Tong Zi Liao

Dai Mei means Belt Channel and is a very important point at the lower part of the body. It is located in a straight line down from the end of the eleventh rib and is horizontally level with the navel. This point can help stomachache, blood circulation,  tension  and  women’s menstrual pains.

Huan Tiao means Circular Jump. This means when you press hard on these points,your whole body will jump. Huan Tiao belongs to the Gall Bladder Channel and is good for arthritis, numbness in the legs, backache. It is particularly good for the lower part of the body.

Ming Men means the Gate of Life and is a very important point for our life. It is related to the Du Channel and is located at the lower back, directly opposite the Dantien. It is good for the kidneys and energy and backache.

Update on 5/12/2012

The Yintang point is located on the forehead and is a very important point. It is also called the Sky-eye and the Upper Dantien. In our bodies we have three Dantiens. The Lower Dantien, which is connected to the Qihai point, and the Middle Dantien which is connected to the Shanzhong point. The Yintang point is connected to the Upper Dantien and does not belong to any of the acupuncture channels. It is an extraordinary point which is related the brain and thinking. When we practice Qigong we never concentrate on this point as it is too sensitive. If you concentrate and bring the Qi to this point, you can easily feel pressure because the Qi stays there. It will take the Qi a long time to sink. If this point is opened, however, then you may be able to see the color of Qi and people’s channels and internal organs. This is a level many Qigong practitioners want to reach. When we practice Qigong, though we never think about the Sky-eye to try and open it. Instead, we stimulate it with the movements.

“Hegu” means connected valleys. When you open your hand, the acupuncture point is located between the thumb and the index finger. So it is look likes a valley, connected by the two fingers. The Hegu point belongs to the Large Intestine Channel which is also related to the Lung Channel. If you have a problem with these organs, you can rub the Hegu points to make you feel better. These points are also good for toothache, sore throats, headaches, a blocked nose, stomach-ache and high blood pressure.

“Laogong“ means “Laboured Palace”. It is located in the middle of the palm. When you close your fingers, the point where the tip of the middle finger touches the palm is the Laogong point. The Laogong point is used a lot for Qi transmission as this point is the strongest for emitting Qi. This is because it is on the Pericardium channel, which is related to the heart and protects it. The Laogong point is good for maintaining heat, especially in winter. When it is cold you can close your hands to keep your body warm. You feel much warmer because you are closing the Laogong point. The Laogong point is also good for calming the mind, relieving nausea and clearing bad smells in the mouth.

“Shenshu” means “Kidney Shu”. “Shu” means that Qi goes to that particular area more strongly. The Shenshu point is on the Urinary Bladder Channel. The Urinary Bladder is related to the Kidneys. When this point is stimulated, it is good for kidney problems, low energy, tiredness, stress, backache, women’s menstrual problems as well as sounds and pains in the ear.

“Quepen“(also known as Supraclavicular Fossa) means “Broken Plate”. It is located in the deep area behind the collar bone. When you touch this point you can feel the pulse. The Quepen point is related to the Stomach Channel and is good for breathing problems and coughing. In Qigong practice, we close the five fingers to stimulate the Quepen Point.

“Yingxiang” means “Welcome the Fragrance”. These points are located on either side of the nose. They are used for smelling. They are used in treatment of blocked sinuses, loss of smell and an itchy and swollen face. When you practise, after meditation you rub, or wash, your face with your hands, starting from the sides of the nose, with the index fingers touching the Yingxiang points.

(to be updated again within a week)

We cannot treat our teacher as one who is there to service us. We are not customers but students and we have to consider how much he has given us by teaching us skill that it has taken him many years of study to learn

When I first began studying Qigong, I had little concept of what it meant to study with a traditional Chinese teacher. I thought that I knew all about respect. However, it was the Western concept that I knew, not Chinese. I soon realised that I knew nothing about the respect that one pays to a teacher. I am ashamed and embarrassed to admit it now, but I even questioned my teacher about one of his rules on the very first night of meeting him. Knowing what I know now, I was lucky that he did not stop me from coming to any future classes.

