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Hong Kong Trip 2005
Well it started out bad by having to change my flights around to make
things easier for everyone in the family. When I arrived in Hong Kong I
knew where to go and what to do so I grabbed bus A21 and went to Tsim Shau
Tsui the tourist area and got a guesthouse for the family I than proceed
to the MTR and purchased an Octopus card to travel on, took the sub to
Tsun Weun a got off at the Prince Edward Station and walked to the B2 exit
which says Mong Kok police station. You go up and exit the station. Look
left across the street and up at the second floor and you will see the
sigh that says Ving Tsun Athletic Ass.
You will find at the street level a chrome door guard and speaker about
the middle of the street, Press the button that says caretaker and you
will hear a large click and you push on the door go inside and you can go
up the stairs to the second floor or take the elevator I usually take the
stairs. On the second floor turn left and walk down the narrow hall way to
the sign the tells you about the classes.
From here you walk into the room and you will see chairs all around the
walls and the instructors desk in the far corner. Depending on the time
will depend on the teacher. As you can see from the sign Grandmaster Ip
Ching is on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 5:30 pm to 10: 00 pm. Usually
there is some one there who will speak English and you can speak to them
and they will translate to Grandmaster for you. I knew some of the faces
so I address a man who goes by the English name of Paul. Now here is a
strange note for all, many of the folks there have adopted an English name
because it is so hard for the foreigners to pronounce there Chinese names.
I have always known one of the gentleman by the name of Albertt but this
trip I found out that he name true name is Keung. So I started addressing
him by this. I asked Grand master if I could train in the school for about
one month. He nodded yes and I asked how much. Paul translated that it
would be $400.00 Hong Kong Dollars. Divided this number by 7.7 to get the
American value. 7.7 / 400= $51.94. Therefore II paid 52. dollars for one
month. I asked Paul if this was for just Grandmaster class and he said no.
I can go to any and all the classes I wanted to. I said thank you because
I am here to learn as much as possible. Now I got a little nervous because
I was the only white guy there. So being a little self confidence I pulled
out the jar of tiger balm and rubbed a little on each shoulder and
stretched a little. I started with Sim Lau Tau like everyone else. I did
notice that everyone's Sim Lau Tau was much slower than mine. So after I
did mine and I noticed my shirt was already very wet I sat and watched
everyone else do there’s. Since I knew a couple of the people, I asked
why, and I found out that the old way I did Sim Lau Tau with the mediation
and control of the energy was correct. That the new way I was told to do
the form is wrong. So I started to do it the correct again. As I spent the
next three weeks in Hong Kong , learning all I could, I found that the
energy that so many have told me was wrong, Was in fact the correct way.
This helped me greatly and made me feel like I knew a little of something.
I talked with many of the students and instructor, Most said very few
students ever really understand the idea of the energy power involved in
Kung Fu. Even In Hong Kong very few grasp the concepts of energy ,even few
grasp the idea of energy most just want to learn how to fight. I also
noticed that those that were there for 6 years or more seemed to
understand the energy concept.
I took many notes of all the classes and asked many questions. All of the
teachers were really nice and tried there best to understand my crude
mountain English. I learned much From Ma Fee Fai, during his afternoon
class, I learned a lot on how yuma can be applied inside your structure,
this allows no break do of your structure. and of course all the students
in Grandmasters class on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The two young gentlemen
Kueng, Ping, and another who goes by the name of Paul really helped in the
language area because they worked with me and help translate many ideas .
I enjoyed talking about there classes and how the were run and compared
them to our classes here in USA. I figure a little change will be good. I
learned a lot on the Chum Kui and Bui Tze forms also. I had a working
knowledge of yuma but to have it explained there was a real treat to me
and I will be working hard on making mine better.
Fighting principal number one is relaxation and I again got a much strong
appreciation of this concept from Keung and Ma Fee Fai who constantly show
me how to relax even more. This really extended my ideas on the basic
stance and how to settle into this stance even more than I already do.
Chi Sauing with any of these guys is a reward in itself. One can see where
years of training pay off. All the students with 5 years or more had a
real softness. Those students and teachers with 10 years or more, well
lets say it was like working with a large feather and this was truly a
wonderful to experience because of the suddenness of the defense, they
could apply from this. There speed is remarkable to say the least.
Like all good things everything comes to and end and I had to leave sooner
than I wish to. Yet I promised that I would return. I am already looking
at a new date to return and I set up a new savings account for the plane
ticket. When there is enough in savings I will be traveling to Hong Kong
again. To see if I can learn even more .
God Bless
Well here it is the first of the year, and the school here in Westcliffe
is fighting the cold spell along with everyone else. The school has been
open to the public for seven months now and we are doing pretty good when
you consider the fact that there is only about 3000 people in this valley.
A few more students would really be nice.
Yet I am glad there is only a few students to teach. This allows me to
work with each student.
We will be working hard on trying to make this newsletter as good as it
use to be by going bi-monthly again.
Control
What we all need to
look at is the idea of the true martial artists. A good student needs to
learn the basic foundation of there art. Than they need to learn the basic
drills, which in our school is the air drills. After a couple of months
these drills get very boring but as I have example to my students it is
necessary to make all movements become as close to natural habit as
possible. This is part of control. Control needs to be brought forward as
soon as the basics are taught. No control, no advancement from here. As
one becomes better in the air drills one needs to find the range, or
distance, how to move in a direction and how to move in a distance.
Let us look at range first. If one extends their arms straight forward and
puts their hands together you form a wedge with your hands and arms but
more important one sees the distance of their range. Now if only shifts to
the right or the left one finds the range changes because of your shift.
Understand we do not wish to extend out by over reaching. Over reaching,
or overextending puts your weight in the wrong direction also. Learning
ones range is learning ones control. The control is knowing where your
punch, tan or wu will stop is control. Where to punch is taught by every
teacher, but few teach how far to punch and how. I try to move each
student at their one pace. When I see the air drills flowing smoothly I
show a student how far to strike forward and than how to step through this
movement, This is the control all need to learn. Just striking out during
the sparring or test of skills is not a martial artist. Controlling ones
movements is part of the true martial artists. Many beginners try to
empress themselves on others by getting the strikes in during sparring.
All need to look at when and where to strike and how hard.
In our school we do a fair amount of slap boxing or slap sparring so one
can learn to control. Control needs to be applied at all times. Those who
spar and do not use control do no spar very much. Some think that pulling
a punch is not a good thing. I agree pulling a punch is bad because it
should have never left the mind in the first place. The minute a strike,
or punch, is thrown the speed, power, energy and CONTROL should have
already been set in the mind. This is true control and this is what is
necessary to survive a bad situation. Just striking out is almost as
dangerous as the opponent coming out of no where and attacking you.
Lashing out with no control limits you, and opens your opponents options.
You need to close your opponents options completely and as fast as
possible. Controlling this situation with the mind thinking and the body
moving in unison is the best way, this is control at is best.
Therefore I suggest that when one is practicing or sparring to learn how
far and how hard to strike, so that one does not damage some one else
unnecessarily.
God bless all this new year
Sifu Unrein
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