Memphis Internal Arts

TCM Nutrition

2011-08-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

Traditional Chinese Martial Artists were sometimes but not always healers in their communities. One way that the traditional stylist to get the most out of their training is to eat according to the natural cycles of the earth. Now it is important to not go crazy. We have fast paced lives. The needs of children, jobs, and life can throw off everyone's diet. I was a strict vegetarian for 10 years and would never have eaten the crap that I eat now that I have a family. HA! Now I just try to eat fresh, local, and in season. We do eat pizza and hot dogs. But when you have three children at home that don't share your ideas about nutrition...you do what you have to do. There are days when you are too worn out or tired to fix that all organic meal.

If you are interested in TCM nutrition, I highly recognize this course from my herb teacher. Not only will you learn the energetics of food in this course but you will learn many of the principals of Traditional Chinese Medicine as well. You can't go wrong.

Here is the link to the TCM Nutrition Distance Course as taught by Cathy McNease.

Cooling Foods

2011-08-03T15:05:00.001-07:00

The HEAT is really kicking up here in the South as well as the rest of the country.
It is good to eat more energetic cooling foods to help the body to deal with the excess heat. The other part of that equation is to cut back on energetically hot or warm foods.

Cooling Foods:
Sprouts, artichoke, bamboo shoots, bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, celery, corn, cukes, potato, spinach, watercress, zucchini, apples, figs, orange, strawberry, tomato, white rice, millet, barlery,mung beans, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, Chicken eggs, Green tea,

Hot or Warming Foods:
Bell pepper, green beans, kale, leek, mustard greens, onion, garlic, scallions, Pine nuts, walnut, beef, Shrimp, black pepper, cinnamon, dry ginger, coffee, vinegar, wine, brown sugar

Teas to calm the body:
Green tea, Kudzu (ge gen) tea, Corn Silk tea, Barley Tea, American Ginseng, Mint tea

Application ideas from Cheng bagua 7th change

2011-08-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

Cheng style Bagua Zhang

2011-08-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Heaven Upholding Circle Walking Posture with Change

Weapons defense: The Three C's

2011-07-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

Our friend Craig Gray had his 15 minutes of fame up in Michigan. A local t.v. show did a segment on Krav. We invited him down to Memphis a few months ago to present a few classes. One class focused on empty hand vs knife while on the ground. The other class focused on disarms. At the seminar he talked a little about the history of Krav Maga. I found it really interesting that the mission of various units contributed to different types of development within the Krav Maga family. His teachers had a lot do with border patrol (don't quote me). So the gun disarms take the crowd of innocent bystanders into account.
Anyway I forgot about the Three C's he taught at the seminar until I saw his spot on the t.v. show.

The Three C's for weapons defense:
Clear the body from danger
Control the Weapon
Clear the area or Conquer the threat.

Cheng Style Bagua Clip

2011-07-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Bai Yucai
He has a great mix of slow movement combined with fajin.

Dit Dat Jow Formula

2011-07-20T08:42:00.001-07:00

There are many many Jow formulas out there. I have seen all types including ultra top secret iron palm formulas. To be honest they aren't all that different. Sure some are cooler or hotter, for the muscle or tendon, etc. But if you just want to get started and want something quick, easy and effective...try this one. Not sure where I got it.
If you can have them ground into powder by the herbalist who sells the herbs.

Liniment
Da Huang 12g
Zhi Zi
Hong Hua
Huang Bai
Mo Yao
Ru Xiang
Xue Jie
Lu Lu Tong
Dang Gui Wei
1 Gallon Vodka

Blood tonifying foods

2011-04-14T14:39:00.001-07:00

Blood is viewed as the mother of qi. It is the dense substance that is developed out of the essences derived from food. Together with influences from the lung and kidney the heart distributes this blood throughout the body. The function of the blood is to nourish the body (esp. the eyes, hair, muscles, tendons/ligaments, and skin. In addition the blood houses the mind.
You need to tonify blood if: anemic, pale lips, pale tongue, scanty menstrual flow, dry eyes, muscle spasms, fatigue, disturbed vision, memory problems, dream disturbed sleep,etc.
Other blood issues in TCM include Blood Stasis, Heat in the Blood.

Foods that Tonify Blood are:
Beef, Liver, green leafy veggies, "green food" mixes, chlorophyll, beets, carrots, seaweed, shitake, yam, apricot, cherry, berries, dates, brown rice, oat, quinoa, legumes, goat milk, salmon and soy.
Herbs: dang gui, goji berries, he shou wu
Foods to avoid: coffee, cold and raw foods

Kung fu theatre breaks out the bagua training

2011-03-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

I found this clip on blog the other day. Fun clip to kill some time with.

Xingyimax.com

2011-03-02T14:55:00.001-08:00

To compare your version of Xing yi with others go here. You will see much variety in expression of the various flavors of Xing Yi.
http://www.xingyimax.com/

Great Internal Martial Arts Blog

2011-03-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

Western practitioners are often out at a disadvantage when it comes to studying the roots and principals of Traditional Chinese Martial Arts. We are often left to "oral histories" from teachers and friends. Unfortunately this can lead to a sort of inbred opinion regarding other style within a particular branch of the same martial art.

