Forgetting The Words Of Our Elders – Wong Shun Leung

“As long as it stays logical, it doesn’t matter what you call it or what you’re actually doing. If it is logical, if it works, use it! Make the art your slave, and never allow the art to be your master; Wing Chun theory is flawless if you can execute it perfect. But a theory is just a theory, it means nothing if you can’t put it to work. You might have a better fighting theory behind your system, but if your skill level is lower than your opponent’s skill you’ll be easily defeated, all the theory in the world can’t save you from losing.”

Wong Shun Leung

Cardinal Rules of Knife Fighting

1) Examine your knife and decide whether it is designed for stab, slash or combination.

2) Firm grip. “Lose it and he’ll use it.”

3) Use sleight of hand to get opponent to fixate on your non-knife hand and cut him.

4) Go in hard, fast and get out quick.

5) If the opponent offers a limb, cut it.

6) In boxing you are encouraged to use your reach, in knife it is critical to use it. Extend your arm, turn your shoulder, turn your hip and lean.

7) A stationery fighter is a dead fighter. Be mobile.

8) Speed kills. Be fast.

9) Use the element of suprise. By using ambush, you are more likely to be able to catch your opponent off guard.

10) Practice using training blades. Watch clips on real life attacks to look for common strategies employed by attackers.

Drive; Christian Grey

“I don’t have a philosophy as such.

Maybe a guiding principle – Carnegie’s: ‘A man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.’

I’m very singular, driven. I like control – of myself and those around me.”

Christian Grey

The Poison Tree; William Blake

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I water’d it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with my smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veil’d the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.”

William Blake

Demons Sermon

“The swordsman was then aware that among the rest there was a large demon whose nose was not so very long and whose wings were not so apparent. His robes and headdress were arranged properly and he sat elevated above the others. This demon said, “What each of you has argued is not without principle. In the past, martial artists were serious, their resolution was absolutely sincere, they worked soundly on technique, and were neither daunted nor lazy. Such men believed what their instructors passed on to them, made great efforts day and night, tested their techniques, spoke with their friends about their doubts, mastered what they studied, and awakened themselves to principles. For this reason, what they acquired penetrated deeply within them. At first their instructors would teach them techniques, but say nothing of the principles that were hidden within them. They only waited for their students to uncover those principles for themselves. This is called ‘drawing the bow, but not releasing the arrow.’ And its not that they spoke grudgingly. They simply wanted the students to use their minds, and to master what they were studying in the interval.”

excerpt from The Demons Sermon on Martial Arts by Chozanshi

Control; Christian Grey

“Besides, immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control things.”

Christian Grey

Gung Fu Hands

I’d help Sifu into my car, easing him in by supporting him from his arm. He was elderly, but far from frail. It was an honour to drive him back to his flat after my Wing Chun lesson, which he taught from his daughters garden in London, England. The conversation in my car was always muted, his understanding of English limited and my skill in Mandarin, non-existent.

Any language barrier resolved itself after several years under his tutelage. As I progressed in Gung Fu I learnt to read his subtle gestures, facial expressions and body language. I became so adept that he often asked me to convey what he was attempting to communicate to newer students.

I studied my Sifu’s movements. It allowed me to pick up on the subtler aspects of his Gung Fu; the flicks of the hand, the way he held his fingers, the tension of muscles in his forearms.

During the drive from Tottenham, through Bruce Grove I would play some music at low volume to kill the monotony. We’d stop at various traffic lights, pass by parks and sit patiently waiting for traffic to subside. All the while I would watch Sifu from the corner of my eye as he sat quietly.

Sifu was never truly at rest, even when we were trapped motionless in a car. I’d observe him as he brought the gnarled tips of his fingers to his hairline, deep in thought. He would press his hand into his head attempting to recall a particular fighting move like a violent version of Rodin’s thinker. His eyelids would lower and his eyes squint as he thought back to his own training as a younger man.

Sometimes whilst sitting, his hands would dart from one position to another, tracing movements from Gung Fu. I would recognize patterns from mantis, eagle claw, tiger and dragon. His hand would jerk and he would shadow box with varying hand shapes such as the fist, palm, fingers and ridge. Sifu died 8 years ago, yet I still remember those journeys with fondness.

