Wen Hsiu Quan

I realised at the end of a really busy week that tomorrow was going to be the 12th of November. This date holds huge significance to me as a person and I realise that for Wenhsiuquan this is a really important day as well.  On this date in 2002 I have met Chen Yu Chi. Yu Chi, or Carol as she was known to me back then, was 26 at the time. I was 24. I have just finished my LLB exams for that year and showed up for work at the Chinese Restaurant when she had just arrived with her friend Jamie from Johannesburg's OR Tambo Airport. At that time I thought I would get along with all Chinese people in general. I realise now, however, that this woman is a rare breed. This post, however, is not about her as a woman, but about what she had taught me of Chinese martial arts. Looking at Kungfu nowadays I would understand if the public associates it with flowery movements, acrobatics and spectacular techniques. This has been perpetuated by the sport known as W...

Let me say right from the beginning that there is nothing to learn from today's post- unless you are one of those who collect the photos at the bottom every week.  I simply had too much on my mind this last week to form any idea of what to write. Still- I like writing blog posts for my favourite community on G+ and to chat with other martial artists during the weekend. For many of us martial arts make up that part of our lives devoted to going to class, meet other students, train with students, hearing announcements and maybe even chatting with classmates before or after class. It was pretty much like that for me as well until a while ago. Largest part of my life, however, I have trained by myself. I have grown up with lots of examples on how to do it and after-training meditation is still one of the greatest parts of each morning. This is the ultimate me-time... I understand very well that we all have our own experiences of humanity an...

Sun Tzu wrote in the Art of War wrote "If you know yourself you have one third's chance at victory. If you know yourself and your enemy you have two thirds' chance at victory. If you know yourself, the enemy and the battlefield victory is certain." All good and simple until you realise that the time at which you will know all 3 of the above shall very rarely occur. What it tells us about tournaments- where we can leave the battlefield out of the equation since we can safely assume that both fighters would know it ( fighting area, rules etc.) it means that your chances in a tournament should be 50/50 right? Well... if only the outcome of fights or sparring matches hinged on knowledge alone... The fact remains, where fighting is concerned, victory is seldom if ever guaranteed...  This is not only true for fighting, but for many areas in life. Growth, be it in financial investments, business or our personal lives, require the taki...

I remember learning the concept behind chi sao (sticking hands) in Yongchuan or Wing Chun. Although many teachers insist on having one learn and memorise the different defensive positions found in Wimg Chun forms I have found that these positions are naturally occurring events in a sparring match if a student understands the basics. Later- when I have learnt about Shaolin force training, though, I have realised that we cannot just discard basic movements or positions in martial arts. They are practiced repeatedly for a reason. Wing Chun is certainly not the only Chinese martial art that has fixed positions that one learn to move from the one to the other. In fact- Karate and Taekwondo forms have the same thing. Each of these positions represent a certain moment in time. It may be the moment your attacker's arm got lifted to expose his ribs, his fist got knocked downward to expose his upper body or face or that moment of having created just enough space for th...

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while would know that I value relevance over effectiveness. I have a very simple reason for doing so. I simply do not deem a martial art effective if its teachings are not relevant to everyday life. This is because fighting in itself is subject to the same laws that govern the universe as is everything else under Heaven.  Understand this and debates over which system should be studied or which technique should be preferred becomes of very little concern to you. I have once again found a lot of photos with which to decorate my post so that it looks a bit more appealing than just a mass of text that I want to drop onto you during the weekend- so I'll just ask you to enjoy the photos as you scroll down to what I have to say... Scroll on... Okay! We are here! The idea to write a post on subtlety has come to me during this week. I have realised how I had yet to apply one very valuable le...

Every style has its precautionary measures. Kickboxing coaches will tell you to keep that guard up, Wing Chun teachers will tell you to parry towards the opponent's centre line and with classic Shaolin you have to keep your hand over your groin when you do high side kicks or roundhouse kicks... That is all well and easy to remember until the free sparring starts. Back in 1997 I have used a free form of sticking hands when I trained with friends. It worked well, but there were numerous times where I used an inward block against the inside of a sparring partner's arm. This was not intended, of course, but then again- when we block and redirect a volley of punches- how much of what we do is actually intended? The hands go where they need to without you thinking and when you realise what has actually happened you realise that some of what has happened during the bout was not as prescribed by the text book. With a full-o...

Okay- scroll down the photos so we can get to my text...   Stop! Here we are... Okay- if anyone on Martial Arts Forums can read this it means that this post did not get removed (Thank you, Admins!) I really appreciate my posts getting read very much and I will not waste your time for doing so- so let's cut to the chase... Next year I'll be 40. Apart from gaining weight I also noticed a slight decline in my eyesight- so- what did I do? I started training my eyes. Did you know you can train your eyes? Well- I will tell you about that soon. But first- Bravestarr... If you are not my age- or you are about my age, but did not watch as much TV as I did watch this intro to get yourself up to date: https://youtu.be/UaMo4k7iG7s Yes- Bravestarr was a space- sheriff in a futuristic sci-fi series that was mostly set on the planet New Texas far away in space. Like his contemporary, He-Man he had a line of toys from Mattel and a series and probably some other mercha...