The guy that runs this website is translating articles from Chinese into English and publishing them on his site. Go check him out. Great stuff.

http://wulinmingshi.wordpress.com/about/

Oak Barrel Half Marathon in 6 weeks

2011-02-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

6 weeks until my next half marathon. Starting to feel good about my pace again. I took way too much time off after the last one and was dropped by my running buddies. Still using the Hal Higdon Novice plan. But due to the hill climb within the first 5 miles I have added some light sprinting just one session during the week.

No problems any more with calf soreness after making the changes in my stride and running posture.(see previous posts)

Update***
Finished the half in about 2:10. It was great cutting 10 minutes off of my last time. The course was much harder as well. It had one huge climb and many smaller hills. The last 3 miles of the course was flat but by that time I had not gas in the tank to take advantage of it. Shooting for under 2 hours next time. But with my wife in graduate school now it may be hard to find time to train for the next event.

Will be looking for some 10k runs to do instead.

Disappearing of Weapons in Chinese Martial Arts

2011-02-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

Here a small sample of an article by Damon Smith about the study of weapons in Chinese Martial Arts. Anyone interested in weapons or chinese style martial arts would benefit from the reading.

It is interesting to note that the Manchu favoured the bow above all weapons, and they were originally skilled archers. The Chinese were also originally skilled archers, but in some circles, particularly those relating to option 2 above, anything Manchu was tainted with a hint of being a traitor or collaborator. This factor may well have led to a reduction of the use of the bow among ethnic Chinese martial artists. So while the Manchu military and their Mongol and Chinese militias continued the practice of archery and other weapons, the native "ingrained" martial arts population among the ethnic Chinese began to reduce somewhat the number of weapons studied and focus on those which could be easily concealed. Favoured weapons included smaller jian swords and dao type blades, as well as weapons which could be claimed to be for another use, such as the staff used for walking or carrying loads, or a shorter-than-battlefield-length spear with the point removed that could be claimed to be a staff. Straight swords (jian) were also often regarded as a symbol of social status and may have been overlooked by the authorities in cases where other types of weapons would not be acceptable. This might be likened to the practice of sword wearing at special events like weddings in a few European countries today, and indeed more so until very recent times. As a symbol of social status, the sword would be acceptable at such an event, but a bow would not be.

Thus, there was a tendency towards smaller size in the dedicated weapons and towards non-specialisation in the larger weapons among the Han. Use of weapons that could only be associated with the battlefield, such as various types of specialised lances, halberds, war-hammers and war-axes, began to disappear among the general population, if not among the Manchu military and associated units.

Kuntaw Staff Drill

2011-02-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

Guru Buzz teaching a staff drill. With just a few encounters I have had with Buzz he has helped me "find" stuff in my staff work. Many of the moves from my old staff form made no sense until spending about 5 minutes with the Guru. One drill that he showed us revolves around controlling the weapon. Here is the video (thanks to may friend Jeff) that he asked me to share. Obviously Rob was still getting the hang of it. He is a quick study though.

Video of Kuntaw Guru Brian "Buzz" Smith teaching at the Gathering

2011-02-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

We had a great time hanging out with Buzz while we were there. He is one of the most generous, open and knowledgeable teachers that I have met. Guru Buzz will be teaching at a big Filipino Martial Arts event this May in Illinois. That has to be the first Staff Choke I have ever seen.

David Belle - Parkour

2010-12-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

People that do exceptional things or develop their talents are always inspiring.
Here is a vid of David Belle; the man who started the Parkour revolution.

Half Marathon Update/fore foot strike

2010-12-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

Well,
Jon and I participated in the Mississippi Track Club half marathon a few weekends ago.
It was a blast. You would be surprised at the different types of people that show up for one of those events. My favorite was a man with a pot belly running with what looked like a fat dog. Never caught 'em. Most people just seemed like ordinary folks with only a few looking like "runners".
We took it real easy the first 10 miles or so. The goal for this event was simply to finish. I did stretch my legs a bit at the 10 mile mark to complete my first event in 2:21 for 152nd place. Not bad. It was a solid middle of the pack performance. To be "competitive" I need to shave almost an hour off of that time...maybe sometime in the future.
Since last weekend I have been stuffing myself and not running at all. I gave my self a week off to just relax. To be honest I was a little worn out and it took the whole week to recover. Christmas is this weekend.
My running goals for the next month are just to put some more miles on my new stride and slowly start making the conversion to the puma's that the Pose Techniques prefer. It seems like a good compromise for huarachis. My initial running shoe was a New Balance trainer. Well, It was not a running shoe per se. I picked it because the heel was not much thicker than the pad on the front of the shoe. It was a compromise between the flat Puma and traditional Nike style running shoe.
I'll buy a pair of the Puma's after Xmas and start doing my shorter runs in them. Want to be fully transitioned by next summer. The tendons, bones, muscles of the foot take a good bit of time to strengthen esp. after a lifetime of modern shoes.
After running my first half with the forefoot strike I was left will some simple calf tightness and of course some muscle stiffness that was gone after 2 or 3 days.

