Kung Fu hides many of its secrets in terms of opposite qualities such as fast/slow, open/close, light and heavy. But don’t let the words obscure the story. The names are significant, but it’s their entwined relationship that holds the real stash. Take heavy and light. In the martial arts community, especially the Chinese branch, there […]
Oct
24
2018
24
2018
Jan
9
2017
9
2017
Stillness & Movement: Part Two
Thinking About Movement Learning movement–and therefore footwork–is a progression through four modes of stepping. First, when the beginner has just walked in off the street and you ask him to punch, he will shoot arm first, before stepping. Envision tense shoulders, chest out and arm fully extended as he steps/falls awkwardly. Here’s the first, or […]
May
5
2015
5
2015
Adam Hsu Article: Black Tiger Steals the Heart
A Straight Talk about the Straight Punch: Technique, Principles & Usage You may not have realized it (how could you?) but PLUM has a brother we never told you about. This new addition is a site devoted to the works and writings of Adam Hsu. We have been feeding this site with much of PLUM’s […]
Sep
9
2014
9
2014
D24375: Kung Fu Body Conditioning Part Two
Just when you thought the soreness would go away. Here is the second DVD in the series of traditional training methods. (To be honest we did not even realize it had a second part.) This is a faithful and in-depth exploration and representation of some of the hundreds of special Kung Fu exercises that have […]
May
30
2014
30
2014
Finding Freedom Everywhere
A good question to ask once in a while, knowing that the answer may be different this week from last week, is “What makes me feel free?” This varies a lot from person to person. It also varies a lot, if you stick with the martial arts for a long time, with your personal evolution […]
Feb
25
2014
25
2014
The Single Ingredient
When he turns form horse stance to bow stance he leans away from the actions, rotating his front foot on the wrong pivot point, leans off balance, sticks his butt out, and even has a fairly strange expression on his face.
Feb
10
2014
10
2014
Instructor’s Notebook (INB) #27: Nine Points on Assisting a Martial Class
Congratulations and Felicitations. You’ve become an assistant instructor! Big things coming; but right now all you’ve done is stand in the back of the studio making stunted jerks and twitches. Well, you would like to help. Start with what the instructor has deemed useful behavior. But, in anticipation of the day when you and he […]
Sep
8
2013
8
2013
Keys to Kung Fu
…if you teach long enough, you realize that special hints walk right through the studio every day, and many of them even leave muddy tracks.
Jun
19
2013
19
2013
Information vs. Knowledge
The Chinese doctor of old was trained on a very different mode than we use in current medicine…
Feb
21
2013
21
2013
INB#26: Slapping Your Foot
To the student this is often just a neat effect, not to mention a little test of timing. But to the instructor it has more meaning, and therein may lie a lesson.
Jan
6
2013
6
2013
Terrible Terrain
“Under everything is the land” may sound like the slogan of a professional real estate organization but it is also the truth of martial practice. Thousands 0f years ago it was pointed out by one of the first major military writers, Sun Zi: “The natural formation of the country is the soldier’s best ally…”
Dec
8
2012
8
2012
Tutorial: Spear Lesson #5, The Dragon’s Tail
We begin the next stage of spear training with the first compound shape, the Dragon’s Tail, a low deflection action that “bites back” immediately…
Nov
2
2012
2
2012
The Plum Blossom Pole
Here is a style of Kung Fu much based on a set of stakes driven into the ground upon which practitioners balance as they practice and even spar …
Nov
1
2012
1
2012
Sticky Telepathy
This is one of those things that veteran martial artists know; once in a while we mention it but we don’t talk about it…
Oct
12
2012
12
2012
Why My Knees Still Work
I am superstitious; I have two records which I assume will instantly break (literally) once I mention them…
May
14
2012
14
2012
What Do You Practice and Why?
I remember reading an interview where someone asked Hawkins Cheung what Wing Chun made up his practice. In other words what was his regimen. “That’s for beginners,” he said. “I practice whatever I want.
Dec
5
2011
5
2011
50 Ways to do Things Wrong, One Right Way
There’s an old saying, “Learn from your mistakes.” And of course I see the sense of this. But some students have the slightly mistifying habit of wanting to back track for everything.
Sep
13
2011
13
2011
The Double Voice
Martial artists are an ornery lot. They dedicate themselves to discovering their own way. In this modern world where rewards are social and ridiculously exaggerated, it’s hard to follow a very faint voice at the back of your mind.
Aug
29
2011
29
2011
Training: Tai Chi Everywhere
There is a treasure house of practice methods hidden in Kung Fu styles and many of them use the slow, focused and reflective approach of Tai Chi. Tai Chi takes slow training as an overall basic approach, and this has fooled people into thinking of it as a major theme of that particular art. Yet, […]
Sep
24
2010
24
2010
Peer Pressure
Like so many young people, I hated high school…
