THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE INTERNAL MARTIAL/HEALING ARTS

Combat&Healing

September 2000 Is sue Num ber 42

Empty Force? ———— Tom Jones? ———— The Slowest Martial Art ———— Being A Long Distance Student ———— The Mind in the P. 3 ———— Martial Arts Legends ———— Spine Force

PLUS WTBA News, New Videos etc.

Pub lished by: The World Taiji Boxing As so ci a tion COMBAT & HEALING

The Magazine of the World Taiji Boxing Association

EDI TOR FRONT COVER Bramsneed Blursnog Our newest and youngest WTBA Member, Jade Dabrowska ART DI REC TOR from Wales. She has been learn ing Taiji with Tony Court in Wales and is quite a dilligent young lass. Ben, Eli & Kataleenas Montaigue

INSPI RA TION CONTENTS Sandra Montaigue

USA Page 1...... The Mind in the Mar tial Arts: Part 3: Al Krych By An thony Court (UK) Page 5...... Chi nese Mar tial Arts Leg ends Canada By Alex Yeo, (Sin ga pore) Jo se phine Anderson Page 7...... Empty Force? England By Erle Montaigue (OZ) Peter Smith Page 10...... The Spine Force of Taijiquan Tony Court By Paul Brecher (UK) Page 13...... Being a Long Dis tant Stu dent Spain Ken Johnson By Mike Babin (Can ada) Page 16...... The Slow est Mar tial Art WTBA Secretary By Jim Marincic (Aus tra lia/Slovenia) Mause Eaglen Page 17: The Tom Jones Fa-jing Hip Swing! (Paul Dunbar)

Com bat & Healing is in de pend ently owned and pub lished for the in ter na tional mar tial arts com mu nity, dis trib uted world wide. ACU-THERAPY & LASER UNIT Opin ions and views ex pressed in this mag a- zine are not nec es sar ily those of the own ers or ed i tor. In the in ter est of fair play in the mar tial arts com mu nity will be given a fair This unique, five-in-one com bi na tion electro-stimulator , la ser, mus cle go. Ar ti cles go in to this mag a zine unedited apart from ob vi ous spell ing and gram mat i cal stimulator, mag netic pulse ther apy unit and acu punc ture point lo ca tor and il le gal items etc. has been pro fes sion ally de signed in con sul ta tion with lead ing acu punc- tur ists and vet er i nary sur geons.

A world-first in com bi na tion therapy tech nol ogy, this unit pro vides POSTAL AD DRESS: unique stim u la tion con trol, de lay fa cil i ties and ex cel lent fine-control of POB 792 in ten sity. Housed in a beau ti ful brief-case ready for use with it’s own re- Murwillumbah NSW 2484 charge able bat tery. Austra lia For a full col our bro chure: +61-(0) 2 6679 7145 Fax: +61- (0) 2 6679 7028 Steve McDermott E-mail:[email protected] POB 1850, Cleve land DC, Qld 4163, Aus tra lia http://www.taiijiworld.com Ph: +61 (0) 7 3821 4733 Fax: +61 (0) 7 3821 4733 e-mail: [email protected] The Mind in the Martial Arts: 3rd Part

Part 3: Emptiness. many ways, we will have to use local college, and in the class By An thony Court language, which really is quite along with mainly raw be gin ners inad e quate for our in ves ti ga- were many Judo, Ka rate and Tae he late Joseph Campbell tion, but which may trig ger the Kwon-Do people, of course I tells a wonder ful story reader to his or her own reali sa- was trying to teach inter nal Tabout the time he was in Ja- tion. At this point it maybe as methods. I say trying, because pan for a confer ence on Re li- well to say what we mean by although I had this group of gion. He overheard a “Realisa tion ” What for ex am- Mar tial Art ists pres ent, not one con ver sa tion be tween one of his ple is the differ ence between of then could move with any flu- fellow del e gates, a social phi - “Knowledge” and “Reali sa- id ity or power, in fact the raw be- los o pher from New York, and a tion”? Well, let me say that ginners had more idea. Now all Shinto Priest. The philos o pher when I started train ing in Mar- those from a martial back - said to the priest “I have seen a tial Arts many years ago, I was ground had been taught foot - good many of your practices always told that the “Stances” work etc, but none of them had and cere mo nies now, but I just were very impor tant. Fine, we built it into their subcon scious don’t get your Ide ol ogy, or your hear this day in and day out, and mind/being, therefore they had Theol ogy”. The Shinto Priest in the begin ning our balance, to think about mov ing, re sult ing shook his head slowly “Ide ol- tim ing and co or di na tion prob a- in me chan i cal, and un eco nom i- ogy! I don’t think we have that” bly leaves a lot to be de sired. cal ef fort. So for me, the im por- he re plied “And the ol ogy! No, I However, knowledge alone is tance of stance now became a don’t think we have that ei ther” not enough, prac tice alone is not differ ent kind of knowledge, then added quietly “We just enough, but it is where we have something I would never need dance” to start. Even tually armed with to learn again, because what - this knowledge and with con - ever I did from now on I would The question was a product of stant prac tice, realisa tion will never con sciously need to worry the condi tioned mind; the an - be born. about moving correctly. Even swer came from a realisa tion of learning new forms, the foot - empti ness. It is hard to pick up So lets look at Emp ti- work falls into place in a faster any book about Eastern Tra di- ness, what on earth does and more natu ral way. And as tions without very soon seeing we know, when our the word “Empti ness”. Is this it mean? How can we be- body/mind/energy and spirit something we just skip over, gin to inves ti gate some - moves as one unit, then our writing it off as just something thing that is de scribed in practice becomes pow er ful, but “Ori en tal”? Or is it, be cause of the books as.... hav ing no there is no way that it can hap - it’s re peated use, is it worth in - in her ent ex is tence? pen by training the mind and vesti gat ing, to see if it has any body etc; in a way that is not to - mean ing for us, and our Mar tial I re mem ber many years ago, af- tally in te grated. So after many Arts Prac tice? ter I had been train ing for pos si- years of train ing, this whole ness bly some 10 to 12 years (It’s now will just be there. And you won’t Words are not the thing. Par a- 23) I suddenly have this ab so- even no tice, un til one day when dox i cally, we can not re ally dis- lute and complete un der stand- you realise that one of many cuss “Empti ness”, simply ing re gard ing footwork, and steps has been reach. because it is beyond words. stances, dawn on me. I was However, because an un der- teach ing a self defence class at a As we have said, knowledge is standing is so impor tant in out there (ex ter nal), realisa tion

COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 1 is knowl edge inter nal ised , in - is said that noth ing ex ists from ple will appear to be so much stantly! So lets look at Emp ti- it’s own side, in other words ev- crazy Eastern mumbo-jumbo? ness, what on earth does it erything that arises is in ter de- What rela tion ship has emp ti- mean? How can we be gin to in- pendent, that is, every thing is ness to Mar tial Arts? In our In - vesti gate something that is de - de pend ant on causes, and there- ternals Arts training, at some scribed in the books as.... fore must be empty of any in - time, or other, cer tain ques tions having no inher ent ex is tence? herent exis tence. Also will arise, cer tain states of con - Lets start slowly, the con di- empti ness does not exist, as an scious ness will be en coun tered, tioned mind is nec es sary, oth er- object in it’s own right. For a and certain truths and reali sa- wise we couldn’t function, we moment, just consider this, go tions will come. We need to re - need to use our mind to run the into the garden and look at a solve these is sues, and move on. busi ness, make a liv ing, look af- flower, then ask yourself So it is here that we should start ter our fami lies and ourselves “Where was this flower one to look at those warriors and etc. But the con di tioned mind is hun dred years ago? Now ask sages of the past, and to see how old, in fact thousands of years yourself where will this flower even after many years of train - old. Full of ideas, ambi tions, be in one hundreds years from ing they still pro gressed and de - loves, hates, preju dices and now? vel oped. self-im por tance. It is also full of fear. So how can a mind that is For ex am ple the For ex am ple the , so exhausted with propping up Bodhidharma, who took who took Buddhism to it’s own self- image in the and founded the Shaolin Tem - world, be open, sponta ne ous, Buddhism to China and ple, thought very lit tle of study - and whole? Well if the con di- founded the Shaolin ing philosoph i cal texts, or tioned, some times called grasp- Tem ple, thought very lit- worship ping im ages of the Bud- ing mind (a good descrip tion tle of studying philo - dha. His way was through deep ap pears in the Bon Mother Tan- soph i cal texts medi ta tion directly to the heart tra as “Active mani fes ta tion of the Buddha-na ture that mind”) is thought of as the It has arisen from emp ti ness and abides in each hu man be ing. He prison, then the realisa tion of returned to emp ti ness or as the was abso lutely fearless, and this empti ness (empty nature) Tao Te Ching states returns to chas tised the Em peror Wu in the may well be the key to our lib er- the ”one" You may say for ex am- follow ing way: The Emperor ation. ple, that the flower ap peared be- told the Bodhidharma that he cause of the natu ral cycle of had built many tem ples, and had Emp ti ness (Wu Chi in Chi nese, na ture, flow ers grow ing, flow er- many of the scriptures trans - Shunyata in Sanskrit, ing, dying and seeding. O.k. lated. sTongpanyid in Tibetan) is the good point, that is called de - nat u ral state of all things, ac - pendant arising, now go back, “And because I have intro duced cording to Buddhism, Taoism, millions of years to when the many of my peo ple to Bud dhism.... Bon and many oth ers of the en- Earth was a molten rock. Now, What is my merit?” light en ment schools. For ex am- where is that flower? How did it ple, the es sence of fa mous Heart orig i nate? Be cause its here, now, The Bodhidharma replied Su tra of Bud dhism says, “form right un der your nose! Or as the sharply, “None at all” is empti ness, empti ness is say in Zen “Show me your orig i- form”. So, what does that mean nal face before you were born, The Emperor contin ued,"Tell you may well ask? Well leav ing now speak”! O.K! So, if you me then, what is the es sence of aside for the moment modern haven’t given up by now, and Buddhism?" Phys ics, with its in abil ity to find gone down the pub. Lets just anything “solid” in the Uni - look at why on earth we should “Vast Empti ness” said the verse, we must try to un der stand bother with what to many peo - Bodhidharma it, sim ply by ob ser va tion. As it COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 2 The Em peror re torted, “If all is signed help people to reach an Universe arise. Accord ing to vast empti ness. Then who are en lighten states of wis dom and East ern thought this ground, al - you?” compas sion, the very oppo site though “Empty” has the qual ity the Sam u rai’s goal. They knew of “Clarity” and “Lumi nos ity”. “I don’t know,”said the that should they be able to Also called “Clear” and Bodhidharma as he turned on achieve a state of empti ness in “Light”. In Tibetan Bon and his heels and left. battle, they would be come in - Bud dhism this is called Kunzhi, vin ci ble. We have also to treat the Mother of all exis tence. In The old sage was fearless be - empti ness as an obtain able Chi nese “The Tao” The es sence cause of his view of emp ti ness. goal/state, and not just as some of Kunzhi is emp ti ness. It is un- exotic theory. Reaching an un - limited, abso lute space; within In a Martial conflict, what derstand ing will bring about a it ex ist no con cepts, no en ti ties, would be your great est ob struc- to tally new feel ing of re lax ation no inher ent exis tence of any tion, your great est bar rier, even and men tal well-be ing, which in kind, and it has no bound aries. after years of training? You turn, will re lease a great deal of may well find it is the very thing energy. This new feeling of This empty space seems ex ter- that’s been lurk ing in both your wholeness will reflect in your nal to us, the empty space that con scious mind, and also in the prac tice, which will cease to be objects inhabit, and the empty (so called) sub con scious mind. something to be achieved, a space of the mind. Even hard to Un less you have re ally worked goal to be reach, but in stead you compre hend is that this ground on your self, you will find fear is will find that you will practice or Kunzhi has nei ther in side or there, wait ing for you. In a con- for it’s own sake. outside, cannot be said to exist flict, in an instant, you will or not ex ist (be cause it is empty) freeze, stiffen, slow down and for it is real ity itself. It is not start to doubt your own abil ity. said to be lim it less, nor can it be The Base or Ground destroyed, because it has never Here we should ask why? Well, been born. Language used to we will be looking at the con - of all be ing: describe it is neces sar ily par a- flict from a solid centre , the ego, dox i cal, since this ground is be- and the self. We see this self as a Lets go back to that flower, how yond dual ism and concept. sepa rate entity, sepa rate from did it arise, and where did it Therefore, it is un con di tioned all that now surrounds us. And come from? First lets look at and cannot be known by the in that sep a ra tion from all that the three levels of ex is tence as con di tioned(mind) is, we be come vulner a ble. described by the Taoist and Whereas, if we see the con fu- Buddhist systems, firstly we The clar ity or light as pect of the sion that we have cre ated by this have Jing, Chi, and Shen and in ground is pure aware ness, so we idea of me, of I, of a sepa rate the Buddhist, Dharmakaya, have the in sep a ra ble unity of self, then even in a dif fi cult sit u- Sambhogakaya, and emp ti ness and clar ity. a tion we can re main calm. Why Nirmanakaya or Body, Speech is this? Be cause there is no you, and Mind. Very simply these Now I will quote from the book and therefore no enemy. Only words relate to the Space, in called “The Tibetan Yoga’s of appro pri ate ac tion, un im peded, which things man i fest. The En- Dream and Sleep” byTenzin spon ta ne ous, and in stant. ergy by which they mani fest, Wangal Rinpoche, because this and the solid Man i fes ta tions is such a bril liant ex pla na tion of Ask your self why the Sam u rai, themselves. So the empty a vital, but very diffi cult sub - (who, at the end of the day were space, in which the flower can ject. no more than hired, pro fes- man i fest, is referred to as the sional kill ers), should adopt the Ground or Source in which all When the sun goes down in the Zen Buddhist techniques of the im per ma nent (things) of the evening, we say that darkness medi ta tion, which, are de - falls. This is darkness from COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 3 the perceiver’s point of view. tient being reflects the light of con tin ued, “Do you mean to tell Space is al ways clear and per va- primor dial awareness and its me af ter com ing all this way, all sive, it does not change when poten tial is displayed in either these hard ships, and al most los- the sun rises or sets; there is not the pro jec tions of the mind, or in ing my life” then gather ing his dark space and light space. It is the pure light of primor dial breath, he shouted “All you can only dark or light for us the aware ness. tell me is that life is just a bowl perceiver. The darkness takes of cher ries?” The old yogi look place in space but does not af - It is in ter est ing to note the up, raised his eyebrows, and fect the space. When the lamp names of the last four Wudang said, “Do you mean it is n’t?” of aware ness is lit, the space of Forms: Form number nine is the ground, the base, is il lu mi- called Wu- (emp ti ness), form Recom mended Read - nated for us, but it was never ten is called The Still form (only dark. The darkness was the re - through still ness can emp ti ness ing: sult of obscurations; our aware- be realised ) form eleven The ness was entan gled in the Prena tal Form (Prena tal is the The Ti betan Yogas of Dream dark ness of the ig no rant mind. in sep a ra bil ity of Emp ti ness and and Sleep by Tenzin Wangal clarity) and finally The Fin - Rinpoche. Mind and Matter: ishing Form. Dzgochen is of ten The Bliss of In ner Fire by Lama called The Great Comple tion. Thubten Yeshe With out doubt this has been the Doing Noth ing by Ste ven Har ri- The essence of both mind and most diffi cult of all subjects to son mat ter is the base, so why does try and write about, I just hope it Blackfoot Physics By F.David matter lack awareness? Why has not added too much to the Peat can sen tient be ings be come en- con fu sion. So I’ll leave you on a The Awaken ing of Intel li gence light ened and mat ter can not? In lighter note: by J Krishnamurti Dzgochen(Tibet’s system of Journey into Vastness by Metaphysics and Yoga, simi lar A seeker after truth trekked for Ngakpa Chogyam in many ways to Tao ism, for ex- many years through the jun gles Imag ine all the People by The ample, the Yoga of Dzgochen and mountains to try find a Dalai Lama re sem bles ) we explain highly realised Yogi, so that he Carefree Dignity by Tsoknyi this with a crys tal and a lump of could seek his ad vice on life. On Rinpoche coal. where the crystal rep re- this jour ney he en coun ter many Whole ness Lost and Whole ness sents mind and coal rep re sents dangers, and hardships, almost Regained by Herbert V. matter. lost his life several times. At Guenther last, he found the great yogi in a Lord of the Dance by Chagud When the sun shines, the coal, cave at the top of an almost in - Tulku even though drenched in light, acces si ble mountain. Weary Natu ral Great Perfec tion by can not ra di ate that light. It lacks and exhausted, he collapsed Nyoshul Khenpo the ca pac ity, just as mat ter lacks onto his hands and knees ask - Magic Dance by Thinley Norbu the re flec tive ca pac ity of in nate ing, “What is the mean ing of life Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse awareness. But when the sun - great yogi”? Without looking light reaches the crystal, it re - up the Yogi replied “Life my flects the light be cause it has the son is just a bowl of cherries” Tony can be con tacted at: With explod ing anger, the In nate ca pac ity to do so; that is seeker jumped to his feet, and [email protected] its nature. This capac ity man i- screamed “What!” as he kicked fests as displays of multi-hued and punched the cave wall in his Tel:01792 418808 light. Sim i larly, sen tient be ings tem per" What did you say?" have the capac ity of innate Staring fiercely at the yogi he Fax.01792 427888 awareness. The mind of a sen -

COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 4 Website:www.KunzhiChi.comnese Martial Arts Legends?

By Alex Yeo: Sin ga pore. di nary humans who trained them - These man u als have a common selves very well, like the Jap a nese theme though, that such skills are ninja. fast be com ing ex tinct. The last re- main ing masters who pos sess the just read Erle’s ar ti cle on Empty Simi larly, ‘legends’ such knowl edge are al ready dead, or are IForce. I have never seen it be - as dianmai (or dim-mak) dy ing, and the skills are not passed fore, on tape or in per son. What- on, mostly for the rea son that there are found to be re ally a ever I do know co mes from read ing is no one wor thy enough to pass the on this much hyped and debated sci ence, a very in ti mate skills to. sub ject. What Erle has writ ten knowl edge of the hu man makes a lot of sense, and I agree body and how to ma nip- the skills are not passed with him. How ever, I am still in - u late it on, mostly for the rea son clined to be lieve that it ac tu ally ex- that there is no one wor - ists. Simi larly, ‘legends’ such as thy enough to pass the dianmai (or dim-mak) are found to Let me ex plain. I am Chi nese, and I skills to. be re ally a sci ence, a very in ti mate grew up in a Chi nese so ci ety, com- knowl edge of the hu man body and plete with all its gongfu shows, Some his tor i cal re cords have men- how to ma nip u late it, and not some nov els, and bed-time sto ries. I tioned the loss of cer tain skills. I su per nat u ral thing we once have heard about all sorts of sto ries am not sur prised that our gen er a- thought it was. How ever, a per son of old martial arts heroes who tion is wit ness ing a repeat of his - still needs to train for decades be - could fly through the air or blow up tory. fore he can mas ter it. stones with a wave of their palms. Even right now, there is a local If such skills and mas ters do ex ist, Even then, I still read about sto ries drama show ing just that. why are they not publi cis ing it? of mas ters who can per form amaz- Well, dur ing the Cul tural Rev o lu- ing feats in mod ern times. For ex - For years I had thought that these tion, many masters were per se- ample, I have seen sto ries were true, and hey, almost cuted just for practis ing martial som er saulted over a sec ond storey ev ery boy friend I had when I was arts. It makes sense that they there- bal cony to the first floor, but an old young had fan ta sies about pos sess- fore kept their skills se cret. Tra di- man leaping over three stor eys to ing this or that shengong (roughly tionally too, mas ters don’t go land on the stone floor without a trans lated as very special martial around telling peo ple how good sin gle sound? art skill), es pe cially when we were they are. bul lied! Im pos si ble, you say? Well, how Therefore, I be lieve that empty about then leaping back up the Our age is an age of ‘re veal ing se- force, or what ever shengong, re - same dis tance? Yup, he just stood crets’. Just take a look in the book - ally do ex ist, but they could be on there and leapt straight up, that is, shops and you will find lots of the path to be com ing lost. How - accord ing to the wit nesses who books and maga zines claiming to ever, I also be lieve that many swore they ac tu ally saw it hap pen reveal secrets that have been so-called mas ters to day are, to put with their own eyes. closely guarded for gen er a tions, it sim ply, fakes. It takes a long time es pe cially in mar tial arts. Actually, to mas ter a skill, and true mas ters Ad di tionally, I have browsed these ‘secrets’ just show that the don’t go on road shows to tell peo - through many Chi nese mar tial arts leg end ary men of ages past who ple how good they are and boost books/man u als and there are some performed almost super nat u ral their egos! men tion of those leg end ary skills. feats are noth ing more than just or-

COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 5 However, I also believe I agree with what Erle said (para - that many so-called mas- phras ing it) that what we have in NEW VIDEO our hands right now is magic, ters to day are, to put it magic that can and will change our TITLES: simply, fakes. lives, if only we would just stick to it in stead of wast ing time run ning Any way, the Shaolin Tem ple is around look ing for quick-fix mag i- MTG206: said to pos sess a library that has, cal so lu tions. The 3 Energy Systems of the over the cen tu ries, col lected mar- Hu man Body. How to Use them tial arts man u als from all over the There is an old say ing – “when the and How to Ac ti vate them. known world. Assuming that the stu dent is ready, the mas ter will ap - li brary, and its con tents, is still in- pear.” I be lieve in the mar tial arts MTG207: tact, af ter all the wars and rev o lu- sto ries I grew up with, and I be - Lu-ch’an Form Cor rec- tions in China, perhaps, just lieve too that if I am meant to learn tions: Vol ume 1. per haps, those leg end ary skills are it, it will cross my path with out me re corded some where in there? hav ing to look for it. Un til then, my MTG208: pres ent art is good enough, and I’m Yang Lu-ch’an Form Cor rec- OK, so I be lieve the legend ary stick ing to it un til my ‘master’ tions Vol ume 2. skills exist, so what am I doing finds me. about it? Noth ing. MTG209: The Taijiquan that we have is good I have spent lots of time and money enough, master it and it will serve Yang Lu-ch’an Form Cor rec- in my lifetime searching for the you well. I don’t care if the leg ends tions Vol ume 3. best mar tial art, the orig i nal style, are proved to exist, or don’t exist. the ul ti mate what ever. It took me a The Taijiquan I prac tice right now MTG210: long time to realise that there is no is real, and it suits me fine. The leg - Yang Lu-ch’an Form Cor rec- point because what I have right ends can remain leg ends for all I tions Vol ume 4. now is more than enough. More care, al though I certainly don’t than I can hope to mas ter in my mind be ing able to leap right up to MTG211: life time. my sweet heart’s apart ment! Sudden Vio lence, Vol ume 8. Training Methods for Sudden It took me a long time to Alex is work ing upon be com ing our Vio lence. realise that there is no WTBA Rep re sen ta tive in Sin ga pore: point be cause what I Just as soon as he CAN leap up the 3 floors to his Lass’s apart ment! have right now is more than enough. More than Please Note: For Aus tra lia I can hope to master in only, the is an added G.S.T. To the price of the mag a- my life time zine sub scrip tion bring ing There will al ways be new ‘se crets’ the Austra lian Sub up to be ing re vealed. A very com pre hen- $Aust33.00 To tal. sive book on ’s style was finally available recently. I bought it, but it is un likely that I’ll try to learn his style in the near fu - ture, because if I keep changing styles, I’d only be come a jack of all trades but mas ter of none.

COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 6 Empty Force

By Erle Montaigue Well, I was disap pointed as I cause they WANT to believe! have seen much better circus And people always ‘see what tricks and more profes sion ally they want to see’. There is so done. Only a few attend ing the much emotional stuff hap pen- re ceived in my email box this demon stra tion were actu ally ing in some one’s body when an- week a message from some fooled by these dem on stra tions other person tells them that IShaolin based Martial Art with most be ing very skep ti cal. some thing weird will hap pen to system telling about some them when he waves his hand amaz ing video clips that I If you can not make a liv ing by etc., that as soon as they DO feel should see. The video clips teaching people simply how to something, ANY THING, they were about a US based ‘Mar tial defend themselves, then don’t! deem it to be because of what Artist’ who had just given a Why do people have to have the other person is doing to work shop in the UK. some super-natu ral powers in them! order to make a living from So, tenta tively, I spent some mar tial arts? The mar tial arts are There is another thing that just money to wait for these clips to very spe cial and mag i cal as they didn’t ring true about this par - down load. They show a per son are without all of the circus ticu lar demon stra tion. In every standing there in a rather vul - tricks. clip, the ‘doer’ took around one ner a ble posi tion with another to two minutes to have any per son stand ing some feet away If you cannot make a liv - empty force cause the stu dent to point ing his hand at him. A cou- ing by teach ing peo ple move. How ever in the so-called ple of minutes and the person knife attack, it was instant! So be ing pointed at be gins to sway simply how to de fend one would think that if some one and then moves forward! Most them selves, then don’t could instantly use ‘empty of the video clips were of this force’ on an attacker, that he type tak ing a cou ple of min utes I showed some of the clips to a would do it all the time. for the so-called ‘empty force’ friend of mine who is head of to work. How ever there was an- physi ol ogy at Sydney Uni ver- In ev ery instance, the other clip of a so-called knife at- sity. He came back with the an - per son hav ing empty swer that each time, the body tack. I say ‘so-called’ because force done on them, no self-re spect ing knifer would language and muscles being ever attack in that manner by used of the per son be ing pulled stands in the most vul- running at the attackee with an for ward or pushed back ward or ner a ble po si tion possi ble outstretched knife form a dis - downward, indi cated that he so that, of course after a tance of about 15 feet away! was using his own muscles ei - min ute or so in that po si- The attacker gets to where the ther consciously or sub-con - tion, there will be some empty force person is, the sciously to make this happen. empty force person moves his At one time, one of the clips body movement. body to the side thus avoiding claimed that the stu dent was be- the ‘attack’ and the knifer falls ing lifted up by the throat by the In every in stance, the person to the ground. The caption empty force. However, when having empty force done on reads, “A Knife Attacker is viewed, you actu ally see his them, stands in the most vul ner- thrown to the ground with out head mov ing down ward not up! a ble po si tion pos si ble so that, of touch ing him”. course after a minute or so in Most people who attend work - that po si tion, there will be some shops and sem i nars go there be- body move ment. In or der not to

COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 7 make the vis it ing dig ni tary look knife and must not touch me in You cannot use Qi power to stupid, the person having this any way! I will gladly give this move some one from a dis tance! done to him HAS to do some - money to any one who is able to Hu mans were not made that thing, so he uses this op por tu- dem on strate to me such ability way. And in most cases the nity to add to his body on me! However, all that have so-called ‘master’ is over - momen tum and liter ally either tried so far have not even been weight, obvi ously un healthy causes him self to fall for ward or able to move me one inch, they and has so much upper body backward. have often moved me to tears tension that even if they could though!! And thank good ness I do such things, the Qi would be The Skep ti cal So ci ety in have such stu dents who are also blocked in the upper body! An the USA and in deed skepti cal and who never play un healthy per son can not use Qi the game as no-one has ever to move people. If you cannot world wide have a stand- been able to move one of my use your own Qi to make you ing in vi ta tion to any one stu dents with out touch ing them. healthy, then what hope do you who is able to dem on- have of using any excess Qi to strate under sci en tific move people without touching con di tions any thing And even if such a person ex - them? And it must take a lot of isted who could move some one Qi do to that! So if your own Qi super-nat u ral: It has in some way, what kind of a is too busy trying to fix your never been taken! martial art asks someone to own body, then what hope do stand there for one min ute while you have? The Skepti cal Soci ety in the the empty force works! USA and indeed worldwide Qi can be used to heal others have a standing invi ta tion to I have seen these things over and your self and you can af fect anyone who is able to dem on- and over again. I guess there are the way some one’s body works strate under scien tific con di- many millions of gullible peo - by af fect ing the vari ous elec - tions anything super-natu ral. ple in the world who want to be- tro-magnetic flows in the body They will give $100,000 to any- lieve in some thing su per nat u ral to drain Qi etc. But you must be one who can do this. Now, be ing in the mar tial arts. And this co- very close to the per son and you able to move some one or throw mes about by people not wish - must touch their Magnetic them away or cause them to ing to put in the hard work flows. In order to do this you miss when they knife you would neces sary to simply be come must wipe your hands as close be clas si fied as be ing super-nat- good at a mar tial sys tem! Many to with out ac tu ally touch ing the ural! So why has no-one ever peo ple SEEM some what su per- body. So in order to do this of claimed their prize! And I also natu ral in their self-defence . course you must first of all be have a standing agreement for But it is simply that they have able to fight to de fend your self! $US1000.00 (which is all I can worked for thirty or forty years le gally af ford) that will be given train ing hard at the one mar tial To know if a teacher is true, to anyone who is able to move art in or der to get to where they firstly look at his eyes. Are they me so much as one inch with out are. Newcomers want to get it spar kling, healthy. Then look at touching me using so-called all in a cou ple of years, so when his body, how he holds the body. empty force. This has to of some one co mes along who tells Is his upper body tense, course be done un der sci en tific them that they can also move over-bulked. Is he overweight con di tions so that the per son do- people without touching them, and ob vi ously out of con di tion. ing it can not claim the prize be- almost instantly without hard Is he calm and friendly, con fi- cause my body moved to or fro training, they jump at it, hand - dent but not overly. Look at the as one’s body does standing in ing over their hard earned way he is bal anced or not. Is he such a po si tion for a log pe riod. money. bottom heavy (this is good). The per son must stand there and Does he have fa-jing (ex plo sive al low me to at tack him with a energy) in his punches or COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 8 other attacks? Can he knock ing tricks where even the cam - be known as they would be your arm off while punching a era man did not believe me above ego! And if you ever hand held mitt from only one when I ex plained that the sword asked one of these peo ple about inch away or even while touch- in the neck was only a trick. So I it, he/she would tell you ex actly ing the mitt with his fin ger-tips? told him that I could also teach what I am telling you now so How is his ego? him how to do it in 30 sec onds. that you would not waste most He held his breath but trusted of your life try ing for some thing On na tional TV, I have me to do it, and voila, the sword that was unat tain able! Like the burnt cot ton wool at ten was bending like a fishing rod story of Bud dha when he came paces us ing my ‘Qi’, I when I thrust it into his neck, not across a yogi sit ting by the river. a mark! Af ter one such dem on- He asked where he could get a have had a sharp sword stration and before I could ex - boat to go across. The yogi thrust into my neck and plain that they were all tricks, pointed to a boat and then said it bent causing no harm, one person in the audi ence that he had spent 60 years of his I have bro ken river asked that i do the sword in the life med i tat ing and now he was stones with one finger neck up against a wall without able to walk on water! Buddha any one hold ing the other end of simply said that it might have and walked on eggs! And the sword and sim ply thrust my been better to use the boat and I have ‘moved’ people own body for ward onto it! So I not waste one’s life when you with out touch ing them. did this with the same ef fect, the could be do ing more for peo ple All tricks! sword bending like a fishing rather than a very selfish rod! This last one takes some past-time! On national TV, I have burnt training and condi tion ing cotton wool at ten paces using though and I would not advise These cir cus tricks are my ‘Qi’, I have had a sharp anyone to try it! ALL getting peo ple away from sword thrust into my neck and it TRICKS!Healing someone form a distance is however, a the real meaning of the bent causing no harm, I have Martial Arts. broken river stones with one completely differ ent story! I fin ger and walked on eggs! I can have done some wonder ful kick one of my students in the healings on people by simply These circus tricks are getting groin with a very hard groin be ing there! Or by hav ing some- people away from the real kick and cause no dam age and I one simply phone me. Nothing mean ing of the Mar tial Arts. We have rubbed a piece of wood spe cial though, it’s all in the do mar tial arts firstly to get our- caus ing it to burn af ter one min- train ing and ev ery one has nat u- selves healthy, then to be able to ute and I have put out candles ral healing abili ties. But God defend ourselves and family us ing my ‘Qi’. I have had peo- did not make us so weak that we and lastly to be able to heal oth - ple punching and using knife could be pushed over from a ers of ill ness in mind and body. edge strikes to my neck and I dis tance! Nor can you ever use This takes lots of hard work. But have done the old chop-stick in Qi for ego in demon stra tion. along the way you gain so much the neck trick. I have had a Tae And af ter-all, that’s all it co mes from learning a real inter nal Kwon-do expert kick me full down to when people do these martial art rather than circus force into the solar plexus! tricks in public, just to show tricks! The quickest way to get However, at the end of it I al - how good they are or that they cir cus tricks is to pur chase them ways ex plain how the TRICK is have some kind of super-nat u ral from a shop in Tai wan that spe - done! Some re quire some train- power over other people that cial izes in such things. ing how ever, and also some ex- mere mor tals do not have! Any pertise but in the end they are people who would have these ALL tricks of phys ics, some are pow ers, would not be known! just cir cus tricks. Very con vinc- They would not NEED to let it

COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 9 THE SPINE FORCE OF .

By Paul Brecher their fist powered by their sur - combat skills, punches, kicks face mus cles in their up per body. etc but a fighter in a con flict will quite natu rally thrust a broken An in ter nal styl ist would have bottle into your neck, smash a am a martial artists, not a the muscles relaxed and be us - chair over your head or with a fighter, when I teach Tai Chi I ing the deep ten dons, sinew and concealed blade, stab you Iput the emphasise on mak ing liga ments and would be using through the heart. He will do peoples bodies stronger not on their hip bone rota tion as the these things because he has dam ag ing other peo ples bod ies. power behind the el bow that done them before and knows Fighters seem to me to be more was moving the fist. Also they they work, so to sur vive an en - concerned with taking other would be using Reverse Lower counter with a fighter we have peo ple apart and I am more con- Abdom i nal Breathing and ex - to make ev ery one of our strikes cerned with fix ing them. If some hale as they hit to gen er ate more count. We must put all the one has a weakness, illness or chi for the punch. power we can get in to the imbal ance I try to make them strike, and the more inter nal stron ger, healthier and more So ex ter nal styl ists are us ing a you go the more power you get. balanced. power source close to the fist and in ter nal styl ists have the or- I would still like to believe So this ar ti cle is for mar tial i gin of their punch closer to the that it is possi ble, even in a kill art ists, peo ple who through self cen tre of their body. or be killed sit u a tion, to hold on de fence training get self de vel- to some higher moral ground. op ment, not fighters who are So exter nal stylists are Wouldn’t it be great if when a keen to destroy the oppo nent. us ing a power source man tries to kill you by slash ing Fighters practice fighting by close to the fist and in - your throat instead of killing fight ing and they don’t need to him to try and survive, you do mar tial arts train ing. Mar tial ter nal styl ists have the could stun him, dis arm him, re - artists don’t fight and they do ori gin of their punch strain him, make a citi zens ar - need to train in the mar tial arts closer to the cen tre of rest and then hand him over to to be able to de fend them selves their body. the police to face justice in a against fight ers. court of law. We have to train the deeper in- We can split the mar tial arts up ter nal power of the body so that However in this worst case into two groups, the ones which we can pack a punch that will sce nario, when you are fight ing con cen trate more on wres tling, stop a seasoned fighter. He will for your life and the lives of your grap pling and throw ing and the not care whether he kills you or family and friends then maybe ones which emphasise striking. gets killed, he dose not mind be- you too need to grab a chair and Tai Chi Chuan is translated as ing hit and is to tally fo cused on do what ever is nec es sary to sur- The Yin Yang Fist and is one of repeat edly hitting you. He has vive, pro tect and win. the greatest striking systems no care for the con se quences of ever in vented. his actions and to stop him we Well if you cannot get your must make use of ev ery pos si ble hands on a weapon, then your We can fur ther split the strik- re source at our dis posal. hands have to be a weapon. The ing sys tems up into ex ter nal and bullet is powered by the gun - in ter nal. An exter nal stylist A mar tial art ists may be good pow der, the ar row is pow ered by would hit the oppo nent with in training at a wide vari ety of the bow. In Tai Chi the fist is powered by the Spine. There is

COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 10 noth ing more in the cen tre you a strange disas so ci a tion from lease the primi tive in hu man can get than the spine, it is in yourself takes place, something power of survival that is stored the middle of the middle and moves in the spine, like hot mer- in your spine. Is it jus ti fi able to the centre of the centre. The cury ris ing up a ther mom e ter, it be so ex treme in your re sponse? spine is where all our true spir i- rises up the spine and cre ates an Well if they kill you who will tual power comes from. When almost unbear able pressure in look af ter your wife and kids ? the spine is full of chi we have the rep tile brain at the top of the power, when it is not we are spine, it is this which then And when the ex plo sive ‘spineless’. makes the hair on the back of shockwave flows through you your neck stand on end and remem ber the call of the wild, Ear lier in this ar ti cle we got as your ears flatten against your do what the ani mal do, GO inter nal as the punch coming skull, a grim smile appear on FOR THE NECK. 90% of the from the hip and breath ing from your face and a mad glare in strikes in Tai Chi are to the neck the belly, well the hip turn co - your eyes. You want to leap at St 9, LI17, TW17, CV22, mes from the spine ro ta tion and the oppo nent like a tiger im - CV23, SI 16, GB 20, BL10, the deepest breathing one can pact ing with its prey, your hands TW16, TW17, GV 15, GV 16, do is spine breathing. So to be like claws want to rip his head Cupped palm to side of neck practis ing Tai Chi truly as the off. and cupped palm to back of most in ter nal mar tial art that it neck. These are the points that is we need to punch with our Your body is flooded must be hit with . With Fa Spine Power. with yang en ergy, you Jin from the Spine, Remem ber, TAI CHI IS FA JIN. All the sen - Would Tai Chi Spine Power defend by attack ing first, sations I have described so far en able a mar tial art ist to de feat you want to follow up are what should be happen ing a fighter, maybe, madly not, any- your at tack with an other to you when you do a series of way at the end of the day its the attack, something pri mal con tin u ous Fa jin strikes. per son not the style that wins or and in stinc tive takes looses. Ul ti mately the only way over. When I say Tai Chi I am of to de feat a fighter is to un leash course only re fer ring to The Old from within oneself the same Yang Style System of Yang Lu Your body is flooded with yang dor mant an i mal mad ness that a Chan and the Qi Disrup tion en ergy, you de fend by at tack ing fighter has easy ac cess to. System of Chang San Feng. first, you want to fol low up your When you do the Mother Ap - attack with another attack, This ter ri ble in hu man po ten- pli ca tions of the Small San Sau, something primal and in stinc- tial is then expressed not the Advanced Large San Sau tive takes over. Some one through tech niques but through and the Hid den Ap pli ca tions of wanted to kill you so some kind the Tai Chi WAY of doing The Pauchui Form and put of natu ral justice will now take things, it is a WAY of moving these into Peng Hinge Double place. Kill or be killed ? how to and most im por tantly a WAY of Fa Jin Rebound Combat Push jus tify this, well as they say, being. You are there but not Hands, then you get what Tai better to be taken in by two, there, you did something but Chi as a Mar tial Art is re ally all rather than car ried out by six. you don’t know what it was, af - about and will have a chance in ter you have done what you did, a fight at being the last one So when is it ok to lose your self you know it was you who did it, standing. to save yourself ? well if some but you weren’t there when it drugged up crimi nals armed happened. So here are the var i ous ways with knives and crow bars look- we can tap in to the spine power ing to maim and kill to get cash True Tai Chi Fa jin should re- in train ing. for their next fix at tack you. In lease the spirit power that lives this situ a tion you need to re - in the spine when this hap pens COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 11 First there is the Open ing and one large battery capa ble of re - If we re lease it with a heal ing Closing of the Spine on each leasing a very large charge. We feeling whilst in Three Circle posture, this begins as a visi ble do this by sink ing into into our Standing Chi Kung or in The movement but eventu ally be - lum ber ver te brae so that they all Old Yang Style Long Form comes an in ter nal en ergy move- con nect up to gether on cer tain (Which is really a huge Chi ment that we feel but can not be moves in the Old Yang Form. Kung Move ment, you are walk - seen, as if the whole body was Also we get a very pow er ful lum- ing around holding the Three breathing. bar spine compres sion for en - Circle Standing Chi Kung pos - ergy release when we do ‘The ture ) then there will be a trans - An other way is to have the C Sleeves Dancing Like Plumb forma tion of the spirit to a back ( this is a very aggres sive Blos soms’ se ries of move ments, higher level as it as cends up the pos ture), to begin with it is a both the rear leg heal stomp and spine, the spine must be straight physi cal shape but eventu ally the front leg slap step cause a and verti cal for the spirit to one must have a straight ver ti- lumber shock compres sion chi reach the head top. cal spine with just the feel ing as release. An other way of get ting if one were car ry ing a gi ant tor- this spine power is in the ad - One feels its pres ence on GV toise shell on ones back. vanced single and double 20 and the whole body emits Pushing hands, here it is your golden heal ing light en ergy. The This straight verti cal spine partner who compresses the trans for ma tion of the base spirit idea is essen tial to have for Fa lum bar area for you. into a higher spirit is wonder ful jin, the spine must be as straight and most ben e fi cial, it in creases as the trunk of a pine tree so that This straight verti cal ones human ity and promotes when we shake it all the spine idea is essen tial to the creation of con struc tive branches/leaves (arms/hands, have for Fa jin, endeavours and correct be hav- legs/feet) will also shake. iour. It also enables creative work to more eas ily evolve and Advanced spinal breathing And fi nally we can do a thing also increases the flow of uni - can be done when practis ing that is a feel ing, we imag ine that ver sal in for ma tion through you. The Old Yang Style Long Form the spine was a ver ti cal straight I feel that most of this ar ti cle is or in the Three Cir cle Stand ing steel bar which had been heated in for ma tion that came through Chi Kung pos ture. What we do up till it was white hot and glow- me rather than from me. is to increase the distance be - ing, ra di at ing heat out to the tween the verte brae as we in - whole of the rest of the body and Paul Brecher is the W.T.B.A. Se - hale and bring them closer then cool ing and the heat con - nior Instruc tor for London and together as we exhale, it feels denses into the core of the can be con tacted at like the spine is stretching to spine. This is syn chro nised with meet the ground and the sky your in hal ing and ex hal ing, the PO BOX 13219 and then com press ing to its cen- heat is not hot, it is bright, LON DON NW11 7WS tre. As it dose so a wave of spar- white, light chi. ENG LAND UK kling chi rushes down the arms to the finger tips. The healing All these are ways of tap ping [email protected] abil ity of this spi nal breath ing is into the spirit in the spine, the Tele phone 0181 264 8074 incred i ble (all the nerves that origi nal spirit lives in the coc - http://www.taiji.net con trol the whole body have cyx, sa crum and lum bar (par tic- their roots it the spine). u larly in GV 4) , as it is re leased it trav els up the spine. Now if we An other as pect of the spine is release it in a fight situ a tion the disc/ver te brae cou ples, they then it will acti vate our reptile are each like lit tle bat ter ies and brain as de scribed ear lier. we can join them all up to form COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 12 Being a Long-Distance Video Student

person on an annual basis for dif fi cult to make prog ress un less the first few years after I began you ac tu ally prac tice ev ery day. by Mi chael Babin study ing his cur ric u lum. From what I have been able to Based on my ex pe ri ence as well see in discus sions with people as talking to many people, be - over the years, most of the be - or those who were hoping ginners aswell as expe ri enced gin ners who buy such a tape will that I had re tired from writ- mar tial art ists; I would like to of- become discour aged with their Fing about fer some advice on being a progress or bored by having to long-dis tance stu dent: moti vate them selves to prac tice dif fer ent as pects of taiji on a per- on their own and never finish manent basis — and not just I acknowl edge that you may learn ing the form. taken a short sabbat i cal — well be an incip i ent genius or sorry. perhaps the rein car na tion of Ex pe ri enced mar tial art- Yang Lu-Chan or Dong Hai ists tend to pur chase a There’s been a real ex plo sion in Chuan. However, if you are a the last few years in the quan tity be gin ner, you should still buy a vari ety of advanced vid- and quality of videos available tape that is aimed at the basic eos and watch them once for self-in struc tion and this has level of the form or method you or twice to compare been a blessing for those who want to learn! - can’t find compe tent in struc- styles or to get a super fi tion in their geograph ical area. How ever, if you are a be- cial un der stand ing of Bear ing in mind that it is al ways ginner, you should still what is be ing taught; prefer a ble to learn in person rarely will they prac tice from a qual i fied in struc tor, it has buy a tape that is aimed what they see with any been my expe ri ence that Erle’s at the basic level of the vid eos are a valid way to learn if form or method you pa tience or disci pline you approach them with some want to learn! disci pline. Begin ners with previ ous hard-style martial arts or I had been doing a tradi tional yoga/dance expe ri ence can of - yang style of tai chi for ten years ten learn the physi cal move - and teaching it for five when I I rec om mend watching the ments rela tively quickly; but first met Erle in 1990 and also whole tape through at least be ing able to do the pos tures on had the bene fit of a decade of once be fore try ing to copy any of a techni cal level is only part of expe ri ence in a vari ety of hard the physi cal methods shown what the inter nal arts is all styles. De spite this, I still found and then teach yourself only about. Your devel op ment is it dif fi cult to teach my self ac cu- one pos ture per week un til you problem atic if your atti tude re - rately from his videos as the have the whole form/training mains: “I can do this form all forms and methods were very method. the way through now, what do I dif fer ent and supe rior to those learn next!? that I had been learned in the Un less it is a very sim ple set, it past. I would prob a bly have may take months be fore you can Ex pe ri enced mar tial art ists tend struggle through the entire to purchase a vari ety of ad - given-up if I had n’t had the op- thing; much less do it well. As vanced videos and watch them por tu nity to study with him in with any kind of training, it is once or twice to compare COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 13 styles or to get a su per fi cial un- Erle on the video only to dis - and John Kavanagh in the Irish derstand ing of what is being cover that you are “way-off” in Repub lic, among many others, taught; rarely will they practice your inter pre ta tion. If I had a can work to improve their al - what they see with any pa tience dol lar for ev ery time that I have ready con sid er able skills and be or dis ci pline — more of ten they watched one of Erle’s vid eos af- deserv ing members of the will assume that the training ter not looking at it for a few WTBA. It is unfor tu nate that method shown is “too easy” or months and seen something there are also just as many peo - “just like the deadly nos tril lock that I missed on previ ous ple out there buy ing a few vid eos that I practised ten years ago viewings — I’d have a lot of dol- and learn ing a form su per fi cially when I was studying the art of lars! who then go on to claim to be Au then tic Ninjitsu Ka rate Taiji Erle’s equal or to have in vented Death Blows in which I was a It is also true that you quite of - the forms/meth ods themselves. 20th grade Plat i num Sash”. ten don’t observe details of Like any other aspect of life, movement and body me chan ics there is a good and a bad side to More than once I have talked to until you have made enough the wealth of ma te rial that Erle some one who iden ti fied him self progress to “see” the subtle as has made available to long-dis- as an ex pe ri enced mar tial art ist opposed to the gross details. tance stu dents like my self. who owned many of Erle’s vid - Such prog ress is usu ally the fruit eos and when dis cuss ing var i ous of years of hard work. Good luck with your train ing. as pects of the forms/meth ods, it became clear that they had It is also true that you never re ally stud ied the ma te rial quite of ten don’t observe discussed. It bears repeat ing And Wel come Back Mi chael, I am that HAVING A CABINET details of move ment and sure that most of our readers will FULL OF VIDEOS IS USE - body me chan ics un til be chuffed that you are again us ing LESS IF YOU DON”T PLAY you have made enough your consid er able talents to THEM REPEATEDLY AND enahnce our lives through these PRACTICE WHAT YOU SEE prog ress to “see” the sub- pages. AND THEN COR RECT tle as opposed to the WHAT YOU AL READY gross de tails THINK YOU KNOW! Oh, and by the way, if you are The Best, and rarest, approach teaching yourself the martial is to pick one sys tem, whether it stuff — it’s a good idea to have a be qigong, tai chi, pa-kua or qi training partner with the same disrup tion and then take your amount of ap ti tude and in ter est time over a num ber of years — as yourself. You can’t learn to ac tu ally dar ing to learn the ba sic make any self-defence method forms first and then prog ress to work able if you only ever prac- the more advanced ways of ap - tise by yourself — no matter proach ing them; and, most im - how hard you punch a portant of all, actu ally visit ing makiwara or heavy bag or how Erle or one of his ac cred ited in- well or fast you can do a form. structors peri od i cally to im - prove your un der stand ing of I think that Erle has done the tai what that you have taught your- chi world a great ser vice by putt- self. Speaking from bitter ex pe- ing out much “good oil” so that rience, it is easy to convince people like Al Krych in the yourself that you are doing the USA, Tony Court in the UK pos ture or method ex actly like COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 14 WTBA NEWS

