I Am What I Am Because I Choose To Be

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Shan-Long

The first sentence of Pai Lum’s Dragon Code reads “I am what I am because I choose to be.”

I was reminded of the importance of this tenet recently on a camping trip in the Rocky Mountains. Myself and a few friends took a 2-mile hike up the mountain to a lake. The first mile, though a bit steep, was not a particularly challenging hike. After that first mile, however, the hike got a bit more difficult as we reached elevations where the patch was still covered in a few feet of snow. The last half-mile was particularly challenging, as the path was no longer identifiable. We simply traveled over the snowy rocks in the general direction that people said the lake was. After we’d reached the top of one hill — particularly memorable because we had to dig our hands into the snow and bear crawl up it to keep from sliding back down — we stopped and discussed whether we should continue on or turn back. After all, none of us were too sure how much further it was and we’d been hiking for 2 hours. The sun was getting close to the top of the mountains and frankly, we were pretty tired. We decided, however, that we’d set out to reach the end of the trail, and we were going to reach it. A little hiking later and we were on the shore of the lake. It was still almost completely frozen over, even at the end of June and it was possibly the most magnificent natural sight I’ve ever seen.

On the way back down the mountain, I thought about how glad I was to have made the hike and seen the lake. I thought more about the trip and, though difficult at times, it wasn’t a trip that any healthy person couldn’t make. We made it simply because we chose to. Reflecting back on it later, I saw a close correlation to training. Martial artists often look at a practitioner with more experience than themselves and think “I could never be that good.” The truth is, there is no great secret to becoming good at martial arts. These arts are very old and the training techniques are well-established. Like the climb up the mountain, any healthy person can make the journey of martial arts training. The only thing that will make a difference in whether or not you excel in martial arts is if you chose to. It is not meant to be a light stroll through the park. You’ll have to work hard and the further you progress, the more difficult it will get. But, as long as you continue to chose to train, you will continue to progress.

Years from now, you will look back and see how far you’ve come and you will be glad that you chose to train.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How to be a good student.

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Nian-Li

Many students ask what it means to “be a good student”. Often what they mean is how can I learn well and progress quickly. But there is a deeper, more traditional side to the question. Consider the following excerpt from the 17th century book written by a few samurai, Ha Gakure (In the Shadow of Leaves)

“A man is a good retainer to the extent that he earnestly places importance in his master. This is the highest sort of retainer. If one is born into a prominent family that goes back for generations, it is sufficient to deeply consider the matter of obligation to one’s ancestors, to lay down one’s body and mind, and to earnestly esteem ones master. It is further good fortune if, more than this, one had wisdom and talent and can use them appropriately. But even a person who is good for nothing and exceedingly clumsy will be a reliable retainer if only he has the determination to think earnestly of his master. Having only wisdom and talent is the lowest tier of usefulness.” http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/japan/hakagure_wilson_version.pdf

This is difficult for the modern student to appreciate for we think of ourselves more as the paying customer than as the loyal servant. Indeed many people today object to the notion of being another’s servant. We are not talking about slavery here. The root of the word servant is “to serve”. And anyone who strives to be a traditional servant rather than a paying customer needs to earnestly consider what it is to serve the teacher. This is by no means a one-sided relationship. Although the novice may not realize it, any good teacher is usually much more concerned about living up to their responsibility and obligations as the person entrusted with guiding the student along the lifelong path of learning than the student is with living up to the expectations of the teacher.

Too many focus on how much talent a practitioner has. If you want to be a truly good student, might I suggest focusing on “… the determination to think earnestly of their master.”

Posted in Tradition, Training | 2 Comments

How should I train at home?

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Huo-Long

The first thing I would like to address is the very common question, “How long should I train?” The simple answer is “regularly.” Many people insist that you should train at least 30 minutes, or an hour or more, but if you don’t have that much time, anything is better than nothing. Most people don’t train regularly because, “they don’t have the time.” The worst thing you can do is not train at all just because you can’t put in a full hour. This can lead to weeks without any training at all. The most important thing is to try to train, even if it’s only for a couple of minutes, everyday. You should, however, train longer when you do have the time or you may be disappointed at the speed you progress at.

