Internal Arts Workshops with Master Huang (Part 2)

By Walther Chen

Walther is an advanced student and an assistant instructor at Wu Dao

In June, Wu Dao was fortunate to have Master Wei-Lun Wang visit for a series of weekend seminars. He is accomplished in all the internal styles (tai chi, xing yi, and bagua zhang), as well as the art of Liuhebafa which brings all the internal styles into one elegant practice. 

In the first part of the story, I recounted how Master Huang was teaching the Yang 108 form. This time, I will continue with the second part of the weekend’s workshop. In this part, we were treated to an overview of qigong and all three internal arts. Master Huang began with some basic Qigong, including sections of Golden Lotus Qigong. It was quite difficult for most, as it required the strength and structure to be able to hold positions for many minutes at a time. We were once again treated to some excellent imagery, as Master Huang encouraged us to imagine putting our thumbs up our nostrils during one exercise.

Master Huang introduced Tai Chi as “like water.” While its force can come out like a whip, the essential character of Tai Chi is of flowing through, penetrating through the opponent’s defenses through whatever weaknesses are detected. To illustrate his point, students paired up to practice a drill: the boat in water. One partner crossed arms over the chest (forming a “boat”), and then the other partner would try to tip the boat over. To do so in a tai chi manner was to be extremely sensitive to the weaknesses in the boat’s balance. When Master Huang demonstrated, he followed so well it was as if he didn’t use force at all. After the drill was over, he asked “What does the boat need to do in order to fight back?” Of course, the answer was to become water.

In the Xingyi and Bagua sections, we were introduced to one basic movement for each style. Through his explanations, we were able to grasp the essential feel of each style. Xingyi strikes like lightning. In Xingyi, all attacks move straight forward in a straight line, and attacks are generated from the centerline of the body. The idea is to crush through the opponent, whether there is a weakness at the point of contact or not. Bagua twists and turns around the opponent like a tornado. Much of the footwork is a circular step first to evade, and then a linear step to close on the opponent and deliver an attack.

It was interesting that in the two hours of xingyi and bagua, we learned very few movements, but practiced each movement multiple times to get the feel of the style. The focus was clearly on depth and not breadth. And even while teaching choreography, Master Huang didn’t miss a chance to remind us about the very basic connections and structure that must be felt within the body.

".. Knowing is not enough; we must apply."

By David Mandeix 
Dave is a Level 5(Blue) student at Wu Dao

If you know me, then you know I enjoy a good scrap. Mind you, it was not always this way- when I slunk through the doors of the Wu Guan 4 years ago I had loads of other martial arts experience under my belt (haha), but I was terrified of fighting. This is because I was bad at fighting. Despite years of training, my sparring did not resemble any of the traditional styles I had studied so much as it did a very timid, frantic form of kickboxing.

Last Friday, I was allowed to spar with the MMA group at another training facility, and I was very eager to try out some traditional Shaolin and Choy Lay Fut to see how it stacked up against a more modern (and arguably more popular at the moment) martial arts system.

While I like the mobility imparted by the MMA stance, I found myself returning to Leaning Stance (Gong Bu) for its solid base. I do not think people expect their opponent to fight forward like you do in Leaning Stance, and it imparts a decided advantage by really committing you to the fight. Let me just say, though, that if you are going to use Leaning Stance, it has to be SPOT ON. It’s a fantastically stable stance, but the knee has to be over the shoelace (where have we heard that before?) otherwise your front foot will get swept and you will get dumped on the mat. A couple of false starts in Leaning Stance helped me recognize flaws in my technique I thought I had previously polished out. You don’t make those mistakes twice.

Awesome news—I found opportunities to apply most of the Shi-Bah-Shi Ji Ben Gong in some form or another while I was fighting with a number of people. Moreover, the endless repetition of these moves we endure at Wu Dao meant that they were just as fast to execute as the oft-drilled 1-2-3-4 boxing combo.

One of the big winners that night was the hooking foot sweep that we see in a lot of the 18 basic exercises. Frequently, I could just stop or counter an attack using that. The Gong Bu Shei Xing clearing hand motion followed by a punch also seemed to catch a lot of people off guard, and was great for clearing out an opponent’s guard and following right up with a strike.