Super Athletes of the Sierra Madre

2010-11-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

Craig Gray made a trip down here to Memphis last weekend to give a few seminars at the Krav Maga Center. They went well (will write about that later).
I was talking about training for the half marathon and he suggested a book called Born To Run. It has been a very good read so far. Caballo Blanco is an American that goes to Copper Canyon in Mexico to live and run. The amazing power of Google lead me to this video about a race that Caballo Blanco has put together. This short film talks about the Tarahumara indians and the very traditional lives that they lead.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Half Marathon Update

2010-11-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

Okay,
So I ran 9 miles yesterday. It has been the longest so far. Not going to lie that was tough. The changes in my stride though have been very beneficial. No back or knee pain to report at this time. There have been a few days where the muscles and tendons caused some discomfort but nothing like I experienced in the past. Also, I highly recommend Hal Higdon's website for a training progression. I have made all the runs/mileage so far but have missed some of the cross training days due to family life commitments, etc.
Other challenges that I have had while training were recovery and staying hydrated. There is a product called Accelerade that a patient told me about. It has been very beneficial. I highly recommend it.

The event is just a few weeks away.

Weapons Class and Assault prevention for Women

2010-11-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know Memphis Internal Arts has been seeking out teachers to round out our training. One of the areas of instruction that we have sought out has been in the area of modern weapons esp. that of stick/cane and knife. Chuck and Don over out of Innovative Martial Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan have been helping us with that. Make sure you check the review of their last seminar. The way they put the curriculum together melded nicely with the way we express Sun style Hsing Yi Chuan. I have been working on using the 5 elements and animal movements on the 12 strike template of Serrada Escrima. Chuck and Don even simplified that even more using the Combat Clock of just 6 "angles".

Another aspect of the upgrades to our curriculum included ground work. Craig Gray will be helping us out this weekend by teaching a Hand 2 Weapon Ground Survival Tactics class. If you are in the area and would like to check out this seminar please let me know. My friend Xris Omotesa at Kravmagax.com will be hosting the event at his new training facility in Midtown.

Muscle Recovery Article

2010-10-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

I found this article when looking for information on muscle recovery. It is primarily for runners but could be used of martial artists who train hard.

New Study Points to Importance of
Muscle Recovery for Runners

By PoweringMuscles.com
A new study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research points to the importance of post-race muscle recovery in runners.

The study was performed at the Ball State University Biomechanics Laboratory and involved 10 experienced male distance runners.
The runners performed a 10K race at maximum effort. Before, immediately after, and 48 hours after the race, the runners engaged in a pair of leg strength tests. They performed 50 repetitions of a knee flexion exercise and maximum torque at three angles was recorded by an isokinetic dynamometer.

They also performed a vertical leap, and height was recorded.

Performance in the knee flexion exercise was significantly lower immediately after the race and remained well below baseline 48 hours after the race. Vertical leap was unchanged immediately after the race but fell substantially below baseline at 48 hours.

The researchers concluded that the runners' hamstring muscle group had not not recovered full strength and power within 48 hours of completing the 10K race.

It is fair to surmise that hard workouts also reduce hamstring strength and power in runners, to a lesser extent. If recovery is not completed within 24 hours, runners must perform their next workout with diminished hamstring strength and therefore cannot perform to full potential.

Clearly, if this scenario is often repeated, the overall quality of the runner's training will suffer.

Runners therefore need to do everything in their power to accelerate muscle recovery after exercise. First, in the first two hours after completing each workout, they need to take in water, carbohydrate, electrolytes, protein, and antioxidants.

This will promote rapid rehydration, replenishment of muscle and liver glycogen, and muscle tissue repair, and will reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness.

Runners should also stretch their running muscles immediately after each workout, as this accelerates the removal of metabolic wastes from the muscles and prevents tightening of the muscles.

And finally, at some point prior to the next workout, runners should engage in self-massage to reduce tissue swelling, increase bloodflow, and relieve muscular adhesions and trigger points.

By taking post-race and post-workout muscle recovery seriously, runners can shorten the interval of diminished muscle strength that is normal after intense running.

Copyright 2002 by Poweringmuscles. Published with permission. For cutting-edge sports nutrition info, visit www.poweringmuscles.com.

Breath work - Running Part 1

2010-10-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

In qigong there are basically three or four types of breathing. The first is natural breathing. Observing this breath with awareness is one of the most beneficial forms of meditation. Other breathing techniques include the tonifying breath, dispersing breath, diaphragmatic breath, and reverse breath.
In meditation/neigong the following descriptions do not apply. For a scientific analysis (with references) of breathing physiology follow this link.

Tonifying breath: Longer inhale than exhale. Used to energize the body.
Dispersing breath: Longer exhale than inhale. Used to get rid of toxins and nervous energy.

After practicing diaphragmatic/dantian breathing for a number of years I thought I had the breathing thing down. But one of the first things I noticed about my breath when running is that I was still not taking a complete breath. The belly was filling up but the top lobes of the lungs were not. I was not getting the maximum amount of oxygen possible to feed the body.