Another point I would like to stress, especially for people who are new to the martial arts, is that your progress is not necessarily equal to the hours you put into training. There is such a thing as training too much. If your body is fatigued, your technique gets sloppy and you are now practicing how to do your techniques wrong. Obviously, this is counter-productive. A good saying to remember is, “Practice does NOT make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” This also applies to the speed at which you train.

Always training at full speed prevents you from having a clear understanding of what you are doing and why it works or doesn’t in different situations. If you don’t know when to use a technique, it becomes useless. This is why it is important to slow down and practice your techniques deliberately and meticulously. That is not to say that you should never practice anything fast. Training fast is great for physical and cardiovascular endurance, but there needs to be a balance. You shouldn’t routinely focus on doing any technique faster than you can do it right.

If this sounds like too much to remember, just keep these two things in mind:

  1. Train whenever you can, even if it’s not long, but know your physical limits.
  2. Don’t be fixated on training fast. (Perfect practice makes perfect.)
Posted in Training | 2 Comments

What is Chi Kung 氣功 ?

Posted on January 10, 2009 by Nian-Li

Chi Kung (Qi Gong) literally means “breath exercise”, although it is perhaps better understood as “energy exercise” as the Chinese word for breath (氣 Chi or Qi) also refers to “life energy” as understood by traditional Chinese arts.. For more information about the spelling of Chinese terms see the post “Notes on spelling Chinese words”.
Chi Kung has existed in China for over two thousand years, but much of what is practiced today is based on exercises brought from India in the beginning of the 6th century (around 525 CE) by the Buddhist known in China as Da Mo.

Many of the exercises are similar if not identical to the postures of yoga, or asana. If you have practiced any of the types of yoga typically taught today, you may be familiar with Soorya Namaaskar, or in English, Salutation to the Sun. More about the origins of yoga can be found on my post on the Eight Branches of Yoga.

Posted in Chi Kung, Yoga | Leave a comment

Notes on Spelling of Chinese Words

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Nian-Li

When Chinese characters are spelled out, this is referred to as romanization. This is an effort to describe the way the words are pronounced in a specific dialect. The official and most common dialect of Chinese is Mandarin. Another common dialect is Cantonese. Over the years, there have been three main systems of romanization: Yale, Wade-Giles, and Pinyin. The Pinyin system is the official system of the People’s Republic of China.
For example, the Chinese characters 太極拳 can be spelled, or romanized as:

    Tàijíquán (Pinyin)
    or
    T’ai Chi Ch’üan (Wade-Giles)

Also, the Chinese characters themselves can be written two different ways. The People’s Republic of China simplified the traditional way of writing Chinese characters to make it easier for the people of China to learn to read and write. Note the difference in the second character of Tai Chi Chuan:

    Traditional characters for Tai Chi Chuan 太極拳
    Simplified characters for Tai Chi Chuan 太极拳
Posted in Chinese Language | Leave a comment

The Eight Branches of Yoga

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Nian-Li

In ancient texts such as the Upanisads yoga is depicted as composed of six branches (sadanga). In the relatively modern classical yoga of the first and second millennia the method of practicing is categorized into eight steps or branches (ashtanga).

Eight Branches of Yoga (ashtanga):

    Abstentions (yama)
    Observances (niyama)
    Postures (asana)
    Breath control/exercises (pranayama)
    Withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara)
    Fixed Attention (dharana)
    Meditation (dhyana)
    Concentration (samadhi)