Another big winner was Shaolin’s side kick, which when chambered properly can be thrown from quite close in, and with loads of power from the coiled leg. This one seemed to surprise folks a lot, and it got a lot of use when I had to fight tall people who wanted to punch my face.

A really nice surprise was Pi Tui. A lot of times people don’t expect the rear arm uppercut, and if you can land that then the descending backfist afterwards is almost a sure thing. At this point most people aren't really paying attention to what your feet are doing, and so the outside crescent kick is almost always a big surprise. Bonus- when it got caught, my weight was coming down on the kick, and I was able to use it to help secure a grapple to counter an attempted throw. The emphasis we place on retracting a kick clearly has a very real and important application.

I don’t want to give the impression that I dished out Enter the Dragon Shaolin Master Style punishment here, though. I’ve still got a long way to go. I’m just happy that a lot of practice hours paid off for me in a very real way, and as a result I find that the emphasis of my training has shifted as well. Really, how often are we focusing on something seemingly insignificant (opening the foot, retracting the kick, etc.) and asking ourselves- “am I really going to use this?” or “will that really matter in a fight”? As it turns out: yes, and yes.

Keep training guys. It will pay off.

Internal Arts Workshops with Master Huang (Part 1)

By Walther Chen
Walther is an advanced student and an assistant instructor at Wu Dao

In June, Wu Dao was fortunate to have Master Wei-Lun Wang visit for a series of weekend seminars. He is accomplished in all the internal styles (Tai Ji Quan, Xing Yi, and Bagua Zhang), as well as the art of Liu He Ba Fa which brings all the internal styles into one elegant practice.

The weekend was divided into two parts. In the first, attendees had the opportunity to learn in-depth the choreography of the first two sections of the Yang 108 form. Master Huang had great emphasis on finding connection within the body and understanding the structure, intent, and feel of each movement. Some interesting connections he mentioned were elbows-kidney and palms-feet. Connecting the elbows and kidneys together helps to engage the elbow, allowing it to hang correctly. And connecting the palms to the feet can help to feel a connection and line of energy running all the way through the body. Not all of the theory was quite as esoteric. Master Huang reminded us that many Tai Ji Quan movements (like Wave Hands Like Clouds) are powered from inside to outside, and that the action of one hand may power the following action of other hand like in the movement “Turn and Chop.”

Master Huang was very expressive and very interested in trying to transmit the depth of Tai Ji. If you are interested in learning more about the deep connections of the body, and how those connections can improve your Tai Ji or Kung Fu, please join us next year when Master Huang returns for another set of workshops. (More on the second part of the workshop in next month’s newsletter).  

Featured Student of the Month - Tabea

September 2011

Tabea studied Kung Fu at Wu Dao for one year. During that time, Tabea was promoted to Level 2 (Yellow Belt) in Adult Kung Fu. Having just completed a year-long internship at Novartis in Cambridge, she recently returned to her native Switzerland. Wu Dao staff followed up with Tabea to learn about what she thought of her one year’s time spent in Boston and training at Wu Dao:

Wu Dao: Where are you from and what brought you to Boston?

Tabea: I am from the Swiss-German speaking part of Switzerland. After an apprenticeship as a lab technician, I got the opportunity for a one-year internship at Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge.

Wu Dao: What initially attracted you to Kung Fu? How long had you been training in Kung Fu before you came to Boston?

Tabea: From my youth I was interested in martial arts: I did judo for a short period of time as a child, and later I was playing with the thought of starting karate. I found shaolin Kung Fu two and a half years ago, and I was impressed. There was something about it. I loved going to Kung Fu classes. During the lesson, I would not think about anything else. I had been training in Shaolin Kung Fu for one and a half years before I came to Boston.

Wu Dao: Why did you decide to train at

Wu Dao versus other schools?

Tabea: In my first week in Boston I did a lot of research on the internet and found a couple schools. Some of them promised to teach traditional Kung Fu. I decided to try Wu Dao first because it was pretty convenient to get there. Wu Dao was the first and only school I visited for a free lesson. The school looked well organized and I felt welcome, so I signed up for the whole year.

