Chinese Medicine’s Mini-System

Dr. Cai was a principle instructor for the time I attended Chinese medicine school.  His teaching method is the reason I am so successful in my clinics today.

I always thought he was a genius – and he is.  In my last year of study, he moved back to Texas where his sisters and mother were living.  Before the next year was about to graduate I made sure that I got all his course materials that they had.  I bought the provincial exam prep from him.  I made sure to watch him give acupuncture in the clinic and get his protocols; these never deviated from what he taught in class.

An MD(OB/GYN) in China, an MD in the USA, and MD in CAN, a Registered Acupuncturist in CAN and a Licensed Acupuncturist in the USA, Dr. Cai showed us how someone could learn anything quite quickly and easily: he effectively organized information.

I always thought it was JUST his ability to organize information but I was wrong.  Teaching this year at a Chinese medicine school has shown me something else through the questioning of the students.  My students asked me, “What about this?”  ”Do you look at that?”  ”Why don’t you ask that?”  Most of the time I responded, “Because I don’t get enough good information from it.”

While my answer was truthful, there’s more to it.  Dr. Cai showed me his mini-system of Chinese medicine.  The bare-bones, most effective diagnostics to get to the acupuncture point and herbal formula as quickly as possible.

In the upcoming Wing Chun Illustrated Magazine article, His Dark Side writes about how his Wing Chun Sifu and his Non-Classical Gung-Fu Sifu each taught him to make his own mini-system out of what they taught.

Learning martial arts skill is the easy part.  Copy this.  Do that.  Punch like this.  Kick like that.  The hard part is looking within oneself after a time of practice and finding out what it would take to defeat oneself.  Then, training for that.  Making a mini-system for that: mentally, emotionally and physically.

Wing Chun Kung-Fu is always talked about like it is easy to learn and takes less time than any other Kung-Fu style.  While this may be true to a certain degree, what’s the real timeline?  20 years for Wing Chun as opposed to 50 years for another style?  What makes certain lineages stand out?

I believe the masters of these lineages, while they taught the entire curriculum, concentrated on a core set of their own personal principles.

Personal revelations I’m sharing with the nation.

Thank you Dr. Cai.  Thank you His Dark Side.  Respect.

Train vs Teach

It is bad when one thing becomes two.
One should not look for anything else in the Way
of the Samurai. It is the same for anything that is
called a Way. If one understands things in this manner,
he should be able to hear about all ways and be more
and more in accord with his own.

—YAMAMOTO TSUNETOMO

I’ve decided I will no longer teach, per se.  It’s not like a lot of people come ’round these parts of the country to seek out some Gung-Fu guy.  Gung-Fu is dead as far as the masses are concerned.  So be it.  We have been delving back into the underground for some time now and there’s no turning back.  However, it is of no concern because concealment is power.

It’s not like things that I’ve learned won’t be taught, it’s more of a mental shift.  Words mean things – and they mean different things to different people.  I will take the back seat in making sure that everyone has the knowledge of the system and instead be more concerned with how they are serving everyone at that given time.

Another thing, modeled off of my mentor and friend, is that I will not charge for any time spent with me any longer.  This takes the burden of having to teach (read: sell a product) to someone.

Come.  Train.  Bring gear.

Monday, Monday, You Break My Heart

Gents came over on Sunday for photos and training.

Twice a week, before my family wakes, I do the same thing: forms, heavy bag, solo-Chi Sau with elastic band, sprints with burpees

Once a week, between gaps in my day, I do the same thing: hindu pushups, tabletops, crunches, burpees; all to a deck of cards

From time to time, I do the same thing: dynamic sparring warmup, punching drills, Chi Gerk, Chi Sau/Goh Sau, sparring

There is a reason there are only three techniques written in the curriculum after the punch: Tan Sau, Pak Sau, Lop Sau

I am a savage

Some Life Lessons Learnt from Chinese Boxing

What you put in you get out.

Stay the course.

You don’t know what you don’t know.

If you can get hit and keep rolling with it, life doesn’t pack such a punch.

Learn the lesson and then let it go.

You can find moments of personal glory somewhere between seeing stars and black eyes.