Another interesting component of breathing is with regards to mouth vs nose breathing. Mouth breathing stimulates the fight or flight aspect of the nervous system. When this happens blood pools in the core of the body. As a result, less blood is flowing through the lungs to exchange CO2 for O2. Performance decreases. In contrast, nose breathing activates the rest and repair response of the nervous system causing more blood to flow through the body and lungs. Also the hormone response is more beneficial. (Source)

Half Marathon Training - 4th week

2010-10-06T07:48:00.001-07:00

Training is moving along. One thing has improved...sleep.
Times are still pretty much the same. Running around a 10 minute mile or so. I spend more energy getting my stride right.
This week i have been focusing on pulling through and lifting with the hamstring. Calf's still sore and have not completely acclimated to running stride changes. Did 5 miles last weekend. That was the first time since I did a triathlon age 19. It was fairly easy.

Also working on harvesting the kinetic energy from the bounce when the foot/body hits the ground. For you Internal Martial Arts guys this is a lot like fajin training. The body relaxes as the foot strikes the ground. The elasticity of the body causes a rebound effect. If the body is relaxed it is possible to use that energy more efficiently than if you are holding the body in a rigid running position. Holding the body rigid wastes energy that could be spent running. It also causes way to much shock to absorb into the bones, tendons, and ligaments. There is also a "detoxifying effect" on the internal organs.

Training Progress

2010-09-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Now three weeks into Hal Higdon's Half Marathon schedule. My muscles, bones and joints are starting to get used to the training. On his cross training days, i do my martial arts training focusing on Traditional Strength training, kf yoga, or fast walking.

Currently focusing on getting the figure four in my stride and maintaining the forefoot strike. The lungs are getting stronger.

Also working on the IMA principal of "Blurry The Vision". This cuts a lot of negative self talk and encourages mindfulness in movement. I will write more on this later. It is a fascinating aspect of running that I find to help out in many ways. Definitely more of an inner aspect of physical training.

Other mechanics that I am working on are:
Keeping the hips tucked, Chin tucked, Central Channel straight, relax all the is necessary to maintain pace instead of struggling to maintain.

Heel Strike VS Forefoot Strike

2010-09-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Running - Pose technique

2010-09-29T09:13:00.001-07:00

Here is a short youtube vid that explains some of the concepts I am shooting for when running.

Knife and Cane Seminar

2010-09-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Chinese Martial Arts typically do not work with the short knife. In modern times it is most likely to be encountered in a self defense situation. Most likely a hand to hand confrontation in which everyone is unarmed and is standing in front of you is the least likely to happen. Yet most Traditional Martial Arts schools train almost exclusively for this type of encounter.

Some of you may know (my students) that I have been going through our curriculum in an effort to make it more applicable for modern life. Part of that process includes researching the types of movements that would be suitable for use against the knife, stick and clinch/takedown.

Part of this search lead me to meet some friends up in Michigan that host the Gathering of the Tribes every year. This gathering includes a lot of top silat and kali players among others. After last summer I invited Chuck and Don to come down to teach a Close Quarter Knife Combatitives class. He followed that up with a Cane class that was fantastic. It was similar to single stick work that I have done in the past but with some added benefits.

Here is Chuck's review of his trip down here:

Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tennessee Trip
This past May, my good friend Chuck Sullivan dragged a couple of students (Jeff and Rob) with him to the 10yr anniversary of the Gathering of the Tribes. We had a good time during the weekend, and as usual, I wasn’t able to spend nearly enough time hanging out with them as I would have liked.

Chuck and I spoke later about the possibility of Don and I teaching a seminar for him in Tennessee. I was understandably reluctant…you all know how shy I am, and how much I hate sharing what we do…so I tentatively agreed to consider it. (Ok, stop rolling your eyes…geez!) The truth is, I was excited for the opportunity to visit with friends, and have a chance to share SYD with more people!

On the Thursday before we left, I decided to take it easy in class…Murphy being a relative and all. In spite of that, I managed to tweak my back a little, and so was fairly sore thru out the drive down.

Don and I left GR around 5:30am (Waaaaay too early) but we wanted to get there for dinner. (That way we’d have time to rest before having to earn our keep.) It was a beautiful day for a drive, and we switched off piloting duties on a fairly regular basis so neither of us would get too car-lagged. Starting in Michigan, it was a tad chilly in the morning, so I’d dressed for Michigan fall. Just about exactly 12 hours later, we were arriving in Tennessee to some beautifully warm, decidedly not Michigan, weather. I believe it was in the 80-90s the entire weekend…and actually reached 101F one day. I loved it!!

Chuck works at a Chinese Medicine practice, and later that evening after a very filling dinner, he offered to work on my sore back. I’d never had acupuncture before, but am definitely now a proponent of it. Thanks to Chuck’s work, I didn’t have any soreness to my back thru out the rest of the weekend that wasn’t associated with just good “worked muscle” soreness. Thank you Chuck!

In talking with Chuck about the next day’s activities, I discovered that Rob is a black belt at the school in Somerville where the seminar was to be held. It’s located a short distance away from where we stayed in Bartlett, with Chuck.

Saturday morning we woke up to a tasty breakfast prepared for us by Chuck…and left for the 40 minute drive from Bartlett to Somerville. We arrived a little after 8am to meet the Senior Instructor, Jack Dawson and some of his black belts. Rob’s instructor, Jack, opened his school to us, and even suspended the “no shoes” rule for the weekend.