Wu Dao: What was your perception of Kung Fu before you started at Wu Dao? What was your expectation when you came to Wu Dao?

Tabea: Kung Fu meant to me: hard training or hard work and great moves. To be honest I was a little disappointed in my first two months, when I just did the hard work, meaning only basics, but no great moves. But that changed after I started having fun learning the basics because I could actually feel the progress I was making. And Shifu told me around that time that my basics got a lot better than in the beginning.

Wu Dao: Has training at Wu Dao changed any of your perceptions of Kung Fu? What have you learned through training at Wu Dao?

Tabea: That’s how I realized that there is no good Kung Fu with poor and sloppy basics. I also learned to question the background of every move, so that I could understand what is important about each move. You can only be great if you break down every single move and actually study and practice it.

Wu Dao: What is your favorite thing in your Kung Fu training? What is your least favorite?

Tabea: My favorite thing is to practice a floor drill or self-defense move till I get the A-Ha effect, which means I start understanding and feeling better and better about doing this particular move. My least favorite thing is the opposite, practicing something that Shifu maybe considers as easy, and me having the feeling that I would never get it.

Wu Dao: What is the most memorable event or anecdote from your training at Wu Dao?

Tabea: One of them is when I attended a class with Shifu Shi De Cheng: we were only four students and I was the only white belt. It was great to meet such an interesting, wise and happy person.

Wu Dao: Do you plan to continue to train in Kung Fu when you return home? What are some elements from your Wu Dao training that you plan to keep with you for your future training?

Tabea: Yes, I am planning on continuing my Kung Fu training. I will go back to my old school and I might try to get our school here in Basel a little more organized. I will talk about the classes with my Shifu and hope that he will pay more attention to correcting moves and basics. I will try to keep as much of what I have learned at Wu Dao in mind.

Wu Dao: What are some parting thoughts that you wish to share with the community?

Tabea: I just wanted to thank everyone I met during this year. It was a pleasure to train and suffer with you during classes. It was hard for me to leave the school behind. I wanted to thank Shifu, Sissi, Melvin and Julius for teaching me and believing in me. ☺ Keep it up, you have a great school! And finally I want thank Robyn, because we spent so many hours training together during this year. We motivated each other over and over again. And I am really impressed about her progress during this year. I am going to miss you all!

Kung Fu Haiku

By David Mandeix
Dave is a Level 4(Green) student at Wu Dao

One for each of the Ji Ben Gong:

1)Oh! So many forms
My limbs will not stop aching
We must go again

2)Classes every night
Floor Drills, Forms, and Self Defense
These make up my life

3)Kungfu means hard work
Repetition is the key
We refine ourselves

4)Kungfu on the brain
What did I do before this?
Probably ached less

5)No Kungfu tonight
Instead- dinner and laundry
Life gets in the way

6)I can kick the bag
But I can not re-chamber
Bad habits die hard

7)Yesterday I ate
A heaping plate of bitter
Same again today

8) Shi-fu grunts “Not bad”
It’s the highest form of praise
Don’t get used to it

9)I am dripping sweat
And the warm-up is not done
Its one of those nights

10)My hips do not stretch
As far as I’d like them to
What’s a guy to do?

11)I have bruises from
Star blocking with a partner
Curse my tender bones

12)Eighteen Ji-Ben-Gong
The monk makes them look easy
We still stumble through

13) How does the form go?
What’s that move for anyway?
These things escape me

14) I must learn the staff
I thought it would be easy
Now it makes me weep

15) Kicking high is fun
Sometimes we overreach, though
Then we pay the price

16) Sitting in horse stance
The way it makes my legs feel-
How much longer now?

17) Muscles sore again-
A feeling that has become
Like a dear old friend

18) At the end of class
Some water and a lie down
What more could you want?

