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• Shaolin Kung Fu Practice in the Midwest

  Wednesday, Aug 26, 2009 3:58AM / Standard Entry

  After recently dealing with a great deal of turmoil in my life, I landed in Kansas City to spend time with some relatives.  I'm ashamed to say it, but I pretty much completely stopped practicing my kung fu for weeks at a time.  I guess this was partly because it was hard to find a decent place to practice.  I couldn't really find any good indoor gyms in my area that were ideal and it was so unbearably hot outside, that I'd be drenched in sweat after ten minutes.
  
  I took these videos to mark my progress with these particular forms.  This one is called "Entering The Gate".  It's quite difficult to do under the best circumstances.  In this case, it was 98 degrees outside!  Not to mention it was so humid you could hardly breath.  I can't say that I've really worked out all of the kinks in this form yet and after something like five takes I settled on this one:
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J1b_zYsxpw&feature=channel_page
  

  This is the same "Plum Blossom" form that I posted earlier.  I feel this video shows that I've vastly improved with this one.  I can actually use the strikes rather than just go through motions like I'm using them.  I finally have a "snap" at the end of each punch, chop, kick, and throat gouge that I didn't before:
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JbyOautmuU&feature=channel
  

  
  
  
  

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• Nirvana/Rick Astley Mix

  Tuesday, Aug 18, 2009 1:25AM / Standard Entry

  I thought I'd been RickRoll'D, but when I played this I nearly spit my drink out it was so funny. Especially the part when he's doing his little dance during the solo.

  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN75im_us4k&feature=channel_page
  

  
  
  
  

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• I got three medals at The 17th CMAT Tournament at UC Berkeley

  Saturday, May 9, 2009 2:20PM / Standard Entry

  I competed in the 17th Annual Chinese Martial Arts Tournament at UC Berkeley on April 11th.  I have to admit, I'm still relatively new to MA competition.  There really weren't many competitors in the traditional wushu category though, so I managed to get three medals: a gold, a silver, and a bronze.  If anything, this tournament was good practice for future competitions.  Although I put on a good show, I won by default in most of those events because there weren't any competitors to challenge me.  I'd really like to see TCMA competitions regain their popularity someday.  Maybe Tiger Claw's Kung Fu Magazine.com Tournament on June 27 will help.  I'm hoping I can compete in this.  I sort of have to "regroup" due to various issues in my life right now and I'm just not sure I'll have the time to train up for that one.

   

  The only picture of myself that I have from the whole thing is this one of me doing my spear set. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  I'm trying to secure some videos that were taken by my some of my kung fu brothers.  I think next time I'm going to wear a lighter color like blue or white.  I'm starting to think the black is a little much.  
  
  

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• New Book On Triple Stick vs Spear by Rick Wing

  Thursday, Mar 12, 2009 7:51AM / Standard Entry

  I remember our teacher, Wong Jack Man, especially liked doing this form. Near the end of each class at Jing Mo was usually when he got into the two-person weapons sets. I remember him teaching this set with such enthusiasm. Sifu Rick Wing teaches it pretty much exactly how our Si-Tai Gung, Wong Jack Man, used to do it.
  
  As with his previous book on Shaolin #5, you can actually learn the set from studying Rick's latest work, "The Classical Three-Section Staff".  It is clearly written and the photos show front and back views. The set really can be learned in detail by looking at the photos, and perusing the text. This set also pretty much shows almost all the ways one might actually use a triple stick in practical fashion.
  
  Below I've posted some links and some videos of Sifu Wing performing the set with our fellow Si Hing Remus:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Three-Section-Staff-Rick-Wing/dp/1583942629
  
  http://bluesnakeblog.wordpress.com/
  
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTqt7cE7DD0
  

  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZTFg_FaNz8
  

  
  
  
  

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• Jing Mo Photo Shoot

  Sunday, Oct 26, 2008 11:19AM / Standard Entry

  A while ago some of my kung fu brothers and I got together for a photo shoot in Golden Gate Park.  It was actually the first time I can remember getting together with these guys when we were all in our formal uniforms displaying our Jing Mo Athletic Group patches.  This never happens since we don't really participate in many tournaments or demos as a team (I think I've been the only student in our class who's competed in a tournament in years).  I guess it's because ours is sort of a "masters class" of sorts.  We're all experienced students of the great grandmaster Wong Jack Man (the man who fought with Bruce Lee back in 1964) and there aren't really any younger kids in our class.
  

  
  This is actually a good thing for me because I've managed to learn a lot from these guys without a huge class getting in the way.  Of course, I'm the least experienced of the group since I only just started learning from Sifu Wong a few years before he retired.  So I've ended up mimicking my senior kung fu brothers, which has given me a multitude of perspectives on one of our main arts, Bak Siu Lum (also called Bei Shaolin or Northern  Shaolin).  It's been said in our passed down traditions that it was, indeed, the original, "Shaolin Northern Style of Shaolin Gate".  This was the original style of the Shaolin monks who escaped the destruction of the temple by Qing troops in 1732.  Bei Shaolin has an interesting history after that, having been kept alive by traveling performers, Ming rebels, and the famed, Kuo Yu Chang.  There's been some controversy surrounding who has the "real" Shaolin since all of the Northern Shaolin masters (and most all other kung fu masters) had to flee Communist China because all kung fu teaching and practicing was forbidden during The Cultural Revolution.  There's an interesting  Kung Fu Magazine article about this:   http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=158

  I was actually debating about this stuff on the KF Magazine forums and, I didn't realize at first, but Shi Deyang himself was arguing with me!  I felt kind of like a jerk after that.  As the 31st generation successor of the Shaolin tradition, I still have to give him some props and respect.  I sincerely hope I didn't offend him:

  http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47251&highlight=Ten+Song+Shan+Forms
  http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46255&highlight=Ten+Song+Shan+Forms
  
  Anyway, enough getting side tracked, here's some of our pictures:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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