Jack is a true Southern Gentleman. He’s an incredibly gracious host, quick to smile, very respectful, and genuinely interested in what you have to say. He’s also an extremely skilled martial artist and Teacher. I liked him immediately! “O.D.” Harris was the other Senior Instructor in the school, and is very quiet, and unassuming…if you don’t know him. You would never know that he works in Corrections if you didn’t ask him. When you see him move…or more accurately, teleport…any questions you might have about whether or not he can take care of himself vanish. Their black belts are equally respectful and open minded…and most definitely honor their Instructors by their conduct.

Saturday’s Seminar was largely about sharing the training methods we use in San Yun Do. One of the great things is that these methods are non-art specific. The focus of our seminar had to do with what we believe being a good training partner entailed. How do we ensure that the person we’re working with builds good muscle memory and a positive “Root/Foundation Level” reaction? If they’re flinching away, blinking, or if their overall structure/form is breaking down are we training this person properly? As a Coach (the person who’s feeding the attack), how do we learn what to watch for and provide feedback to help correct it? As the Trainee, how do I communicate with the Coach? This was the main topic of the seminar and we used ‘Empty Hand vs Blade’ as a context to train from. We had the participants switching rolls and training partners often thru out the seminar.

Twenty six showed up to play, many of whom hadn’t been in a martial arts school before. We started working from the ground up using the concepts of Structure, Mobility, and Directionality as a framework to build from. Everyone there put in such an amazing effort.

As the day progressed, we worked thru our 3 Phases of training (Structured, Intentional, and Contextual) which culminate in practicing situational scenarios. (That is to say, you get to apply the skills you’ve learned in the context in which they might have to be used.) These particular scenarios involved the attacker having a blade. Everyone was having so much fun we forgot to look at the clock. By the time we left for the day, it was two hours longer than we’d planned.

Looking back, I’d have to guess that our intention training drill, “The Increasing 5”, and the Scenarios were probably the favorites of the seminar. I was very happy with how everyone did. According to Jack, they were very proud of their bruises and had fun telling their friends about how they got them.

Saturday evening saw Don and I back at Chuck’s for an excellent dinner. According to Chuck’s wife, Angie, he hasn’t cooked this much in years. Fortunately, he proved to be as excellent a cook as he is a host. We ate well! After chatting with the family for a couple hours, we were off to bed.

Sunday, we got to sleep in a bit, as the Cane Workshop wasn’t scheduled to start till noon-ish. We arrived just after 11:30am to get situated and warmed up a little.

Just 6 people attended this session. All were experienced martial artists and teachers. (Anymore people and the room would have been very interesting to try to navigate safely) We began with talking about the cane as a tool (reach, impact, etc), and about how the training concepts we were going to be going thru were the same as we used the previous day. It helped that they were all in attendance on Saturday.

We went thru the 3 basic positions of the cane, Point Down, Point High, Point Middle, and why we used them. (The various “attitudes” of each position…)

Next we went thru the structure, mobility and directionality concepts as it pertains to the cane. (Noticing a similarity here?) ?

As the day progressed, we plugged the cane into the 3 Phases of Training we used the previous day…working thru to the point where Don and I introduced them to the Cane Game.

Our Cane Game is a free flow exercise designed to help build the attributes practiced earlier in the seminar, but in a more chaotic environment…the idea’s of position, mobility, and directionality are all mixed in and applied in a very dynamic environment. We used padded canes for safety, and also had fencing masks, sparring helmets, etc…to add to the safety. A padded cane might not break a bone, but it still smarts when you get hit…and they can still take out an eye.

The whole group loved this play…not only does it really drive home the necessity for good footwork and controlling your momentum, but it also is great cardio! Everyone was sweating by the time we wrapped this portion up.

The last portion of the seminar was devoted to putting the Cane into a more probable context. You’re not likely to go cane-v-cane on the street…and it wouldn’t be a ‘duel’ either. For this, we used Cane versus blade. One person (Coach) had a training blade. His/Her job was to touch the Defender (Trainee). The Trainee had to hit the attacker in areas that would diminish the attack and allow a safe retreat. The Coach wore protective gear, and the Trainee used a padded cane for safety.

This really seemed to drive home the idea that the cane’s greatest advantage was the distance it could reach…its outer range.

We wrapped up around 4pm(ish) and said our good-byes to our new found friends. Don, Chuck, and I then headed back to the Sullivan Ranch in Bartlett.

Again we benefited from Chuck and Angie’s culinary wizardry for dinner…and then the whole family curled up to watch “Over the Hedge”. After the kid’s went to bed, we kept Chuck and Angie up until around midnight just talking and hangin’ out. (Or did they keep us up? Hmmmmm….)

Don and I hit the road early the next morning, homeward bound. It always seems like the trip home is longer than the trip there. The weekend was a whirlwind of delight, and we were both still riding its wave, I believe. As much as we enjoyed our time there, we were both anxious to get home to our families.

