Shy Amir On Xingyi Short Staff

Our friend in Israel, Shy Amir sent us this nice video of him performing a Hsing-I (Xingyi) short staff form. I love the production quality, and it is a beautiful form.
It may be of interest to the Aikido guys out there for comparison to the Aikido Jo staff. Thanks Shy!
And remember; if other martial artists out there have any nice training pics or videos, drop them by dojorat@gmail.com and we'll see if we can post them. Introduce yourself to fellow Dojo Rats all over the world!

The Continuing Education Of The Dojo Rats

San Ti Posture

As if we didn't have enough on our plate...
Sometimes you say "oooh, that looks good. I'll have five scoops"!
In reality, you could only handle three scoops.
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Across the board, the guys in our little Dojo have been past hard Karate stylists. Backgrounds include Tae Kwon Do, Kenpo, Kajukenbo, Jujitsu, Goju-Shorei and a little Boxing, Judo and Aikido thrown in.
About 1996 or so, some of us started practicing Tai Chi Chuan with one of our instructors, closely followed with an intro to Bagua. As time marched on, several of us sought out further instruction in those "internal" arts, resulting in our long-time friendship with Tai Chi Chuan instructor Michael Gilman, and our new friendship with instructors Jake Burroughs, Mike Martello and Tim Cartmell.
Something was lacking in our old hard-style arts: perhaps it was the health aspects and the Mystique of Chi Gong and Acupressure meridian theory. Or possibly the meditative side of the internal arts, or the use of "whole body power". Internal arts hooked us, and I haven't seen anybody practice a hard-style form for years.
Which brings us to the five big scoops I tried to put on our plate.
I have felt for a while that if I was going to have a more complete understanding of the Chinese Internal arts, I needed to explore Xingyi. I had one Xingyi linking form that had been taught to me by a Karate instructor. That form, "Walk the Tiger", came from a Wado-Ryu teacher in Taiwan named Watanabe. It's lineage is of unknown origin, and the guy who taught me years ago could not provide much information about it.
"The thing I need to do", think'eth The Rat, "is learn the basic Five-Element forms", which are the basis for nearly every Xingyi system. So I grabbed Zac, our youngest Black Belt and we cruised down to Seattle to visit Jake Burroughs for what became a four-hour class. Now, while these forms are very linear in appearance and are straight-foward and direct, I was decieved by their inherent complexity (Que Jake Burroughs Cheshire Cat smile). Five Elements, Five scoops on the plate. No problem. Whoah... I think I'm getting kinda full here.
Jake patiently walked us through the first three forms: Pi Chuan (splitting fist, metal), Beng Chuan (crushing fist, wood) and Zhuan Chuan (Drilling fist, water). Normally, you could spend weeks just training in one of those forms, with the subtleties and wide range of applications. At three forms, we were pretty much maxed out, and we still will need much correction and application instruction. But, the exploration of these forms does indeed help me to view the complexity of internal arts, even those with outwardly simple postures - and that's exactly what I was looking for.
It's going to take repeated visits to train with Jake to gain deeper understanding of Xingyi, an art that looks simple but is so, so much more. If we can get a handle on this art, we will have the linear, whole-body striking of Xingyi, the spiral movement and grappling of Bagua, and the softness of Tai Chi Chuan which incorporates all these qualities.
So for now, I'm going to have to put those other two scoops, the "pounding fist" and the "crossing fist" back on Jake Burroughs' generous serving plate. They'll be there when we're ready, after we work on the first three.
If you would like to see information on Xingyi and the other martial arts Jake Burroughs teaches, take a look here at the website for "Three Harmonies Martial Arts Center".

When Your "Art" Goes Very Wrong

Capoeira Demo Goes Very Wrong - Watch more Funny Videos

What if the Tae Kwon Do guy gets his kicking leg trapped and is swept?
What if the Grappler is beat senseless before he can take the fight to the ground?
What if the Tai Chi guy is too "Soft"?
--Here we have two skilled Capoeria players who get into a scrap during an event. At first, they both display kicking ability that rivals any good Karateka, but something goes wrong. They get pissed, they get into it, and one guy tackles the other and dumps him on his head. There were no attempts at technique here, just raw schoolyard wrestling.
Everyone knows that when fights escalate, they move towards the clinch. If you are a kicker, you'd better maintain your kicking range. Same with a striker. I suggest that it is very hard to stay at kicking range only. That's why they are constantly breaking up clinches in sparring matches. Now, I think it may be more practical for a good Boxer to maintain his range, his body being in a more compact and protected stance. The Grappler will risk taking a punch to get in close range. Or he may let the fight come to him, luring the other fighter in.
Every art has it's strength and weakness. Flashy technique is no substitute for conditioning, intent, and a mixed toolbox of techniques for different ranges.

Review: "The Wellspring" - Students Of Chi; Get This Book!

