New Disciples

Have been busy lately with the start of the new semester......City College has begun so a new set of classes and students..something I look foward to.....new students ready to learn some Taiji. Enrollment is at about 125.....not bad at all!  Also, have begun our Qinna training....it puts a whole different light on Yang Taiji.......we are all use to the big movements you see in Yang 24 and the 42 Taiji......but these movements have little to do with actual Yang Style Taij.  We often associate big circular movements with Yang Style, when actually the movements are quite smal, case in point is Brush Knee and Press...which is usually described as just blocking a kick....when actually its an elbow lock and throw!  Wu style Taiji has it right its movements are small and tight!  Why the difference...probably because of the fact when Yang Style became popular, guns were already in use he Yang family concentrated on teaching Taiji for health so large movements easier to teach than small intricate movements....this was further adopted by the Chinese Wushu Federation and popularized world wide. Further takes Bagua out of the realm of performance...too often we think of Bagua just as a set going around in a circle......that's just for training purposes, actual Bagua requires straight line training..or you can't reach your opponent.....joint locking ,throwing, and developing martial arts skills....striking, grabbing,punching,kicking,etc.  Sunday Mornings now look like a martial arts training session.....everyone is kicking bags, learning to apply techniques, and developing their physical skills.  You might think that's normal...but often in Contemporary Wushu Schools no time is spent on application or the developing of fighting skills!!

Probably, the most important thing to happen though was my accepting four disciples.  Disciples are very important to further the spreading of Wushu......it provides an uninterrupted link to the source of our art...otherwise the Martial Arts knowledge will be available only in bits and pieces.  They will be very important in helping me teach the art of Bagua...you can only do so much by yourself........plus some techniques I need younger students to practice....especially the throws....we did a little in China......which was ouch painful..luckily we had Ben and Michael for that!  Each of them will specialize in Qinna and some other art....Chen, Sun Yang, Fu Taiji or Bagua.  Fu Bagua was the other style of Bagua that I studied under Grandmaster Lin Chao Zhen who was a disciple of Fu Zhen Sung.....he studied directly with Dong Hai Chuan.  Fu Bagua pretty unique because of the use of the heel spin, which is a technique found only in this style....Fu used this because he had twin Iron Palms...he would spin and hit any one in the way!

This was the Altar of the Bagua Ancestors: Dong Hai Chuan, Liang Zhen Pu, Fu Zhen Sung, and Li Zi Ming.  The disciples were asked to pay their respects to the ancestors of Bagua, this is a part of the Disciple Acceptance Ceremony.

Jared acted as the Master of Ceremonies.  After each disciple received their disciple certificates they took the Discipke's Pledge....to respect the Style, the ancestors, fellow classmates, and to help promote the Art of the Zhaoshi Bagua Qinna Men School, and to continue to practice to improve themselves.

Our sixth generation of teachers: Ben, Jason, Mike, and Bruce.

Glenn and I with new disciple Mike Jong.  Glenn and Marvin will also, act as our high level resources in our school, both of them studied Choi Lai Fut, Glenn is also a Black Belt in Kenpo...both will contribute their knowledge to our school. 

It was a great ceremony..thanks goes to both Thomas and Jared for helping to plan and get the necessary items for the ceremony.  We had a good 50 people attend....with Mike bringing his entire Clan....very kool!!

So that was the good stuff unfortunately, good always balanced by the bad.....had the misfortune of having my Ipad, and Ipod Nanos all ripped off at once..boo....not so much the lost which is too bad....but the pictures and videos on them were priceless....had to go find the original ones....so my pictures have taken awhile to find. Now I guess I'll wait for the next generation of the Ipad.......

And then there was my car........well they do happen in threes!

Anywho...time to log off hope you all are doing fine!!  Cya!!