Wen Hsiu Quan

Fighting itself is a means to an end. More than just a couple of times it seems as if a lot of people forget the end to which they have started fighting. This of course causes a lot of irreparable damage that can be avoided by just stopping at the right time. When that right time is is something about which I shall write another post. But what is often the reason for people creating more problems than what they solve through violence is anger. Sure- we all get angry, but letting that anger guide our actions is setting yourself up for failure very early on in a confrontation. The right time to strike is when the opponent is open to attack- not when you are angry enough or have summoned up enough courage. Likewise-deciding on an offensive course of action because you have rage to work through is not the way to win. Anger distorts our view of reality. It blinds us. In kata practice we can distill our anger into vigorous application of techniques...

First- before I start- Watch this video: https://web.facebook.com/chesterlawrence.delfino/videos/851975431603756/ This video has nothing to do with today's post. It has to do with a lot of us, me included, being martial artists, but not being in control of the world. Why I am talking about this is that a lot of "life coaches", charlatans and bottom feeding opportunists have identified this desire in all of us to be our own bosses, to become a director at the company where your managers barely seem to notice you or to just wear the pants in your own house. These people go out and feed us all this feel good crap like- "be confident!", "be the alpha male", don't take no for an answer" and crap like that. Then- after the seminar these kids go out into the real world and get their asses kicked. I, myself, have for instance developed an effective countermove for people who don't take "no" for an answer. It is called "fuck...

I really loved Judo when I was younger. Reason for this was mainly because it was not karate. Back in the 80's and the early 90's everyone knew what karate was. It was so bad that even kungfu got called karate and I think basically every town in the country had a karate club. Judo, however, was not that well known. We did not have a Judo club, but we had a library. That is where my study of Judo started. Learning the throws was fun and seeing how a relatively small person like me could topple larger opponents was even more fun. Still- what I did not know at the time- Judo was not meant to be a complete fighting method. Well- it could be, but the Judo we get taught is mainly meant for a sports setting where your opponent does not come at you with a kick or a weapon and Judoka seem oblivious of things such as combination punches and the like. When I started learning karate I actually learnt a very important lesson in throwing- the importance of stance. In karate we ...

So- after much happening here (mainly my PC going out of action, me fretting about entering the post- Windows 8- world of computer purchase and then being delighted to find that this old workhorse was still reparable after all...) I am finally able to write this post. As I have expected we were asked not to use flash photography. Because I do not trust my phone I have decided not to risk any monks' lives and rather bought this photobook after the show.  (Please- don't smirk. Yes. They sell merchandise, but I for one would have been really let down if I could not take anything home from this show.)  Well- if you haven't seen Shaolin demonstrations yet your martial arts experience is at a huge disadvantage.  For one thing- we who have seen these monks in action know they do stuff like this: https://youtu.be/w0rhBAlUimw Then there's also this: https://youtu.be/Y4Kjk1-Kh4Q Well- the demonstrations were only part of the whole story. The...

So- yesterday evening I got the weapons out and had my Saturday workout a bit earlier. We know by now that I will not be in town this Saturday. :D In other news I have been learning the guitar all over now since the beginning of last month. I was never patient enough to learn scales and now that I have finally started I can't stop.  Now that I approaching the point of transferring any tune from my mind to the strings this song simply had to be played at some stage. If you know the song it means we have watched the same movies! :D Some of you might remember it from this video I have posted a long time ago.  Have a great weekend, everyone!