Wen Hsiu Quan

Where other people would read about a thing such as "mind over matter" and continue doubting whether they could ever attain something like that we as martial artists are in a position to practice and train with it and experience it first hand. We already know the value of conditioning. Some of us will know about skills such as Shaolin's "Iron Shirt" and "Golden Bell Cover" and may still not know how to develop the ability. Well- I reserve that kind of knowledge for my students. Something I will leave for my fellow martial artists to contemplate however is this: When is a body part a target and when is it a weapon? Short answer- It depends on how qi is focussed. A more understandable explanation would be more like this: If you accidentally bump your hand against a table while rushing off somewhere in a hurry- it hurts. When, however, that hand is used to break a board or a tile- it does not hurt (or at least not that much...) What was differ...

To many of us stretching is that bit we do after training to get rid of gathered lactic acid and to relax the muscles. These stretches, however, are not that kind of stretch at all. They are meant to enable you to kick high and also to develop kicking power. The effectiveness of the exercise lie therein that one is isometrically stretching the muscles on one side of the body while the other side is being exercised isometrically. The stretches take on the form of three basic kicks, the front-, side- and back kick. These kicks all have one thing in common- they drive into the target. To do each stretch you have to stand far enough from a wall so that you have to overextend to reach it with your foot. The more flexible you are-the further away you may stand. Then the foot is placed against the wall. This is where you push against the wall as hard as you can, holding the position of any of these kicks as shown in the sketch. 20 seconds on each position, with each leg, should be enoug...

I think all of us who have gone to a dojo at some stage in their lives know about someone like this in class- a boy or girl who has received belt after belt in gradings and whose basics and kata are exemplary, but whose kumite is really bad and who- to be frank- just can't fight...  True- The disadvantage may in many cases be psychological, but another poison- which is especially fed to students who have never fought before in their lives, is that those blows, kicks, blocks (oh don't get me started on blocks...) and stances are effective for use in actual combat. Truth, however, is that they aren't. Why do we practice them this way then? I have actually given the answer to this question a couple of posts ago when I discussed the three elements in martial arts. Now those techniques are supposed to develop power when practiced regularly. As for technique itself, you really have to find that element in the technique that makes it work, preserve it and make...

Yang and Yin feature in the tactical as well as the psychological aspect of the martial arts. At least for the Chinese martial arts, as I have no idea what is being taught in other systems... For the purpose of this post Yin refers to a calm, yielding disposition, whereas Yang refers to an aggressive, proactive nature. In history two types of warrior have each exhibited the characteristics of Yang and Yin. I'll refer to them as the Berserker and the Sage.  The Berserker In ancient times the Berserker was a zealot warrior who worked himself up into a state of fearless aggression. For this purpose they were known to wear bear skins, sharpen their teeth and growled like animals. A typical berserker ritual that we see to this day is the All Blacks' Haka which is known to all rugby fans. Whatever the technique or ritual used- the berserker state is a result of Yang energy being raised and the objective of destroying the enemy takes priority over all else- even personal safety....