Wen Hsiu Quan

A while ago someone has shared this video on our Martial Arts Forums group page. https://youtu.be/X2clpHtV1iA I don't know how it is for people who have studied Jeet Kune Do at one of the Innosanto lineage schools, but having learnt my Jeet Kune Do from the book I got exposed to the underlying philosophies of Bruce Lee's way and have learnt a lot about Bruce Lee's views on martial arts and fighting. It is therefore not surprising that I was immediately reminded of this paragraph: This has made me think a lot back in the day. I am sure many of you will agree that a large part of your training at beginner level in Karate or Kung Fu got spent on learning the correct stances, the proper way to punch. The proper way to block, kick etc. I am certain you can also remember what happened to it all the moment you found yourself in a real fight or a sparring match. What I notice the most is the difference in feeling. When there is no fear, panic or anger we can...

Since about the turn of the Millenium I have found that when people got introduced to me as Martial Artists it no longer meant that we had as much in common as before. Thing is- my life with martial arts has become much easier when I had learnt about mindlessness and mindfullness. If you asked me about it back in those days I would have said that it was a Zen concept that got applied in Japanese martial arts and that training without it would amount to making useless movements. In Japanese the state of mindlessness is known as mu-shin ("no mind"). In the beginning it was uncanny for me to understand, but I loved how it worked. Now I still get amazed at a new generation of martial arts students who don't know how not-thinking can help you in a fight at all... But yeah... I am old-school like that... Well- Maybe Okinawa had someone like Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid movies to teach that with his Karate... Thing is, however, that Okinawan Karate is Te in its undilu...

I realise that there are people like me out there who want to learn martial arts to find inner peace and  balance. While Cobra Kai fans are yelling "strikefirststrikehardnomercy!" Dragonball Super fans are still posting memes about Goku's Ultra Instinct.  With the trends I have seen in Karate these days and what we have seen in Cobra Kai and in MMA fights I have begun to think that martial arts enthusiasts are just not interested in that kind of stuff anymore... I really enjoyed seeing Robbie bringing the whole mushin thing back in the last episode of Cobra Kai. Over here the loudest voices in the martial arts community are preaching aggression and competitive spirit. What I see in how they practice however does not seem like any martial art that I wish to learn. Sure- I like punching, kicking and doing damage as much as the next martial arts fanatic, but any outward display of aggression translates to me as a lack of control, lack of skill and a need for ...

Greetings and salutations, dear readers! I have been waiting for this month to come around specially to see how this particular series premieres. For those who do not yet know what Cobra Kai is about I will briefly explain: The kid that Daniel Larusso have beaten in the first Karate Kid movie, Johnny Lawrence, has grown up. While Daniel's success as an auto dealer gets rubbed in his face we see him getting fired from his job as handyman and meeting a really nice mannered Mexican kid, who he just sees as an annoyance. You'd think that this nice Mexican kid, who gets beaten up by kids at school could really use a guy like Mr Miyagi (who is now already deceased) in his life. Instead- fate has brought him this no-bullshit, politically incorrect and obnoxious bastard that is Johnny Lawrence to teach him to "strike first", "grow some balls" and to kick ass. We see Johnny becoming an unwilling hero as he starts changing the lives of some tormented teens for the ...