San Yun Do has gone thru a few iterations, with regards to its curriculum, over the last 10 years. Some of them have been fairly drastic, especially early on. As time progressed, the changes were more subtle and refined. In preparing for this trip to Tennessee, I believe we turned yet another corner with the way we teach and present information. We are always striving to improve ourselves, to be better teachers/servants for our students. It’s our students, as well as sharing what we do at places like Somerville, that make it all worth the effort. Thank you for this opportunity to share a part of us with you.

Until the next time our paths cross,

Chuck Pippin, Innovative Martial Arts

Running the Half Marathon

2010-09-28T14:16:00.000-07:00

This post is for the friends that I have that follow this blog. But some of you know that I am training for the half marathon. A long distance running event is something that I have always wanted to do. Hal Higdon has a novice schedule that seems to be working well. It has been relatively easy increasing the miles.

Running has never really been my thing. It has always been hard for my frame to deal with...that is until I discovered some of the natural movement people out there. Later I want to add some links to a few sites that I draw inspiration from.

These natural movement principals are found throughout the martial arts that I teach and practice. Applying them to running is just something that I never thought of before.

Instead of a chore that hurt my back and was difficult to do, running has become A LOT easier. My back does not hurt and the knees are pretty much pain free as I build up the miles.

My favorite alternative running technique is the Pose technique.
I changed my stride to fit more of that model instead of a classic heal strike that sent pain into the back. Also, I incorporated a lot of the standing principals from Sun style Hsing I Chuan that have helped make running more effortless. Now the only thing that is holding me back is the conditioning of the lungs/O2 uptake.

Later, i am going to write on my experiments using the breathing techniques from the internal martial arts that I have been using to help me get in shape.

Although my personal martial arts practice is taking a back seat at the moment I still get to learn about my art by applying the principals to another form of exercise.

Talk soon,
Chuck

July 11th - Ping Zhen Cheng Seminar

2010-06-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

It has been 2 years since Ping was here last. Many people enjoy his thought provoking seminars on meditation, qigong, and martial arts. He will be back in Memphis as part of his teaching tour this summer. His other seminar locations are going to be Napa, California, Syracuse, NY and NYC.
The Memphis seminar will focus on Core Spiritual teachings. He will teach the following:

As Eastern spirituality and Western Science evolve together, the combined studies of psychology, pathology, neuroscience & even quantum physics have uncovered more details about meditation. It helps to balance the many inner layers of the body like the brain, the hormone system, the immune system, etc. The recent collaboration between the scientific community, Tibetan, Yogic and Zen Meditation masters have helped to redefine the meaning of terms like “harmony” and “balance”. The use of physical and scientific measurements from brain wave tests, EEG & others have helped this process.

This 3 parts workshop will cover techniques which are based on the research of multiple lineages of Eastern meditation & Western psychological approaches that can be applied at a day-to-day basis to bring balance & inner harmony to our mini-universe- the human mind-body system.

Day One:
1. The Deep Ｍelting Relaxation-combines the essence of Taoist& Tibetan Meditation with self-hypnosis: improves sleeping quality & the immune system by nurturing the brain & the meridians. Students will also learn to gradually form in-depth inner-dialogues between different layers of the being through re-directing & reprogramming the energy & inner consciousness system based on Chinese & Tibetan traditional medicine principles.

2. Chakra & personality transformational skills:
Recognizing the differences & applying them in meditation: Different levels of the TRUE SELF & False self;True & False forms of Energy, Prana, or Qi;True Emotional patterns & False emotional patterns.

3. The key of Inner Balance-Lymph node Cleansing with self-acupressure, meditation & visualization, 14 segments to cover 14 major regions.

We are organizing this seminar with Mary Ellen. Location is most likely going to be at the Open Heart Spiritual Center. I will update this post soon to include prices, final venue, etc.
Ping will also be teaching Sun Style Bagua Zhang to a small group. Contact me if you are interested.

The Gathering of The Tribes 10th Anniversay

2010-06-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day weekend the guys and I made the trip up to Grand Rapids, Michigan to go to The Gathering of The Tribes. It was a weekend filled with lots of quality martial arts instruction in an ego free environment. Anyone who has been in the martial arts knows what kind of political junk that goes with that whole scene. The Gathering is a refuge from that kind of crap. The people were easy to hang with and talk to. After being into martial arts for over 20 years I had begun to get really jaded concerning other martial artists. They are usually obnoxious, arrogant, and condescending. After just being a fly on the wall and watching everything go down I realized that these guys were actually "leaving their egos at the door". It turned out to be a great weekend. I can't say enough good things about everyone there.
We got to train with some advanced FMA and Silat players from around the country.
Chuck Pippin of Innovative Martial Arts taught the opening session and even ran a bladesmithing class where Jeff walked away with an awesome knife. I hope to get a picture of it on here soon.
My brain started to turn to mush after awhile.

But here is what I remembered:
Chuck and Don from Innovative Martial Arts opened with some great drills to add intensity to real life threats that include physical violence combined with verbal abuse. They also went through a great drill called the Increasing Five. I am going to have Chuck come to Memphis sometime this fall for more of his "Vendor Neutral" knife work. Write me if you want to come on over to the class.

Terry Trahan did some of his no BS martial applications against the knife. I didn't get to spend much time with Terry and hope to pick his brain more next year.

