What's New!
/Twisting and spiraling has gone mainstream! I win! Here is a fun article from Men's Health about twisting-- inspired by Tai Chi and Bagua and even cloud hands style Qigong-- to make people run faster.
Also, here is a cool new blog about what isn't new...ancient Tibet-o-civilization: Early Tibet.
And here is my friend Maija's fun Blog: Sword and Circle.
I don't know the story behind this blog but I like it, maybe you will too. Dark Wingchun.
I found that last blog because Maija published the following article on it (and Facebook), looking around the web she has written on this theme a few times but this is the newest incarnation: Random Flow.
I like her ideas a lot. My view of two person set flow routines (in reference to her random flow routines) is that if they are taught as techniques the purpose is lost. Knowing where the force is going to come from is what makes this type of practice safe even with momentum and power in the mix. Maija quotes her teacher Sonny, “If I know what you are going to do and where you are going to be next, I can beat you no problem!” That would be true if a person could truly know. But to me what exemplifies the great tradition of gongfu is movement which can not be stopped by any technique. It is an incredible presence. This means training two person flow drills until they have no gaps, until one is defended on all four sides while simultaneously attacking. The purpose of two person flow drills is to be able to beat an opponent even when he knows exactly what I am going to do. So in the end we must be talking about an identical experience, we train the form to get as close to totally undifferentiated chaos as is humanly possible. Which also happens to be my definition of the term Tai Chi.
Here is a video of some of my students doing a set flow drill (starts at 44 seconds in).
You also might want to check out this at Daoist Studies.org
And Livia Kohn has a new blog!
Here is the link to her Three Pines Press, and an interesting book on Sex in the Suwen.
Also, here is a cool new blog about what isn't new...ancient Tibet-o-civilization: Early Tibet.
And here is my friend Maija's fun Blog: Sword and Circle.
I don't know the story behind this blog but I like it, maybe you will too. Dark Wingchun.
I found that last blog because Maija published the following article on it (and Facebook), looking around the web she has written on this theme a few times but this is the newest incarnation: Random Flow.
I like her ideas a lot. My view of two person set flow routines (in reference to her random flow routines) is that if they are taught as techniques the purpose is lost. Knowing where the force is going to come from is what makes this type of practice safe even with momentum and power in the mix. Maija quotes her teacher Sonny, “If I know what you are going to do and where you are going to be next, I can beat you no problem!” That would be true if a person could truly know. But to me what exemplifies the great tradition of gongfu is movement which can not be stopped by any technique. It is an incredible presence. This means training two person flow drills until they have no gaps, until one is defended on all four sides while simultaneously attacking. The purpose of two person flow drills is to be able to beat an opponent even when he knows exactly what I am going to do. So in the end we must be talking about an identical experience, we train the form to get as close to totally undifferentiated chaos as is humanly possible. Which also happens to be my definition of the term Tai Chi.
Here is a video of some of my students doing a set flow drill (starts at 44 seconds in).
You also might want to check out this at Daoist Studies.org
And Livia Kohn has a new blog!
Here is the link to her Three Pines Press, and an interesting book on Sex in the Suwen.
