Earlier today, I had the opportunity to work with a group of beginning Tai Chi students. A few hours later, I met with another group of students in my advanced Tai Chi class. Now, relaxing at the dusty end of the day, I realize that what I had taught to these two classes was essentially […]
Nov
27
2018
27
2018
Oct
29
2018
29
2018
The Cinematic World of Hong Kong: The Heritage of Hung Gar
Sometimes a book comes along dealing with a topic in which you thought you had little interest. Then you open it and—wow!—it reciprocates to open up a world for you. Lingnan Hung Kuen: Kung Fu in Cinema and Community is one of those books. It looked like a nice gift item. But once we got […]
Oct
24
2018
24
2018
Oct
21
2018
21
2018
Bak Sil Lum Sash Event
Today there are nine new Black sashes in the martial art of Bak Sil Lum (Northern Shaolin) style. At an event hosted by Sifu Scott Jensen a contingent of his senior students were awarded black sashes, a solid rank requiring years of training. Each candidate demonstrated skills, starting with a set from the empty-handed division […]
Sep
9
2018
9
2018
Speed: Unpunch & Unkick
The following simple techniques will drastically improve your martial speed. My confidence in this teaching tip stems from the fact I have used it so many times and it always delivers. It is based on a key concept in what people call “reptile response,” or conditioned reflex; in other words, actions that are hard-wired to […]
Aug
28
2018
28
2018
Listening to the Wind: On Internal Practice
About a week ago I asked my Tai Chi class if they ever get bored doing the form. They unanimously answered “No,” their explanation being that the form always provides new material to concentrate on, things to master. This suggests that the act of repetition can be either boring or freeing, and leads me to […]
Jun
27
2018
27
2018
A Gathering Indeed
Friday, we drove south, over 350 miles to Monterey Park, in Los Angeles, in answer to Sifu Don Hamby’s invitation to attend his 3rd Annual Kung Fu Gathering of the Masters. Despite expectations based on decades of tournaments and events, we could not have anticipated what we encountered once the drumming started. Sifu Hamby, widely […]
May
16
2018
16
2018
Family Resemblance
I’ve been asked to judge at the annual Tiger Claw tournament this coming weekend. One of the things unique at this event is that it will feature, in its traditional column, not one, but TWO, Shaolin divisions. This is particularly significant because, for the first time, these two competitions will offer double examples of true […]
May
13
2018
13
2018
Coming Events
Plum will be travelling in May and June to a couple of kung fu tournaments: 10th Annual Tiger Claw Elite Kung Fu Magazine Championship, May 19-20, 2018, San Jose, California This year’s 2 day event will feature a NEW EXTERNAL DIVISION dedicated exclusively to Songshan Shaolin — the Kung Fu directly from Shaolin Temple alongside […]
Mar
27
2018
27
2018
Tutorial: Tai Chi Tips, Stepping
If you’ve spent more than 5 minutes at Plum, you know how highly we prize basics as the foundation of good movement. ‘Stepping’ in Tai Chi, is one of those fundamentals that you might learn on the first day of class, and which you might be refining well into your advanced practice. We prepared a […]
Mar
5
2018
5
2018
What’s Old is New: 3 Traditional DVDs
Despite the fact that Plum has built a catalogue containing almost 4000 books, dvds and vcds (!) we are actually quite picky about our products. We review a lot of material, choosing only what we believe will add to the martial conversation. So imagine how pleased we are when we are able to offer three […]
Oct
31
2017
31
2017
George Xu: Pioneer
Normally we reserve these weblog spots for a quick teaser, and designate the product pages for fuller reviews. However, since the works of George Xu often attract our special attention, we thought that this time, with his new DVD on Reeling Silk Energy, we would post our more in-depth interview along with our usual product […]
Oct
4
2017
4
2017
The Fierce Eye: Focusing on Martial Focus
I think this is true everywhere: there’s always someone giving advice, or rules of thumb that drift downward from earlier days and, lo and behold, these become watchwords of inherited intelligence. Verifiability is not even an issue because these ingrained insights constitute that thin yellow line between truth and–certainly not evil, but at least–superstition. In […]
Sep
16
2017
16
2017
Why Relaxation is Not Easy
The problem posed in the title is a constant concern in all CMA (Chinese Martial Arts) training. Of course, one immediate answer recognizes that relaxation and exercise are just plain difficult to coordinate. This is especially true when you add thinking to the mix. But the true approach, like all martial training, is both more […]
Aug
20
2017
20
2017
Instructor’s Notebook: Revelations
Sometimes, words that once held deeper meanings are now expressed in shallow terms. It’s just “aaawesssomme.” For instance, when people use the word, “revelation” they are probably pumping up some slight thing, like office gossip, or promoting the discovery of the correct word in a crossword puzzle. But the core meaning of revelation has more […]
Jun
28
2017
28
2017
The Cane, Practical Self Defense
Our Shaolin Cane DVD has engendered more questions and reactions than almost any other DVD we developed. This article focuses on those questions, partially in the hope that this weapon—which some people actually rely on for self defense—grows in popularity and improves in technique. Let’s first recognize the diversity of the instrument. It’s more than […]
Jun
14
2017
14
2017
Daniel Mroz on Tao Lu: Formal Movements from the Martial Arts
Here is something wonderful. Daniel Mroz, an associate professor in the Theater Department of the University of Ottawa and also a longtime friend, correspondent and Plum customer presented a lecture at last year’s Martial Arts Studies Conference in Wales. The subject of his engaging talk is Tao Lu, the martial art routine we call set […]
May
31
2017
31
2017
Mina at the Kung Fu Tournament
The noise in the Kung Fu tournament hall never lets up. The waves of brass and drumming rolled along the ceiling fabric only to crash against an opposing wave of raucous sound from the opposite direction. To me, it vibrated like someone in leather and beard revving a Harley directly between my ears, but I […]
May
16
2017
16
2017
Appreciation: Double Swords, Flying Blades
There is at least one weapon in Kung Fu practice that is generally taught only to women. In fact, I have never—that I recall—taught this to a male practitioner. Leaving aside the irony of a male teaching a “female only” weapon (I’ll discuss how THAT works at the end of this article), I think it […]
May
5
2017
5
2017
Meditation’s Secret Treasure
Meditation’s Secret Treasure, by Steve Strasnick, is the story of someone who was not already indoctrinated with mystical assumptions, who did not bring a cosmology (at least, not a religious one) to the table. Yet, he found himself “Awakening to the Mystical World,” despite his feeling about himself that he was not “inclined” in that manner. […]