he WTBA’s annual week And Morne Swanepoel be came Year 2001 we will be hold ing the long camp was held again the WTBA’s repre sen ta tive fro an nual camp back at our nor mal Tat MT Warning, NSW Zimba bwe. Caitanya time of Sep tem ber with a cut-off with around 100 attend ing Nrsima-Das be came our Rep re- date for enrol ment of the 15th again from all parts of the world. sen ta tive for Vene zuela while of June 2001. We will continue Andrain Inchauspe be came our with the Yang Lu-ch’an cor rec- This year we con cen trated upon Rep re sen ta tive for Ar gen tina. tions along with anything else The Old Yang Style cor rec tions that needs to be covered like as the backdrop and also man - And Keith Brown was up graded push hands and Baguazhang cir - aged to get through be it, to Instruc tor 4th degree. Keith cu lar form. roughly, the last three Qi Dis - has worked so hard over the past rup tive katas! 20 or so years to at tain this high Our New Zea land lot have held level. a wonder ful camp which I am All who attended agreed that told was the best ever with many this was def i nitely the best camp A sad note though. Willie new students attend ing. And ever. And those newcom ers to Blumears, our rep re sen ta tive for Pe ter Jones in Wales has held his the WTBA’s way of do ing things Africa has just lost his son in a annual WTBA camp with a were all pleas antly sur prised. plane crash! I am sure that all of great re sponse. I have re ceived a your thought will be with he and number of emails and letters The food was ex cel lent being his fam ily at this time. with glow ing re ports. provided by Mause, Rob, Vicky and Lau rel. And again, Rob and And on an other sad note, Kevin Our weekend camps are going Mause ran the whole ‘show’ Brennan, the Edi tor of well once per month. Rob and flaw lessly. Australasian Fighting Arts Mause have upgraded their fa - Mag a zine, has also lost his son in cility to now include an Aussie There were a few new in struc- a car crash. He was only 17! out back loo and a large un der- tors cer tif i cates given and up - cover area etc. These weekend grades handed out. Mike camps are be com ing more pop - Kanewski from the UK re ceived u lar as peo ple dis cover them. his first instruc tor’s certif i cate.

Some of the at ten dees of Camp 2000

COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 15 The Slowest Martial Arts

I said in pre vi ous ar ti cles there must be The very same thing is with a push Jim Marincic a bap tism of fire so to speak. hands, ev ery move ment “must” be ex - e cuted,ex. “Pang ,Lu,Un,Ge” with out t has been a month now since the Vi o lence is and al ways will be a part of this move ments, push hands is use less, Icamp 2000, a very in ter est ing time I our lives and if we would like to feel se- of course there is a many push hands must say. Some peo ple I knew from cure, now this is very nice and pos i tive tech niques but this is one of them and pre vi ous time in 1997 and we are a at ti tude to have, but does it work? I it is a ba sic. good friends by now. It was a the most pre sume, and as lots of new age peo ple in for ma tion packed time I have had in thinks in this days is, think pos i tively, We all start from ba sics and that gives a long time. My old brain could not wrap you self in white light and sur - us a strong foun da tions in our fur ther cope with all this new ma te rial so I will round you self with a bub ble for pro- prac tice. The won der ful “Ta-Lu” that have to get the tapes from Erle later in tec tion, then of course is the best way is where you find a pos i tive step ping the date. Need less to say, we all come to stay where you are and prac tice a ,which are so im por tant part of your back south and back to ba sics. It took a shadow box ing. But as we all know the mar tial train ing,I per son ally did not few weeks to wait for dust to set tle so shad ows are get ting lon ger for a most see any peo ple at the camp train ing in back to prac tice, push hands, Small of us every day and the days to part “Ta-Lu”. And of course, don’t forget San-Sau, Pau-Chui, Ta-Lu with the with this world is get ting nigh. “Pau- Chui” to un der stand this art is to great est of joy to find out how lit tle we “Master” every technique in it the knew about it. This sur prised me the form sin gle or dou ble must “flow” and most, as we all know that be jointed per fectly with out any mis - The most in ter est ing is a Small accu racy and timing is haps and ap pli ca tions must be spot on San-Sau where lots of people claim the “De-Mak” points and this of that one must prac tice in such a way, the most im por tant topic course is the pinna cle in that at no time at all one should touch in De-Mak . “Tai-Chi-Chuan” a la Old Yang style. the De- Mak points whilst prac tic ing Look fel lows, I am not a vi o lent man, I with op po nent. This sur prised me the So what do you want from this for mi- am 61 years of age(still in a good most, as we all know that ac cu racy and da ble “skill” that you call “Tai-Chi”? shape) hus band of 34 years to still my tim ing is the most im por tant topic in Why we are here? Why do we prac tice only lov ing wife and fa ther of my two De-Mak . We all know that by the first a “De-Mak?” Why practice a love li est daugh ters who are so soft and open ing numbers,Rt. punch to the “Small-San Sau”? Now, in my opin ion, and lov able it would melt your heart head, Lt. and Rt. again, one must prac - and I don't think it counts as much, if and in no way able to pro tect them tice the cor rect de fend ing ap pli ca tion. you hap pened to prac tice in a wrong selves in any given vio lent sit u a tion way or a use ful way, then you are wast- and some times it wor ries me, how can Since it is up to de fender to prac tice ing you time. If, by the open ing num- you teach a per son who has no vi o lent and be come skill ful in the course of ber, by ex am ple the de fender is not streak in him, how to pro tect them - repe ti tion by punch thrower. This way per form ing the right actions, that selves hope that they would never had of practice is how ever the only way means to touch the points of to and that is all that we can all hope know that “Tai -Chi” could be use ful as “De-Mak”, ST9 or caratus si nus, then for for ev ery body’s sake. As I said, I up - a mar tial art. In due time one can in - you missed your point so to speak. The set few peo ple in the camp and for that crease the com bi na tion of punches at in struc tor should have enough skills to I am truly sorry, but it hap pened and ran dom and then of course it de pends pull back a strik ing hand not to in jure there is no way that one can prove any on the cour age of de fender to de vel - or se ri ously harm the per son, but the fight ing skills with out ac tion, even if oped his or hers skills to a fur ther lev - hand “Must ”reach the tar get!! That “Tai-Chi” is the slow est of all mar tial els.There is no easier way, I wish it hap pens only with long time of prac- arts.—— Happy train ing Jim. would have been, but un for tu nately as tice and under stand ing how the “Fa-Jing” works. COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 16 Tom Jones and the fa-jing hip-swing .

