Knife and Cane Seminar

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

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.