Cooling Foods

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

Weapons defense: The Three C's

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.

Dit Dat Jow Formula

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

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

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

Xingyimax.com

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

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/