Bobbe Edmonds worked on some cool Hubud stuff. A word about Bobbe...he is LARGER THAN LIFE. I spent most of the weekend studying him from afar not sure if I wanted to run or have a beer with him. Here is my favorite quote from the weekend that he gave when Rob was trying to tell him one of his trademark bad jokes..."I'm Bobbe Fucking Edmonds. You gotta come up with something better than that."

Buzz Smith delivered some of his trickery. We took an instant liking to Buzz. He is a sincere knowledgeable teacher that isn't afraid to answer your questions. We did a lot of work in between sessions where he taught us a little of the short staff work from Kuntaw. Rob is going to be coordinating a future trip for Buzz to the Memphis area soon. I hope to get some pics up of him stretching Jeff out pretty good.

Jay Carstensen,the current director of KSMA, gave a cool interpretation of Hubud with your back on the ground that included a sweep. Jay is also a Life Coach. Check out his site if you get a chance.

Craig Gray of Ronin Martial Arts taught some knife and gun disarms from Krav Maga. This was my first exposure to Krav and I like it. He let me pick his brain about being on the ground with a knife. We hope to have him down here in Memphis to teach his 5 hour ground defense against the knife this fall. It will probably be a small private class give me a call if any of my local friends are interested in attending.

Sean Stark represented his Combat PSP silat style. I didn't get to do this section as Chuck was helping work on a custom sheath for a knife my grandfather gave me. The guys said he gave out some good solid material.

Geoffrey Bossman from Kentucky taught at the Gathering for the first time. He has that punk dry slightly sarcastic sense of humor that I love. We did some Hubud with sticks and a close that was great. He also taught some standing grappling. Geoff had some really interesting experience to share from working with his crew. The police officers, bouncers, etc that he works with still see a lot of haymakers and front tackles. Cool stuff.

Xing Yi Flavor

2010-03-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a cool video showing some Xing Yi like body mechanics. They are from the Liu Dekuan lineage where the famous "Linear 64" set comes from. That set is practiced by just about every bagua zhang school and they are just a little bit different. But check out this guy.

Sun style master Zhang Lie Obituary

2010-03-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

Ping asked me to do this last summer but I could not find anything written in english. Thanks to google translator i was able to find this obituary. His teacher, Master Zhang Lie, died in July. Master Zhang was a disciple of Sun Cun Zhou. The original article written in Chinese can be found at this location.

Obituary
Master Zhang Lie who was a disciple of well known sunshi boxing martial arts master, Mr. Sun Cunzhou, died from an illness, at 12 o'clock on July 15, 2009 in Tianjin. He was 72 years old.

Master Zhang Lie, born in 1938, was originally Beijing Ren Shi, the latter to work in Tianjin. Mr. Zhang had quite a talent in the martial arts. His martial arts training began at six years old. At the age of 13-year, thanks to Mr. Sun Cunzhou, he began learning sunshi boxing with Xingyiquan. While Master Zhang Lie attended the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications he won the champion Xing Yi Quan Wushu Tournament for Beijing's colleges and universities.
Zhang Lie, accomplished teacher, was a motor engineer. He made many technical innovations and inventions, won the award in Tianjin's "75," a meritorious service medal, and candidates for "Chinese contemporary science and technology experts in the ceremony" (Tianjin volume) , "Tianjin senior professional and technical biographical dictionaries)," Science and the Chinese people in China pool of experts).

Zhang Lie was also good for swimming, skating, dancing and can play guitar, and lute. His death is a great loss to that the Chinese Wushu Jie, especially sunshi boxing practitioners. We express our deepest condolences!

Funeral Committee decided at 8 o'clock on July 17, 2009, the second funeral was held in Tianjin, a teacher Lie funeral. Lie-lifetime teacher colleagues, students and friends and family and friendship, such as participating in the farewell ceremony, please go to time; if escort the wreaths, elegiac couplet, telegrams, poems, and other matters, please contact the office in advance with the funeral.

Address: North Road, Tianjin talent Lane 29

Contact: Li Bin
13802565388 Tel: 13,802,565,388

Lie teacher Funeral Committee

2009年7月15日 July 15, 2009

Grasp the Swallow's Tail

2010-03-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

For my local students who are working on the Tai Chi Chuan form.
Here is Ping doing Grasp the Swallow's Tail.

Small Frame Yang Style

2010-03-01T09:50:00.000-08:00

Wudang/Small Frame Yang taught here at Memphis Internal Arts
We teach a Small Frame Yang taiji form in 24 postures.

General Li Jinglin - Ye Dami - Dr. Ye Ruichun - Ping Zhen Cheng

small frame yang style, tian zhao lin, yang shou hao

Sun style Pi Chuan Mechanics

2010-03-01T09:28:00.001-08:00

Ma Family Tong Bei

2010-03-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

Good Qigong Warm Up Set

2010-02-13T06:00:00.001-08:00

This video made of Xuan Tongzi is a great warm up/neigong set to be done before a bagua zhang class.

