Waterwheel Taichin does Five Element Qigong

Traditional Archery

Here is the ATARN, (an Asian Traditioanl Archery Association) youtube playlist illustrating some old school archery methods. This has been a great organization. Unfortunately, the list cannot be embeded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzUnJctnr7M&feature=share&list=ULkzUnJctnr7M

Another great vid is this one "From the Heart of Asia"

 

Deng Ming Dao's book Scholar Warrior mentioned Indian Clubs when I first read it back in the 90's. He mentioned that they cultivated bilateral use of the body.  I had no idea what they were.  Fast forward to today and you can find quite a few people training with them.  Indian Clubs have helped my shoulder ROM.  There are a lot of good vids out there.  I highly encourage all "high mileage" martial artists to take a look at this ancient training method.  Here are a few links to get you started:

Zen Kahuna has a fantastic follow along series here: http://youtu.be/reWVCIcHyvU

Army Maguire is a retired elephant trainer that traveled the world. He has an innovative mind and love of the martial arts. I believe he also did some Hsing Yi Chuan and is an expert in Iron Palm.

Magui Style baguazhang with Li Laoshi

Mr. Li will be back in OKC this november. Let me know if you are interested in going.  I will put you in touch with my friend Justin who is hosting the seminar.

School News

Please take a look around the blog and the youtube vids to see if you would like what I teach. We are looking for some new people to train with.  Make no mistake this is a small non commercial school. 
The curriculum includes: Northern Kung Fu to establish a base for training if you are a beginner, Sun Style Hsing Yi Chuan, Qigong, Stretching, Conditioning, etc.  Please come with a learning plan.  It is just too exhausting to teach people that do not put out effort. Also, you should not have a problem with either meditation or a contact oriented class. If you can do all that give me a call.
A quick word about Baguazhang.  I do practice it but at this time not teaching any NEW students.  Li Laoshi of the Magui system of bagua zhang is my new teacher in that art.  He is a great guy and I highly encourage anyone looking to learn bagua to check him out.
Also, in the late 90's I did study Hsing Yi, Baguazhang, and Tuina with a teacher from a national organization (NATSTA) for 3 years.  I still use some of the exercises but have changed them to reflect the body mechanics from Sun Style Hsing Yi Chuan. Any other material that I use is in the public domain. If you have any questions regarding this please contact me.  But I won't entertain any bullshit nor answer any challenges. 
The ideal student would be mature, have a great sense of humor, be willing to work, and independent minded.  I am more into developing training partners that I can hang with on equal terms rather than gathering students. 

TCM Nutrition

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

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