Running the Half Marathon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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