Saturday Hours Available

2009-10-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

After many years of resisting the opportunity to work on Saturday, I have decided to start offering appointments every other weekend. After just a few weeks of working every other Saturday it is now my favorite day. Clients come in relaxed and not feeling the work a day struggle. The office has a nice laid back vibe and acupuncture clients get extremely relaxed. I look forward to seeing you in the office sometime in the future.

Cheng Style Bagua

2009-09-01T18:11:00.001-07:00

Sun style Baguazhang

2009-09-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

Swimming Dragon Form

Traditional Healing Arts

2009-08-31T11:14:00.001-07:00

The healing arts are important part of training at Memphis Internal Arts. Methods typically associated with Chinese martial arts like tuina, acupressure, moxa and cupping are taught. However, Zen Shiatsu is another form of healing students at Memphis Internal Arts can learn. This method is taught to give students a thorough education in the location of the meridians and major points located on the body. It also develops sensitivity,etc.

Chuck studied this art with Lindy Ferrigno while attending the Oregon College of Oriental back in 1998. Ms Ferrigno was a direct student of Masunaga as well as other prominent shiatsu teachers like Pauline Sasaki.

Zen Shiatsu is a meridian based body work method which also contains a unique method of diagnosis using the hara. Please take a look at this video series of Sensei Masunaga demonstrating Zen Shiatsu.

Santishi Part One

2009-04-15T09:06:00.001-07:00

Sun style Santi connections:
Builds upon the wu chi and Tai Chi postures
In addition to the 6 directions, there are many lines, triangles, etc. within the internal mechanics of Sun style Santishi. Yi Jin Jing is also a deeper component to Sun style. This requires the guidance of a teacher to do. Santi can also be done in a "yin/nutritive intention" or a "yang/force discharge intention". This also requires the guidance of a teacher to do.
Here are a few internal connections to get started. I hope to post more as time allows. As usual please feel free to contact me for more information.
Look up the point locations somewhere on the web if you are not familiar with the names.
Triangles:
1.) lead hand shenmen, tip of elbow, and heart one
2.) hip, knee cap,heel

Straight lines:
1.)baihui, huiyin, that line projected to earth
2.)shenmen, mingmen, heel

Don't forget to keep the spine/Du Mai extended and the Ren Mai relaxed. This last part is probably the most important.

Internal Connections of Sun Style Tai Chi posture Part 1

2009-04-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

Next in line is the Tai Chi posture of the wu chi, tai chi, santi progression.
Here are a few simple connections of the tai chi posture to get you started:
Finger tips forward, ming men backward
Wrists up while sitting the sacrum down
Have the intention of the low back (kidneys) expanding side to side
Of course the chin is tucked causing GV 20 to be lifted, the ren channel is relaxed as the du channel is pulled tight by the above stated connections.

Internal Connections of Sun Style Wu Chi posture Part one

2009-04-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few of the many internal connections that are within the wu chi posture of Sun style hsing yi chuan. As far as I know the connections appearing on my blog are not posted anywhere including the Sun style hsing i book. These connections are essential for developing wholebody power. Please work with them to see what you come up with. The clinic is slow right now so there will be time to write more connections for the taichi and santi postures.

In the interest of time I will give just a few for each of the 6 directions. You will notice these are yin/yang pairs:

Up: Bai Hui, tip of tongue to roof of mouth
Down: sacrum, shoulders
Forward: tip of thumbs
Backward: Mingmen (kidney region)
Side to side: scapula, heels split the earth
At all times relax the ren channel as the du channel has the intention of going upward.

If you have any questions please write.

Sun style and Wudang lineage chart

2009-03-30T13:44:00.001-07:00

Military history of hsing yi chuan

2009-01-30T17:38:00.000-08:00

Famous practitioners of this art in China were almost always connected to some military organization or another. With that in mind, notice that it is possible to do all of the movements in Hsing yi chuan standing shoulder to shoulder with someone else. It would be easy for rows and rows of men to fight next to each other in an infantry situation. The moves are easily translated into a variety of infantry type weapons like the spear and sabre. The body mechanics required for the practice of hsing yi allow a person to put a tremendous amount of force into a weapon which would be necessary to fight someone with armor. Also the percussive strikes and drag down/takedowns would probably be useful. The percussive hits allow you to transfer force through armor. The drag downs, lateral throwing, and takedowns disrupt the men in front of you which would cause major diruption in the opposing armies ability to mount any sort of organized resistance.
After keeping this pet theory in my head for a few years I happen to come across a U.K. practitioner and teacher named Damon Smith. He confirmed my theories as his teacher taught him how to use all the animals and elements with weapons. Each animal has teachings of specific associated battlefield strategies. Hsing Yi practitioners interested in the historical origins of that art should definitely obtain a copy of his first book. It really gives a lot of history that many of the U.S.lineages just don't know about or have access to.

It is important to keep the historical application of your chosen art in mind.
Next I hope to talk about Sun Lu Tang's contribution to the development of the art.

Old School Counter throwing

2009-01-16T15:44:00.001-08:00

Cool old Judo Clip

Traditional Medicine for Martial Arts

2009-01-14T20:44:00.001-08:00

Bagua Zhang

2009-01-14T06:59:00.001-08:00

My teacher doing Cheng Style Bagua Zhang