New Book Coming: Taolu Practice for Kungfu


It has been a while since I have sat down to write any book. You may have noticed that I even neglect my blogging nowadays... 


I have, however, had enough time to think about what to write about next. I have chosen to write about form practice in Kungfu.



In our general language we use the term "forms" to refer to those sequences of movements that are performed without an opponent.



Kungfu people, however, call these sequences "sets". The word "forms" are usually used by Karate people when they refer to kata.

In Karate the Japanese term kata is used while the Chinese term taolu is used by Kungfu practitioners.

Kungfu forms are generally longer than Karate forms, though.

In Karate we find that the traditional styles follow a very conservative approach to teaching and practicing forms. 

 

During the 80's some more progressive styles of Karate have appeared with acrobatic forms- performed to music, no less...

Long before this had happened to Karate the forms of Kungfu have also changed in their design to be more suited for entertainment than for practicing fighting techniques.

A lot of people say that the purpose of these forms is to preserve and memorise fighting techniques used by past masters. That is not wrong. 

We see, however, that while some forms have fast, explosive movements- others have slow, flowing movements.

Some traditional forms have movements that cannot be linked to fighting at all!

Why is this?

This is one of the topics that we are going to explore in my new book:

TAOLU PRACTICE FOR KUNGFU

Having trained in both Karate and Kungfu before I have developed Wenhsiuquan, I have some interesting insights that I will share in my book.


That is all I can tell you for now.

Watch this space! :)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blindfold training

Image
Now here's something I have not yet written about. :D I have been interested in the Zen side of Japanese martial arts since the age of 16. It was about at this age when I began with Qigong as well. As a young karateka back then I did not have the confidence, strength or aggression of my classmates and looking back- I think it was a good thing. Because of that classes scared me. Now- had it not been to exposure to the mental training techniques provided to me by Zen- I would not have seen this hostile dojo environment as the ideal testing grounds for the things I have read. This is one major factor to which I attribute my development as a martial artist. One very important training tool that has always served me well and that continues to do so to this dat is Zen Meditation. This, in itself, has provided me with a number of benefits about which I can write in detail. One of those- was the development of intuition and sensory acuity. It is actually wonderfu...
Read more

Tai Chi Movement #3- Wave Hands like Clouds

Image
I have just started searching for examples of this movement on the internet and realised that among all the people doing Tai Chi out there I might just be the only one who would apply Cloud Hands the way I do. I have found different variations of the movement itself as well. This makes my writing about my version and its application a bit unfair as you will be missing out on some really elaborate applications. Now- how I always did this movement is starting from a posture like the Lute Playing posture like the picture below- or the Spread Wings posture like this: From either one of these ready postures I then rotate my front foot and let my body follow while my leading hand makes contact with an imaginary thrust and I then complete the rotation by passing the attack while I guide its force past me with minimal effort and my free hand follows the blocking hand to wind up for an outward strike. When the rotation and step is complete I shift weight ...
Read more

Learning a Martial Art- some basic guidelines

Image
I think we have by now come across a couple of people who are studying some martial art or the other on their own. Back when I tried doing it at the age of 10 I used a book and later more books followed. Well- even after I did join an actual dojo more books followed even then... People are quick to say that you can't learn a martial art from a book. That is understandable. I for one know that you can't work as a lawyer if you have only gotten your law degree. In fact- few people feel as incompetent as a bright graduate starting out as a candidate at a law firm. The main reason why martial arts can't be learnt by reading alone is that experience plays a large part in developing the skills that any martial art has to offer. Knowledge is not enough. Nonetheless- self study is possible. We may argue about to which extent, but the history of Chinese and Japanese martial arts feature instances where people studied a scroll or a f...
Read more