karate link with local Fujianese martial arts.

Simon has spent extended periods of time in Asia and South-East Asia where he has sought-out various Arts and their respective Masters. As a result, Simon has lived in Fuzhou City, China (where he spent two years studying under a number of veteran Martial Arts Masters), Hongkong (where Simon spent two years studying and researching traditional Chinese Martial Arts), and Taiwan (where Simon lived for six months studying Fujianese Martial Arts). In addition to this, Simon has spent more than a year in South-East Asia where his Martial Arts research took him to Thailand, West Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. During this time, Simon studied Muaythai (Thai Boxing) and Arnis De Mano (Escrima).