Need An Excuse

If you need an excuse to throw techniques like jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts -

simply play your forms,

and where you find palm strikes,

turn them into fists.

Teach Me Something

Wing Chun is a very streamlined approach to combat. One punch. One kick.

But there are levels and the Wooden Dummy form is divided into 8 sections.

There are three empty hand forms.  Pole, knives.  Coveted secrets of combat only to revealed in the high-level techniques hidden within thousands of years of Gung-Fu.  With hand and foot techniques, it amounts to over 20.  Would take a lifetime to master.

Wing Chun is a very complicated approach to combat.

The Formula

I used to think that there was a method of learning that would be the magic secret sauce to my Wing Chun.

I used to think that someone out there had the means to make me good if I trained with them – that some lineage/family/approach was the right way of doing things and would lead to my success.

Roll at the wrist, roll at the elbow, hips forward, hips back, more stickiness, more sticking, more control, more punching.

I was wrong.

The formula: adapt in the moment with the opponent.

The method: practicing adapting in the moment with the opponent.

I finally understand the statement The Sweet Science.

Already Gone; Not Very Good

I’ve got an idea in my head.  I’ve got this idea of what I want my Chun to look like and where I want to take it – and I think I just want to master a few key things before I decide on whether I need to go in a new direction.  I do like the ‘look’ of some of the WSL Wing Chun because it seems to have an ol’ style boxing flavour.  I’m a sucker for boxing.

As I said to yesterday’s training partner, “I’m not very good.  But I’m not too bad either.  If I can get together with some of these folks and out-skill and out-gas them, then I very cautiously think I might be on the right path for myself.”

It’s also important to follow Rule #6.

Be The Hunter

Chin down, shoulders relaxed, hunter-mindset.

Don’t run like you’re being chased, be the one who’s chasing.

Don’t Fit

Cats at work be talking bout supraspinatus and subscapularis.  Deltoids and rotator cuffs.  I mean – I learned all that but the medicine doesn’t need the 10’000 divisions.  It can all be summed up in one simple question, “Can you show me where it hurts?”

Fam says they don’t know why I write and could give a sh*t.  I’m running to the bookcase to show em what I’ve been working on – the master plan and they don’t even look up.  You can pretend that you care but you can’t pretend that you’re there.  Shoulda showed up for my fight.

Chunners be talking about their Tanned Sow like they got some ish.  Forget it.  No lineage wars, no membership fees and I won’t try and coerce you out of a few dollars so I can make a movie about a dead guy who promoted growth.

I don’t fit.  Foul mood.  F*ck it.

Fight, Fight, Fight

They got these commercials on TV and at the movies: “Join the army.  Fight.”

Fight for your freedom.  Fight for your life.  Fight for your parking spot.

I’m at the beach breathing in the sea air off an island and I’m thinking, sometimes it’s not time to fight.  Sometimes it’s time to just let it all in.  Let those feelings wash all over and…yield.

Receive what comes.  Follow what goes.

CTK

Dear Boss

Dear Boss,

I hate you.  I hate that you have me up so early in the morning the sun isn’t even awake.  You drive me so hard, working long hours in a day and by the time the week is finished I’m spent.  All I’m able to do is eat and sleep – I don’t even get to go to the boxing gym anymore over lunch as there’s work to be done.  My training is slipping in favour of your insatiable goal of reaping the mighty dollar and for what?  Because you have everyone coming after you for money?  That’s not my problem.

However, perhaps I should be grateful that I even have a job in today’s world with the economy the way it is.  I should be happy with all I have.  Still, I wonder if there’s someway you can change that hectic schedule of mine to include more of the one thing I have such a strong love-hate relationship with…sorry…my bad…back to work I go…

Sincerely,

Self-employed

Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner

Wing Chun shows that anatomically I can only defend 180 degrees of centreline.  I can make this more if I shift, but it shows the limitations of the limbs of the human body.

I prefer, probably due to the system’s way of embedding itself into my psyche, to have my back against a wall in a club.  I also prefer to be the one sitting in a booth facing the entrance.  I prefer the wall on my back.