No Greater Excuse

By Sissi Liu

Sissi Liu is the Yoga instructor and a Level 5 (Blue) student at Wu Dao

For my practice in asana-oriented yoga, primarily Ashtanga Yoga, I have taken classes at different studios and with various teachers. While I find inspiration in regular practice, through reading, and learning from my teachers, sometimes other students of a variety of types (see my categorization of the Western, modern "yogis" at the end of the blog) have served as my inspiration as well. When I hit a plateau in my practice, watching others with fascinated admiration helps me to believe that one day, with practice, I could do “that,” too.

One such moment came recently during a Mysore style Ashtanga Yoga class (practitioners do their own practice with the teacher coming around to make individual adjustments). While focused in the performance of a Sun Salutation, I heard the footsteps of someone passing in front of me—soft steps interrupted by low thump

s. I wondered if the person had a bad hip issue. Noticing my thoughts wandering, I tried to concentrate. The woman laid down her mat next to mine, near the corner of the studio room and proceeded to begin her practice.

It did not take me long to realize with unfeigned shock that a prosthetic foot peaked out of one of her pant legs, the foot flexing with her movements into upward dog and downward dog. Again, I tried to concentrate, but I could not help peering over from time to time. During some portions of the practice, she unbound the entire leg just so she could perform the postures. Each vinyasa (the flows that connect each posture) was performed by jumping back from a posture and then jumping through from downward dog into the next posture, without shortcuts. Towards the end of the series, she practiced her backbends just as the series prescribed. With the aid of the instructor who treated her no differently than any other student, she reached back to the floor from standing and came back up to standing again. She was by no means young or a natural. She did not have the typical yogi physique. And she did not use practice straps, blocks, or training implements.

Witnessing this and reflecting afterwards, I felt ashamed of my lack of consistency over the years. For a couple of years at a time since I began exploring yoga, I allowed myself to skip practice with excuses such as I’ve got too much to do, I’m tired, or my back’s sore, etc. My progress therefore suffered. If someone with only one leg could achieve what she has with the potential of achieving much more in the future, what better excuse could I come up with for not practicing?

We all tend to find rationale to let go of our training—in yoga, Kung Fu, Tai Chi, or fill in the blank—and blame the pressures of life, family, or work. We watch with awe at someone else's advancement and lament that given our lack of natural ability or hours in the day that we could never get there. Ultimately, for whatever reason we choose a practice, there is only one thing that will stop our progress—lack of consistency. We make a choice when we start something new and we have to commit to making the choice to stay with it. So, the formula is simple: to be good at anything, you just need to have faith in yourself and not let the next great excuse, even if you only have one leg, stop you!

Be The Technique

By Julius Anastasio

Julius is a Level 5 (Blue) student at Wu Dao

I used to have this one Aikido teacher - a really insightful guy - who threw out all the superfluous moves and had me practicing only a few essential, blatantly practical moves and throws. His theory behind stripping everything bare was that you shouldn't have to train for 20 years to finally have a style’s effective techniques revealed and taught to you. Why read War and Peace when you can just skim the CliffsNotes?

At the time it made sense, and it's a very tempting approach, but it forgets to consider the concept that, as Shi-fu (and Kung Fu Panda) says, in martial arts "there are no secrets."

Lately, a lot of us have been attempting to apply some of the Shaolin techniques into sparring (while simultaneously tweaking them to avoid the limb-braking parts). One of the main problems I've come across is that it's just so darn hard. It’s very tempting to consider trashing all but a choice few Shaolin techniques that obviously show promise in the ring. You know, like the straight punch.

This is a terrible idea.

Having only a few moves at your disposal would have an extremely negative impact on how much of a style you actually internalize. Like many styles, Shaolin is explicitly made up of movements and forms that are designed to train your body to optimally execute effective fighting techniques. There’s not a single wasted movement in what we learn. The trick is figuring out what each (seemingly) superfluous section of a technique actually does. If you don't DO those sections, then you run the risk of severely limiting that technique's range of application. But, how do we figure out what those sections and techniques do?

We’ve all heard it a thousand times: "Do a technique 1,000 times, you know the technique. Do it 10,000 times, you ARE the technique."

While I might feel like I "know" how to do many of the techniques in Shaolin (at least passably), I certainly have not gotten to the stage where I feel like they're internalized.

I better go get training.