For those having been brought up in the west, we often have the idea that we go to a class and pay a fee for a service rendered. It is actually much more complex than this and with a good teacher you become part of a family of people who are interested in learning the same thing. Over the months and finally years, I found that the persons with whom I have studied have indeed become my family. Our hearts are the same. We all respect our teacher as a father and he in turn looks at us as his children.

This is not something new in China but dates back over hundreds of generations when a martial art or other skills were kept in one’s family. I observe new people coming to class and see how much they enjoy not only learning traditional Chinese skill but also the atmosphere of the people in the class. I also see how people in the classes change as their knowledge of the skill progresses. I do not only mean physical changes but changes in their nature. They become calmer, more grounded. It is rare that a “bad” student will stay. It is like anything, like will follow like. Those who do not stay find that their heart does not quite fit and so they leave to find another teacher or class to suit their ways.

I have realized that the study of any traditional Chinese skill does not only consist of learning the art itself but of morality and principle. I have learned this through listening to lectures at my teacher’s seminars, listening to him talk amongst his students at a meal and also by watching my fellow students and how they behave. In the west, we often approach a martial arts or Qigong class with the attitude that we are there to learn a series of movements and nothing more. It is much more than this, however. We cannot treat our teacher as one who is there to service us. We are not customers but students and we have to consider how much he has given us by teaching us skill that it has taken him many years of study to learn. Our teacher is not there to sell his skill. We should pay for our lessons out of respect.

Traditionally, a student would give their teacher Lai See,a red envelope containing money. I he teacher never had to ask for this. It was given because this was what was right and proper. I recently met with a Chinese master who had been invited to the West for a seminar. This master was offered only half of the seminar proceedings and had to pay all of his own expenses besides. I find that the organizers are not truly interested in helping to promote good skill but rather business people wanting to make money from someone else’s reputation. This is happening more and more. One only has to look at the Internet to see Chinese masters being promoted all around the world. Of course not everyone means to does not just mean calling your teacher “Sifu”. It means treating your teacher like a father and listening to what he says, doing what he says, even if you feel he may be being too strict or tough with you. A part of respect is loyalty and this should be through both bitter times and sweet.

This can be especially hard for westerners to accept as we often have too much pride. We have been nurtured to think that we are all individuals and special in our own right. We do not easily accept criticism and often our instinct upon receiving some is to fight back and defend ourselves. Sometimes the reaction can be even more severe with the person cutting the relationship completely. We have not been raised with the concept of yin and
yang and that of balance and so we often approach things with the attitude of things being totally black and white, right or wrong. Life is rarely like this and is more often grey, somewhere in between. The Chinese have a wonderful concept of letting another person have enough space to recover themselves, more conurn mis known as saving face. The night I questioned my teacher, he was rightly quite angry with me but instead of telling
me to leave, he explained the situation and allowed me face. He never said to me how foolish I was by questioning him although certainly in looking back, I was just that.

Sometimes we think that we are the one who is helping our teacher by coming to class and paying our fees. For instance, if we did not pay our teacher, then he would not have work so we are helping him by coming to class. Who is helping whom, though? We come to a teacher’s class like an unfilled cup and leave overflowing. As we practise Qigong we find our illnesses going away. Can we really put a price on our health?

I recently watched an American program in which the foreman of a closed American automotive factory traveled to Japan to entice a car company thereto reopen the factory in his town. This auto factory was this town’s major source of employment and when it closed, most of the people there became unemployed. The Japanese company agreed to reopen the factory and in the beginning the workers were grateful, even if their salaries had been reduced and they were working longer hours. Soon, however, they became discontented and did not like to do the things they were told to do in order to improve efficiency. They wanted things back they way they were before the Japanese took over. I saw how pride blinded these people and how quickly their gratitude died. The Chinese have a saying, “From sleeping on the street, I let you sleep on my floor. Now you ask for a blanket.” Many students feel they are
doing their teacher a favor, however, really it is the other way around.