The first five steps may be considered external stages. The first two, abstentions and observances are considered preparation for the practice of yoga. Abstention includes such concepts as non-injury, truth, and non-possesion. Observance puts forth rules for a “proper attitude” toward life, including purity and devotion. The next three steps develop control of the body, the breath, and the senses. The postures, or asanas, are the physical movements and positions of the body which most people associate with yoga. Just as developing control of the muscular control of the body through postures focuses the mind, the systematic exercising of breath control brings the mind under control as well. Pranayama is the regulation and restraint of the breath. Pratyahara is the detachment of the senses. By reducing or shutting off the input of the senses, or five sources as they are often referred to in yoga, the stimulus to the mind is reduced allowing further relaxation. The remaining three steps are internal stages and considered “mind-control” exercises. Dharana is the focusing of the mind on a particular ‘point’. The point of focus can be either internal such as the naval or center of the forehead, or external such as an object or point on the wall. Dhyana or meditation is defined in yoga as a continuous and uninterrupted flow of thought, typically directed at a particular point, object, thought, or idea. The eighth and final step of the yoga method is samadhi, or concentration. Concentration in this sense of the word can be thought of as the fully developed state of meditation. It is this state that is often referred to by westerners as a ‘trance’. These last three steps in yoga when done at he same time are called samyama; that is, these last three techniques are directed toward the same object or thought simultaneously.

The Metaphysics of Yoga
According to the teachings which underlie yoga, there are two basic categories into which everything falls: spirit, or purusa, and matter, or prakrti. Spirit is conscious but not active. Matter is active but not conscious. Prakrti is in turn made up of three components: sattva (intelligence), rajas (energy), and tamas (mass).

Posted in Yoga | Leave a comment

How Difficult is Breaking Ice?

Posted on January 1, 2008 by Nian-Li

Ice is very hard and yet like many hard substances can be broken if struck just right. If you take a small block of ice and strike it with a hammer, you may find it very difficult to break the first few times you hit it. In general, the larger the block of ice the more difficult it is to break. When people break ice they often describe the size of the ice in pounds. While a 150 lb block is certainly larger than a 100 lb block of ice, the difficulty of the break is determined by several factors. First the dimensions of the block must be considered. The width and height (thickness) of the ice are directly related to the difficulty while the length is inversely related (the longer the easier). The second factor is the scoring. Scoring or cuts across the width of the ice, generally on both the top and the bottom allow the ice to have a “weak point”. While this may sound like cheating, it is considered necessary by most to allow a clean break. Lastly, a word about breaking multiple blocks of ice. Some people believe that if you stack up several blocks of ice on top of each other, whether two or ten, all you have to do is to break the first one and the rest break by themselves. This is not entirely true, and yet when dealing with 150 lb blocks of ice there is most certainly a lot of potential energy provided by the mass of the ice. This makes it difficult to judge the skill or power involved in the strike, although this type of demonstration has certainly become a crowd pleaser. I believe the better way to increase the difficulty is to increase the thickness of the ice, although this can be hard to do. Even producing a 20 lb block of ice in your freezer can be challenging.

One last word about technique in breaking. Another way to increase the difficulty in a breaking technique, whether in ice, concrete, or wood, is to shorten the distance that the strike travels. For example, jumping two feet into the air and coming down on the object with a full swing requires less expertise than simply standing and swinging your hand from three feet above the object. Likewise, striking from a distance of 12 inches, 6 inches, 3 inches, and 1 inch are progressively more difficult and require more skill and coordination. As noted in my post on Iron Palm, some practitioners will “cheat” by quickly drawing the hand back before striking.

Posted in Breaking, Techniques | 4 Comments

What is the Iron Palm technique?

Posted on January 1, 2008 by Nian-Li

The Iron Palm technique is both a method of training and a way of striking. The first known record of its use is in the Shaolin text “Yi Chin Ching” which is now available in english translation from any of the major book stores. Iron Palm is generally regarded as an “internal” technique meaning that it does not rely on external strength. Training involves either the direct of indirect method of strengthening the hands which involves much practice striking various materials such as peas, beans, or sand. Masters of the Iron Palm are able to exercise a great deal of control over the force from their hands. One more common demonstration of this control is to strike a stack of bricks and to break one of the bricks in the stack without breaking the ones above it.

The Vibrating Palm is simliar to the Iron Palm technique. It gets its name from the fact that the execution of this technique shows little movement as compared to other hand strikes. In demonstrations of the Vibrating Palm, the practitioner will typically hold the palm as close to the target as possible and then strike from a distance of a few inches. Once the technique is mastered, the palm is placed directly on the target. Practitioners who are not proficient in the technique will often try to “cheat” by placing the hand on the target and then quickly drawing back just before striking.

Posted in Techniques | 2 Comments