By Paul Dunbar book on anat omy. Nothing ing against each other to special, just a simple dictio - avoid ex ces sive strain on the ll the usual claims of un- nary / encyclopaedia kind of ball and socket joint, then at worthi ness and apol o- thing, and it hit me that what some point in the joint’s Agies to those who know we are dealing with is a move ment the lig a ments this stuff already should be bunch of elas tic bands work- must be in equi lib rium or in a taken for granted. ing in oppo si tion to each balanced situ a tion. If this other. were not the case then the My taiji has taken me from a hip would continue to rotate dull and unre mark able in di- Let me explain. There are, or flex until the whole thing vidual to a dull and unre - basi cally, three tendons, or just un-screwed it self. markable indi vid ual with liga ments, that control the something to talk about in movement of the hip joint – The trick now is to find that about 4-5 years or so. I have that is the ball and socket of balance point. This is where taken it upon myself to write the fe mur (thigh bone) and we, as stu dents, need to do a a book about how to get pelvis (hip bone). These are bit of work. Take up a nat u ral through the Yang Cheng-fu the ischiofemoral, bow stance and get com fort- form without having to take illiofemoral, and the able. With the weight for - the usual 2-3 years. The pubofemoral lig a ments. ward, the hips are more or book is be ing writ ten early in Keep read ing, this is not a bi- less square on to the front. my taiji ca reer so that I do not ology lesson; I stop the With the weight on the back loose sight of how a be gin ner technobabble right here! foot and the rear knee bent actu ally goes through the These each attach be tween correctly, the hips will rotate learning process. The book, the thigh bone and the pelvis out to the out side an gle. This currently without a title or in such a way as to control is all basic stuff so far. Now prospec tive pub lisher, will the move ment of the joint take the weight for ward and con tain de tailed de scrip tions and stop it from moving too turn out the front toes as to of how to get into each of the far and so caus ing the joint to make a posi tions, tabu lated descrip - fail through dis lo ca tion. brush-knee-twist-step move - tions to act as aide mem oir’s ment. As the weight travels to the form and dia grams. It stands to rea son then for ward and the back foot be- But as we all know, there are that if all these lig a - gins to lift, the waist will want some things you just can’t to turn outward. Allow the ments are working get from a book. So I started trail ing foot to re main in con- writ ing down the de scrip tions against each other to tact with the floor for as long I give to my stu dents that ap- avoid ex ces sive strain on as pos si ble, then as the rear pear to work best for them. the ball and socket joint, foot is raised, the hips move My classes are full of this then at some point in the out to be come square with kind of thing. joint’s movement the lig - the sup port ing foot. aments must be in equi - Trying to get across to peo - Clear as mud, yes? Right ple the concept of fa-jing is lib rium or in a bal anced then. The hips, when re - like try ing to eat por ridge with sit u a tion. laxed, will al ways find a bal - a gar den fork. I had al most ance point which makes given up on this when I found It stands to rea son then that if them dead square with the myself looking through a all these lig a ments are work- toes of the sup port ing foot. It COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 17 is like a ‘sweet spot’ where the working together and resolve in er tia to get started again. The hips are ac tu ally set tled and no the bal ance is sue by form ing a re laxed body will do the job for effort is needed to keep them kind of aver aged out posi tion us. Sec ondly, with the in er tia there. Try it place one foot to - where both hips have an equal broken, we can bring about a ward north. Imag ine a steel rod amount of tor sion, or ro ta tional, more rapid accel er a tion of the pushed through the hips run - strain. Try this as well, pref er a- follow ing move. Ac cel er a tion is ning left to right. This rod will be bly with Tom Jones songs play - what we are look ing for in aligned west to east. Turn the ing in the back ground. (You will fa-jing, any thing which holds us support ing foot toward west. see what I mean when you try back is to be avoided. Think, a The imagined rod now runs it!) car will ac cel er ate faster from south to north. 30-60mph than it does from The whole rebound thing was 0-30mph. It is the same dif fer- It only works if the body, and initially mentioned to me some en tial; the differ ence is that in specif i cally the hips are re - time ago be fore I be gan train ing go ing from 30-60mph the ob ject laxed. with Erle Montaigue and his (the car) is already mov ing to merry lit tle band, but I could not start with. While you are stand ing there on quite grasp the technique. The one foot with this bit of text in re bound also gives taijiquan its In reg u lar taiji training at your hand, as you do, gently ro- char ac ter is tic roll ing move ment that lovely slow pace that tate the body over the hip and where the body ap pears to be in ev ery one ‘knows’ taiji to allow it to move back to it’s constant change. I have read square posi tion again. Ei ther arti cles in past journals that be about, use the re- way works so try both. If the leg men tion ‘clos ing the move ment’ bound to add that ex tra gets sore, change the foot you or ‘com plet ing the move’. This bit of pa nache to the are stand ing on. While do ing seems to do it for me. I have form. It should be there this, you will notice a slight re - found lit tle ex tra po si tions within any way so al low it to bound from one side to the the standard form where I can other. It feels like there is some com fort ably fit that elusive hap pen. kind of shock ab sorber work ing miss ing breath which oc ca sion- to avoid the hip just roll ing ally leaves you gasp ing for air or In reg u lar taiji train ing at that around down there. fill ing like a bal loon. lovely slow pace that every one ‘knows’ taiji to be about, use the The fact is, the shock ab sorber re bound to add that ex tra bit of The re bound also gives pa nache to the form. It should is there and it is the tendons I taijiquan its char ac ter is- be there any way so allow it to was just talk ing about. They are tic roll ing move ment act ing as a group of elas tic hap pen. In fa-jing, use the re - bands, try ing to bring the hips where the body ap pears bound to produce the kind of back to a com fort able po si tion. to be in con stant change. speed that does not re quire any exter nal sound effects… it As one ten don pulls the hip one way it will in vari ably pull just a Now, this lit tle re bound we have makes itself heard all on it’s lit tle too far. So the cor re spond- been cul ti vat ing for the past few own! ing ten don, which is now be ing minutes has some wondrous extended, pulls the move ment impli ca tions. When the body So to find that ex tra bit of ad van- tage when re leas ing fa-jing, back. The rock ing and roll ing needs to change direc tion, we mo tion only lasts for one or two would expect to have to stop think relaxed hips, think re - re bounds but it is there. first, then get started again. bound, think no in er tia, think… Using the rebound we negate Tom Jones! If you have both feet on the the need to exert any ef fort in floor, the same thing happens. stop ping and then break ing the The ten dons of both legs be gin COM BAT & HEALING PAGE 18