Good skill comes from a good teacher and a good teacher does not just know good skill. He also knows about sacrifice, duty and morality. If a person’s heart is not good then their skill will be limited. Having a good heart means the mind is balanced and that this person can look at things clearly. This person could also be said to have learned the arts of Martial Arts.

by Tse Sin Kei

Qi is like a dam, it is holding back the cancer cells from growing

“You have only two months to live,” the doctor told the patient who had been diagnosed with cancer. That is a very scary sentence. Who can be calm to accept it. Cancer is a very serious illness and considered an incurable disease. In Western medicine, cancer patients will have chemotherapy and radio therapy, even operations to get rid of the cancer.

They believe that by using strong chemicals, drugs or operations, that the cancer cells can be either killed or cut out. However, no one can guarantee that the cancer cells will not grow again somewhere else. Lately, I have been treating many cancer patients, most all of whom who have already had chemotherapy treatment or operations or both. So after the Qigong treatment, when I have finished working on the acupuncture points and channels and ransmitting Qi, they find they all look good and feel better. However, if the patient is still having chemo-therapy or taking other medicines, then the body uses the energy from the treatment and the Qi gathered from their own Qigong practice to try and cleanse the body of toxins (including the medicine) and negative energy. So when I next see the patient they often look tired and are weak again.

Therefore I always prefer that they either stop or complete the Western treatment before I treat them. Otherwise it wastes the energy. Also, from my experience, many people who have chemotherapy or operations, will have problems again later in a few years time, and this time it will be even more serious. However, I see that Qigong can help. It is used widely as a treatment for cancer in China, helping the patient fight the problem by building up more Qi through the exercise and relaxation. When you practice Qigong, your body becomes stronger. Actually our bodies are not that weak and doing Qigong brings up the Qi so that you can stand the cancer growing.

Firstly, however, as your Qi becomes stronger, the cancer cells will stop growing. This means that you will not be tired and weak. More practice can improve the blood circulation and make the internal organs strong. Even the problem areas will be stronger. If your body has very fresh blood then it maintains the good condition of other areas in the body. In addition, the spirit will be strong so that the body can easily fight the cancer. The problem area will begin to heal and hard lumps will become softer and eventually disappear as the cells become normal again. But during Qigong treatment and practice, the patient must have enough patience to continue their practice every day, even if on somedays they feel weak or depressed. On these days they can do less but must not miss the practice completely.

The Qi from practice is like a dam, it is holding back the cancer cells from growing. It is also fighting to overcome them as well. Your body is relying on the Qi rather than strong medicine or operations. This is quite the opposite of Western medicine which relies on these conventional therapies. However, these same drugs or operations can damage healthy parts of the body as well. They can also make the patient weaker and weaker until eventually they cannot survive. The cancer grows too fast for the body to fight.

In my experience, however, positive results can be had through the practise of Qigong if the patient is diligent in their practice and does not give up but keeps fighting.

by Michael Tse

I have had a lot of experience of doing Feng Shui surveys of people’s houses. I have found that a lot of people only consider how big the inside of their houses are and miss- what-is-outside in the surrounding environment..

The entrance of the house is very important and in fact the quality of the entrance is equal to how good the house is. When looking for a house, we usually would like to have enough space at the front. Sometimes you can see big houses that have a fountain in front and have enough space for cars to come in and drive round in a circular way. Sometimes these houses have a mountain behind. These houses are usually good as they have enough space to let the energy come in. Things do not feel tight.

Unfortunately, I see many houses that have problems. These problems arise because no one has considered the entrance, only the inside. You find many houses that open directly onto the street. When you step out the door you step straight onto the street, this is more like a shop. In this kind of house, the people will feel very tight, and in terms of finances, they will have no money left, no matter how hard they work.

