12th day in Beijing

Trip is coming to an end.  It has been a great trip...learned lots of bagua.......worked out with many of my new classmates.  Yesterday was a 8 hour workshop on joint locks escapes and throws! 

Saturday we had an all day workshop on application of Bagua and Qinna.  Liu Ming Liang who is number three disciple teaches at the International Studies Institute, which we used for our practice.  Liu&...Read more

Subway and other places

Beijing has a complicated but efficent underground...can get you anywhere.....if you know what is going on.  So we took the Beijing Subway to Sihui East.......got out and visited a park out there......Master Chen Xiang met us there to work on Bajij Basics and 64 Chen........Master Feng's version incorporates Hun Yuan theory.......with the bcdy of .Taiji, and the techniques of bagua.  Movement must be relaxed and powerful........using the entire body to generate power.  Afterwards temperature started rising into the 90's.....it...Read more

DiTan Park

We went to DiTan Park.......the Temple of the Earth.........its not as big as Tian Tan.........but in the morning lots of people practice Wushu there........ Xing-i, Bagua,shuai chiao, tang lang.......and my classmate Chen Xiang teaches Hun Yan Taiji to a large group of about 50 people.  Before we went over to the big group...we spent a couple hours working with Master Chen on Baiji......but not the version most people are use to seeing....his form combines the traditional Baiji with the principles of Hun Yan Taiji.  The key is to relax completely...Read more

More Baguazhang

Saturday today was really nice...first day we saw some blue skies..... but hot day...up in the 90's.  So it was good we practiced indoors.......in previous years at the Shichahai Sports Academy we practiced on the roof of the school.......it was a killer place to practice.....no shade and very hot....!! Master Yang Shi Ming discussed the historical development of the 64 Palms......Liu De Kun expert in the spear and many other arts created the form by combining the essence of many arts with the techniques of Bagua to create this unique for...Read more

Practicing Baguazhang

In our second session with Master Yang, he discussed the importance of theory and application.  First he mentioned that not everyone is so inclined, so they may be more interested in form practice.  But for high level practioners its important to know how and why we practice something.      Generally, being soft and continuous is important requisite to higher practice, then one has to learn how to be both soft and hard in the form.....generally soft on the defense hard on the attack.  If you cannot fajing correctly you cannot actually ...Read more

Beijing Again!!

Arrived in Beijing Wednesday it's been a year time flies by faster it seems as one  gets older......worked out with Master Yang on Thursday.......we got a chance to review 64 linking hands and Qinna.......Ben and Michael got to throw each other around the room......lots of good details.....Master Yang looking good....Master Zhao unfortunately was in Xiamen.  We will meet with Master Chen and the Feng Sisters on Sunday.  We will practice Chen at Di Tan Park  with Master Chen ...get some pictures when I get a chance. Weather in Beijing is ...Read more

CMAT 19 is over!

Yeah, it ended a week ago.......just takes awhile to recover!  Congrats to all my ...students...especially Melba who at a spry 73 wins her first gold medal in Taiji weapons competition.  Goes to show you can do anything you set your heart out to do!  Go Melba! This year was definitely smaller only 415 competitors...the economy certainly is taking its toll everywhere!  Also, big thanks to Jeff S. and his staff for doing a great job of organizing CMAT 19.  Didn't get to the After party this year...instead all the judges went out to have di...Read more

Thanks to SF Wushu

I wanted  to thank all the members of Sf Wushu Team for taking the time out to drive down to San Jose to perform with the Shaolin monks.  It was a small but very enthusiastic audience. The InMat Tournament was attended this year by lots of beginners and little kids; really good to see young ones competing....they are the future of Wushu.  It may be obvious but without a large pool of kids and beginners wushu will go nowhere near the Olympics, much work needs to be done at this level.  Wushu still lacks local and regional competitions and p...Read more

Shaolin Fund raiser for Japan

As many of you know the situation in Japan is critical and we need everyone in the Martial Arts Community to pull together and help out.  Next Sunday the Shaolin Monks of San Jose will be hosting their InMat 2011 at the Chinese Performing Arts Center, at 6148 Bollinger Rd. in San Jose.  After the tournament ends at 3pm,there will be a Performance to raise money for the Japan Tsunami Survivors, please everyone come out and show your support.  Compassion and serving the community are essential to the building of a strong martial a...Read more

CalWushu Three-peats

The Cal Wushu Teams have been working hard this spring to get ready for the Collegiate Wushu Nationals this March.  I know things have been difficult because the team members had to be shuffled around so much.  But one of the most important attributes of a good martial artist is to be able to perservere in the face of adversity.  That's when your true mettle shows thru....the kung-fu is to be the last one standing!   Some of the group sets were not choreographed until the last minute as the team had members drop out or change teams. ...Read more