Yesterday I arrived home late. I was still dressed in a shirt and tie as I subconsciously darted my hands out for several minutes. It made me realize how similar to my Sifu I have become, tracing his hand movements as I practiced. By observing amd mimicking him over so many years, his dynamics have become interwoven in the fabric of my body.

Two decades ago I was a naive and wholly incompetent student. But I persevered. As the teaching unfolded I slowly became competent but only to the extent that I had to consciously think about what I was doing. As soon as I stopped thinking deliberately, I would fumble. Nowadays I am like Sifu, struggling not so much to remember the moves but instead to recall the steps that it took for the patterns to become subconscious.

Each day I find myself tightening the seams on my muscles and stitching new neural pathways. And as time slips further away from me I become more like him, journeying ever closer to being a natural Gung Fu man, with each flick of my hand.

Are You Ready to Succeed?

(The book is good, too.)

I’ve Decided

I’ve decided to stop caring if I’m any good or not at Wing Chun.

But I’ve decided to keep caring if I can outlast you or not.

CTK

Death of a Legend; Dara Singh

 

“It is important today to understand how in Dara’s rustic physicality the “legend” of the body and the “legend” of the nation intersected. In fact, the hard corporeal affinity between pumped up muscles and pumped up nationhood is too real to be ignored and could be any semiologist’s delight. Dara Singh, with his over 500 undefeated victories in professional fights, had become a legend even as he won his first professional Indian wrestling championship in 1953.”

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3632451.ece

 

Follow My Patterns

You can easily tell when I’m in either mode: 1. Filling Up or 2. Reaching Out

When I post quotes, songs and poems on the blog, I am filling myself up because I am empty.

When I write something unique, I am reaching out from my soul.

CTK

Darkness Shall Be Light

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

~  T.S. Eliot  ~

Path of Sorcery; Castaneda

“My benefactor said that when a man embarks on the paths of sorcery he becomes aware, in a gradual manner, that ordinary life has been forever left behind; that knowledge is indeed a frightening affair; that the means of the ordinary world are no longer a buffer for him; and that he must adopt a new way of life if he is going to survive. The first thing he ought to do, at that point, is to want to become a warrior… “

Carlos Castaneda

Blogging From The Toilet

The higher your blood glucose levels, the faster your skin ages. Avoid sugar, stay young.

Over hydrating is far more dangerous than dehydrating. Drink when thirsty.

Over exercising is damaging to the body. Stunted recovery, chronic fatigue and elevated cortisol are bad for you. Train efficiently, increase intensity.

There should be no differentiation between play and exercise. Do sprints in a playground, pull ups on monkey bars and skip rope.

One of the best ways to lower inflammation in the body is through the daily practice of meditation.

Immerse yourself in all things that make you joyful. Watch your favourite uplifting films, listen to music that makes you dance, read books that speak directly to your soul.

Gung Fu is a life skill. Learn how to punch and kick. Make it yours.

Never Leave The Playground

Silva-Chun

Never Forgive; Dead Mans Shoes

One Classical Mess Meets Another

Often times, another martial arts practitioner will mention to me that they’d like to have an inter-disciplinary dojo of some sort.

I understand their idea and what they are striving for.  “Let’s bring everyone up in level by teaching each other our different styles,” they say to me.  I nod in agreement, but secretly have other thoughts go through my mind.

They imagine some picturesque ideal where everyone is learning from one another.  I’ve tried this out, getting together with Tae Kwon Do, Karate and Kung-Fu instructors.  It sounds great, but all it does for me is breaks down the stuff I’m working on.

My ‘style’ of Kung-Fu is built on some personal principles.  These principles are most likely due to me training in Wing Chun, but I’ve adopted them nonetheless.  When I’m learning to do some other movements, they will inherently go through my own process and if they don’t match up with what I’m trying to do (read: fight) then they are expunged.

The only way to get together and crosstrain in the martial arts like these utopians want is to put the gear on and see how everyone moves, not just as stylists, but as unique human beings.

But that’s not what they want.  They want to learn some ‘fluffy’ stuff from Tai Chi and Qigong.  Some ‘forms’ from Karate and Tae Kwon Do.  Some ‘trapping’ from Wing Chun.  …so they can say that they’ve upped their game.

CTK

Fracture His Bones; Bruce Lee

“Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life! Do not be concerned with escaping safely- lay your life before him!!”

Bruce Lee

Invincible Summer; Albert Camus

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

Albert Camus, The Stranger