So it is very important to have enough space for the entrance of your house. Another bad situation can arise when suddenly you have road works directly in front of your house. Even if your house has enough space in front, this will not be good for your health. However, this situation you cannot really avoid. You can only wait for them to finish.

There might be a corner of another building pointing at your entrance and this also is not good. It will affect your health and you may even be prone to having accidents.

I once came across a family who lived in a very nice detached house. The husband had just had a promotion at work. His children were growing up and he had more money to spend so they decided to look for another house. Eventually they found a house which was much bigger than the one they were living in. The ground floor belonged to other people, and their part covered the 1st and 2nd floors, and so they would have enough space for the children. After they had made the final decision to buy, they asked a friend about Feng Shui as they did not know anything about it. I had already checked their friend’s office, so he told them to contact me.

When I saw their new house I said, “Although this flat is very big, your entrance is not at the front of the building, it is at the back. To get in you need to come to the back of the house. This means you will not take the best energy; you will only get the second energy, which might be negative energy.” He was afraid when I told him this. What could he do, he had already bought the flat. I suggested that he break down some of the wall and so make the back entrance bigger. Then it would look like there were two entrances to the building, one at the front and one at the back.

Unfortunately, he could not do this as it would effect the structure of the building. Afterwards, he lost his position at work and his son had an accident. In some situations we really cannot do that much, and it may that the best solution is to move to another place.

However, there are sometimes things that one can do to improve the Feng Shui. If you find your entrance is facing a corner, a flyover or facing other houses (i.e. your door faces another door), then you should put outside your door, a pair of stone lions or dogs-facing outwards. If you cannot do that, then you can put some thing in your windows, like a plant which is high enough to block the view, or a windmill which moves and circulates the energy, even a mirror that faces out will help. You need something to fight against the negative energy so that you do not take all of it.

Whenever you buy a house, check the entrance and make sure it has a good position and view as it will effect your future.

by Michael Tse

I wish I could tell of secret skills but I can’t. It is also not to say that there are no advanced techniques in Taiji Chen, there most certainly are and they are very effective, but I still say that they are largely irrelevant. Very few people persevere long enough to learn intermediate skills let alone advanced ones. There is no point teaching an advanced skill until the basic skills have been mastered. Learning Taiji is like climbing a ladder.

Some people may be able to take two steps at a time or even jump from the ground to the third or fourth step, but very few people could jump straight to the top of the ladder. If they could they would not need the ladder anyway. The most important things that you need to know about Chen Taiji will almost always have been taught to you on your first ever lesson. In fact it seems to take most people several years to take on board what they should have learned in their first lesson.

The first thing that you do in the first lesson or any subsequent lesson is a series of warm up exercises. The first warm up exercise is a twisting movement. You stand upright with the legs slightly bent and twist the spine. This movement is one of the foundations of the entire Chen system. It forms the basis of the spiraling energy that finds full expression in the forms. The spiral enables you to evade attacks. It allows you to apply your body weight to an attack without committing it. To my knowledge the spiral is unique to Chen. It is what gives Chen its distinct character. The more you understand the spiral and how to apply it, the more you will appreciate the clarity of principle in Chen. Chen as a system is so well constructed that it is frightening to think of the level of genius necessary to have conceived and refined it. It is easy to understand why many people have sought to ascribe semi-divine origins to taiji.

Following the warm up are five horse stance exercises. These are the most basic level of the internal training of Chen Taiji. For the first couple of years these horse stance exercises should be amongst the most important things in your daily practice. Although the forms will gradually help you to develop your leg strength, it is the horse stance training that will do most to develop the legs and improve your form. You should expect it to take several years of daily practice to become comfortable in horse stance. Without this fundamental work your form will look poor, your stances will be weak and ineffectual and you will never be physically able to make an advanced technique work no matter how many times you are shown. The importance of diligent practice can never be emphasized enough.

