Becoming Left Handed

I was talking to George Xu the other day and he compared the process of changing from being an external martial artist to being and internal martial artist to the process of changing from being right handed to being left handed.  To accomplish that, you would have give up writing and feeding yourself with your right hand and learn those actions with your left hand.  Simple enough, I suppose, if you're a hermit in the mountains with a years supply of edible mushrooms.

However, if you are going to keep your life going you'd have to accomplish it in steps, gradually going back and forth between left handed and right handed actions.  I imagine it would take a lot of confidence and determination.

Of course we aren't trying to change from right to left, we are trying to change from so called "external" to so called "internal."  Add to the problem that there are few people who can model it well, and even fewer that can clearly explain the task-at-hand.

But my point here is that learning internal arts has a real similarity to trying to do stuff with your non-dominant hand.  You have to turn off the well established how to messages, and replace them with clumsy awkward undeveloped ways of moving.  And you have to do this consistently, in an experimental feedback loop, over an extended period of time.

Charlie Chaplin in Java and Bali

Some interesting stuff all the way through but the dance lesson happens around 8 minutes in:

The Mind Body Split

Here are the parameters of human movement systems:

Quiet-Quiet. A quiet mind and a quiet body.  This is the standard notion of meditation where the body is still and the mind is also still.

Active-Active. An active mind and an active body.  This is the standard for competitive athletics.  The body is very active and the mind is racing all over the space looking for openings and opportunities.

Quiet-Active. A quiet or serene mind and an active body.  This is sometimes held up as the ideal for Shaolin - and external styles of martial arts - where the mind achieves a kind of peaceful calm while the body is in an explosive power flow mode.  It is perhaps more common for people who do long distance running or swimming, the mind becomes calm because the body knows what to do.

Active-Quiet. The spacial mind is very lively, and the body is quiet.  This is the exclusive territory of internal martial arts.  The quiet body is a process in which the intention to move or control is systematically  removed from the four limbs, and eventually the entire body, while being replace with an active spacial mind outside the body.

Of course these are parameters, not necessarily perfectible experiences.  Never the less many of my students have found it helpful in understanding how different types of movement and meditation engage us.

Surprise - The World Has Discovered that Kungfu is Good for Film

The misconception that Kungfu at some point in the past was purely and exclusively a fighting art is so wide spread that the Wall Street Journal is reporting AS NEWS that Kungfu is actually good for actors, and film making.  The article suggests that the technology of Chinese Martial Arts is being adopted or adapted to fulfill an urgent need world wide!  That need?  Better action in the movies!  More action too!

Maybe I'll write a letter to the WSJ explaining that before 1900 the dominant form of entertainment in China was a form of performance theater that used Kungfu to train its actors.  Perhaps I could also explain that in the old days it was through theater that most people got their knowledge of history.  Or even that this form of theater was commonly called "Entertaining the Gods" because statues of the gods were carried out of the temples on palanquins and set up in front of the stage.  And that it was all a huge money making event, often times with seasonal markets popping up around the main event.  And if I really wanted to go out on a limb with this letter I could point out that this "experience" was probably the dominant form of public communal religious expression. Or maybe I'll just go out and get hot chocolate instead.

Do read the article, it's fun.  Since it mentions the new Shaolin movie, I do have a comment.  I wrote out a wild rant about that terrible movie a month or two ago which I decided not to post, for now anyway.  But I will say this.  Enough about foreigners stealing antiquities already!  White guys with big noses did not destroy Shaolin!  Not now, not then, not in any way shape or form. And I'm thinking Jackie Chan owes me an apology.  Why does the Official Chinese Government Movie Script Contortion Department think it can get away with this?

Oh never mind.  Here, clear your mind with this stimulating big of fun!

Magic in the Tendons

I came across this article on Frogs which is saying what I've been saying for years about the role of the tendons in power generation.

Though its muscles still have a vital role - after all, a quarter of the frog's entire mass is in its legs just for this purpose - these jumps would be physically impossible without its springy tendons.

As the frog readies itself to leap, its calf muscle shortens. After about 100 milliseconds, the calf muscle stops moving, and the energy has been fully loaded into the stretched tendon. At the moment the frog jumps, the tendon, which wraps around the ankle bone, releases its energy, much like a catapult or archer's bow, causing a very rapid extension of the ankle joint that propels the frog forward. The entire jump — from preparation to leap — lasts about a fifth of a second, the experiments showed. Other frog species jump much faster.

China to build first Tai Chi theme park

China to build first Tai Chi theme park

WUHAN, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- China will build a theme park showcasing the traditional martial art of Tai Chi in Wudang Mountains area, legendary home of the marital art and a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned as a center of Taoism.

The administrative office of Wudang Mountains and American company Landmark Entertainment will cooperate to set up the Tai Chi theme park in the central province of Hubei, said an official with the administration on Wednesday.

Folks were fretting about the commercialization of Tai Chi and Wudang Mountain on Facebook and then a cooler head pointed out that this sort of thing can work to filter out the more oafish tourists while creating a source of funds to nourish or protect tradition.  I just got excited about the Tai Chi Pirate Ride!  The Wuwei Bumper Cars that never actually touch!  And the Silk Reeling Roller Coaster is not to be missed!

Maybe they will have people dressed up as the Eight Immortals-- the way Disneyland does Mickey and Goofy.  Now that I think about it, if Landmark Entertainment wants to win hearts and minds they really ought to hire me as a consultant for this.

Caution this is Sparta

Some Cool Images Of Soldiers and Such

Click for originals and bigger size.

Visualizations, Videos and Learning the Sword

In traditional Chinese Internal Martial Arts visualizations are used to help people develop qi and the ability to move it.  The key expression is:  "To make imaginary real, and to make real imaginary."  This is one of the things that annoys me about the whole movement to make martial arts less theatrical and more "real."  Folks, that's level one!  It's only half the job.  Once those fighting skills are perfected and all the applications have clear intent, power, etc, etc, then the task is to make them so natural that whatever the mind does, it is expressed instantly and effortlessly.  The art enters the realm of imagination.

I recently have learned a lot about my Northern Shaolin Sword form (Wuhudao) from playing with Maija.  She's great. What amazed and delighted me the most is that every single move in this old opera form from Kuo Lien-Ying is totally functional.  Even the things that I had thought were artistic flourish turned out to be really useful techniques!



And while we are at it I have a new favorite visualization.  The most common visualizations of qi are clouds, steam, silk, water, fire...etc....   all that old school stuff.  But my new favorite thing to visualize is dry-cleaning plastic!  It puffs up, it floats down slowly, it spins around, it has a mind of it's own.

Dry Cleaning Plastic Dress by Susan Lenz

Mongol Ship Found in Japan

No way!
Wreck of 13th century Mongol invasion ship discovered

Here is more on the Archeology