"Every human being can draw in the course of his education from the inexaustable wellspring of the divine in man's nature".
I Ching - #48, Ching / The Well
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The last class I had with my Tai Chi Chuan instructor, Michael Gilman, he handed me this book as I was leaving. "The Wellspring" he said, was the best book on the science of Chi that he has read.
I had just finished "Chi Gong" by Dong and Esser, and provided THIS REVIEW. Dong and Esser go a long way to explaining the science behind Chi, but "Wellspring" answers the rest of the questions I had. Without a doubt, this book has a sensible approach firmly rooted in scientific studies. Of course, there is no way I can solve the mystery of Chi in a few paragraphs here, but this is a piece of the puzzle that "The Wellspring" presents:
The "enteric nervous system" is basicly everything from your tongue to your anus, all your guts and bowels. According to Christopher Dow in "The Wellspring", there are more nerves in your gut than there are in your brain. The brain also releases serotonin, a chemical substance that is a neurotransmitter, but the intestines release even more than the brain. Dow carefully walks us through fetal development demonstrating the direction of energy flow up the spine, and down the front of the body via the conception channel, gut, or "enteric system". Scientific studies have shown that the bowels, when completely isolated from the brain, will still perform peristaltic action - the undulation of the gut that moves food through. This may be the link to serotonin in the intestines, and the gut almost behaving as a "second brain". Starting to get the connection? The point below our belly-button, the Dantien, is the center of the gut, with more nerves and serotonin than the brain. Dow goes on to explain both bioelectricity and electromagnetism within the body, both which account for the meridian systems in Chinese medicine.
While giving complex explanations of these functions, "The Wellspring" is not "over the top" in science. it is very readable, with humorous stories illustrating the concepts to be explained. A smooth transition is presented between scientific studies and the actual types of breathing, visualization and postures of Yogic Chi practice.
Moreover, author Christopher Dow is a martial artist, a long time practitioner of Tai Chi Chuan. The second half of the book relates to Chi in the martial arts. Even more directly, the difference between localized Chi in the muscular contractions of hard-style arts vs. the whole-body Chi of internal martial arts.
"The Wellspring" describes Chi in a way that even skeptics may have to re-think. If you practice Chi Gong, Yoga, or Martial Arts, this book will help you understand the how and why of Chi. If you are going to pick one book to help you understand the concept of Chi in the human body, this is it!
"The Wellspring", by Christopher Dow is available through Phosphene Publishing company at this link.

Finding The Balence

I have recently experianced an issue in the one class I teach to the general public, Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan. Readers to this Blog might already know my friends and I have a Mon-Weds workout that is "closed door". It's strictly for guys that are already established martial artists, there's some rough stuff, solid training reinforcing our boxing, push hands, chin na locking-- it's drill, drill drill. This is usually followed by a few cool ones.
Several years ago, I decided to add a Thursday class just to play around with Tai Chi Chuan. People in our small community had expressed interest in some kind of martial training, but we are very selective as to who we allow into our regular club practice. So the Thursday Tai Chi Chuan class seemed to fit well; teach the Yang-style long form, and give me some other bodies to push hands with. The class would also serve as a "farm club" to see if there were any likely candidates to allow into our Mon-Weds practice.
Things were ticking along very well for quite some time. But this week, a student sent me a note saying that she was going to drop out of the class, essentially because our practice was too "hard". This person, a spiritual woman about sixty, had been with the class for a year. She had practiced with another school in the past, and had done some San-shou (two person form) and push hands. By all standards, she was an excellent student and will be missed by us all.
Now here's the twist; Her note said that she was dissapointed that I never allowed her to come to the Mon-Weds club practice. Now, on one hand, she thought the very mellow push hands and occasional application or drill in the Thursday class was too "Hard". Yet she had wanted to be admitted into a real rough class, something she clearly was not suited for.
As expected, I'm sad for the loss of this student. Her comments made me reflect deeply on my methods and expectations in teaching a class with such a wide range of ages and abilities. It also reminds me that Tai Chi Chuan is so many different things to many different people.
What this has also done is reaffirm my conviction to teach Tai Chi Chuan as a MARTIAL ART, with plans to introduce Xing-yi and Bagua at some later date. If anything, I may have failed to clearly state my intentions as to where the training in that class is headed, with ages and abilities of each student considered. For the most part, all the other students are having a blast, performing at whatever level they feel comfortable. For those with no interest in Martial Tai Chi Chuan, I will recommend the Chi Gong class that is taught at the senior center in town.
One of Bruce Lee's first students, James Demile, said that Bruce was selfish in his teaching. Lee used his students to experiment and make him a better martial artist. To a certain extent, I am in agreement with that concept. Those of us that take the time to teach are rewarded with valuable lessons ourselves.

Bruce Lee's Seattle History

Here's a great little snip of a Bruce Lee documentary with a focus on the early days in Seattle. It takes a few seconds to get rolling, but is well worth viewing. The narrator is James DeMile, one of Bruces first students along with Jessie Glover who is still a Seattle-area resident. DeMile went on to write the famous booklet on the "One Inch Punch", which I have buried in my collection somewhere. He also trained Ron Ogi, whose seminars provided our Dojo with valuable training drills. Ogi now owns some of the original training dummies that Bruce Lee used, and were passed down by DeMile. These dummies are mounted on walls in his house, and all have different functions. Some have re-breakable arms, others slinky-like arms, and all are said to be articulated and move in various ways.
This video is a nice little bit of Seattle history, and lends insight into how Lee developed his fighting style.

Everybody's Irish

There now; wasn't St. Patricks Day Fun?