If you give me a corner, even better.  It cuts down the 180 degrees to 90.  Plus, I don’t have to hold myself up – I just lean on the wall and the more force my opponent puts on me just gets eaten up by the concrete behind me.

This is metaphorical for life.  If for any second you feel like you can back me into a corner and have your way with me, you’ve got another thing coming.  I’ll just kick back and perhaps wait it out.  If I miss, I hit air.  If you miss, you hit concrete.  I might grab behind your head and spin you round, slamming your head into the wall.  I will use your false confidence as a weakness and take you to the grave.

“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

Perhaps

Perhaps it’s because I never tried hard to gain something from Chinese medicine and now it’s 5 years later and I’m really good; perhaps it’s because I’ve tried so hard to gain something from Gung Fu that I still feel lack.

A young man went to Gautama Buddha and sought the Master’s guidance to achieve Enlightenment, The conversation went as follows:

Young Man: Master how long will it take for me to achieve enlightenment?

Gautama Buddha: It all depends on you……

Young Man: If I put in ten hours of meditation every day how long will it take?

Gautama Buddha: Maybe ten years

Young Man: What if I put in fifteen hours meditation?

Gautama Buddha: Maybe fifteen years

Young Man; [getting irritated] What if I meditate for twenty hours?

Gautama Buddha: Maybe twenty five years

The young man was almost infuriated.

Young Man: I cannot understand your logic—the more effort I put in, the more time it will take—this is ridiculous, Please explain.

Gautama Buddha: As long as you are fixated and obsessed about your goal you will not achieve it. Just do spiritual practice without one eye on the goal. Let events take their shape.

Triple S

First, there was Remembering SEF.

Now, there’s the Triple S.

This morning, the two gents that came over drilled Wing Chun techs in the Chi Sau – the more useful ones if you will: Tan, Fok, Bong, Pak and Jum.  When drilled, it is important to keep the Triple S in mind.

Slow – Slow it down, as to not get so excited and overstimulated.

Smooth – Make it smooth, not so jerky.

Stay in the pocket – Two trains on the same track.  Stay with your partner.

We can play Chi Sau so many different ways: head shots only, body shots only, pretending to be drunk, etc.  I like the Triple S for drilling techs.  Then we can let ‘er fly.

Make it yours, CTK

52 Blocks

We F*cked It Up

Like Wrestling

Comment on the Kung-Fu Tai Chi Facebook site in regards to the Chi Sau competition:

“ I noticed that a lot of the Chi Sao this year was just pushing & shoving, without really much bridging/sticking, strikes, lops, or trapping.  What do the other wing chun guys think about how this was handled?”

And a training partner after our last Chi Sau session remarked, “It’s like wrestling.”

———-

Problem: Chi Sau when played lightly at patty-cake speed lends well to, well, patty-cake type movements.  We get to see all sorts of bridging, trapping and striking.  But what happens when both parties turn up the heat at close range knowing full well that they can hurt each other?

Pressure.  Fear.  Control.

Forever

Friends come and go.  Relationships turned to shite.  Some days well, some days stress.  Money in the bank or sometimes waiting for the next cheque.

But Gung-Fu is forever.

Learn How To Fight In Four Weeks

Kung-Fu Camp here on the East Coast of Canada came to a close.  Four brave souls braved four weeks of lessons in movement (and laughter).

Each session started with burpees and ended with burpees.  You can’t fight if you’re gonna gas.

First week was about circling.  Circling the head, hands, torso, knees and entire body.

The second week was about pushing and pulling.  Pushing on an opponent’s centre of mass, pulling on the head or limbs to control and off-balance.

The third week was about hitting.  Hitting from a distance, up close, sitting, when laying on top and when on the bottom.  A lesson in power generation.

Week four was about footwork.  Evade.

As His Dark Side puts it, “Hit hard.  Or evade.  Or both.  Everything else is a waste.”

So in four hourly sessions, I figure I taught them everything they need to know about fighting.  It’s up to them to put in the work.  That’s how I roll.  Most folks just don’t.  But I hope that I instilled some

–>inspiration<–

CTK