This is one of the reasons that I say that advanced techniques are largely irrelevant. If you have not put in the work to develop a firm foundation, then no technique will be of much use to you. However, if your foundation is good, then you should be able to make even the most basic of techniques work for you. Strong legs and the spiraling energy are just two of the foundations that you will have been shown how to develop in your first lesson. The third and final thing that I shall mention is perhaps the most important. When you start the form you will be told to do two things – “bend your knees and relax“. Learning to relax in the form is arguably the most important lesson to be learnt. It is certainly the most persistent problem that almost everyone seems to have. Tense, stiff movements are among the commonest faults with forms. Tense, stiff movements make a form look ugly. Yet they seem to be integral to the way most arts are taught outside of China, which is a shame because they are also potentially very damaging to your health. Tension is also one of the most common faults in pushing hands. Tension creates blockages in practitioners’ movements as they struggle for dominance. It is often more useful to lose at push hands so that you can learn which postures place you in a position of weakness and danger. Once you have eradicated these postures you will find that you will not have to struggle so much and that when people use force against you, it just creates difficulties for themselves.

The first lesson of Chen Taiji will give the seeds of the entire system. Whether you learn the lesson or not is up to you, but you cannot advance far unless you do.

by Glen Gossling

Believe it or not, there are people who practise Qigong and taiji for many years, but still they are not healthy. There are on the other hand those who practise everyday and are very healthy, even though they do not practise for hours and hours. How can this be?

Qigong is a powerful thing. Many times I have seen people rid themselves of serious health problems. Some of them have even been told by their doctor that there is nothing more to be done and they should ‘learn to live with it‘. On being told this, some people accept the situation as hopeless, whereas others refuse to give up and find a way.

When they start Qigong, they are often quite skeptical, but feeling they have nothing to lose, they give it a go. Over the weeks, they continue to practise, and as they keep coming to class, you get to know them a little more, and occasionally stop for a little chat. Eventually you forget they were really ill or in severe discomfort until they say how much better they feel. Then you notice how happy they are. Perhaps their fight is not over, but now they can see things are not hopeless and that there is a way for them to recover. You can imagine how they feel. Cases like this always amaze me. On the other hand, there are people who say “I wasn’t feeling very well, so I didn’t practise.” I am sure many of you will see the irony in this. Do you think the same people say, ‘Oh I was too ill to take my medicine’?

Joking aside, you can understand why people feel like this. Usually they are quite new to Qigong. To them Qigong is something they are learning, and it is hard. Learning new movements is hard and perfecting already learnt ones is even harder. When they go to class they look around at all those senior students who seem to go through countless exercises effortlessly, whereas they sweat and struggle. Comparing their own movements, they feel everything is wrong, and perhaps it is better not to practise when it is wrong in case you do more harm than good. If you do feel like this, then the first thing you need to do is relax, and do not worry so much. If you are studying with a good teacher then he or she will not let you practise so incorrectly that it is going to hurt you. If there is any risk then the teacher will tell you and keep a careful eye on you. That is why you go to them.

Secondly, when you are feeling weak, you don’t have to go through an entire form. It is not the case of if you do not take all the pills in the bottle, then you will not get better. The main purpose of Qigong is to open your meridians and acupuncture points and allow the Qi to flow cleanly. You do not have to go through an entire exercise to do this. It is true that different movements stimulate you body in different ways, and that these different types of movement will help you to develop further. But when you are so weak that you cannot face doing any exercise, you should not think of developing yourself to the highest level, you should think of making yourself better. As you learn different movements, you will notice how they make you feel. Everyone has their favourite movement. Usually it is a movement that makes you feel good. If it makes you feel good, then it is doing you good. Then you will notice moving in one way makes your back feel better, or moving another way makes your chest feel clearer and so on.

So now when you are ill, you can just do certain movements that make you feel better or help the part which hurts. In fact, you do not even have to do movements you were taught, as long as you relax and move in a similar way you will feel better. You may even just have to jump up and down and wave your arms around. What you are now doing is moving in a more spontaneous manner (there is actually a type of Qigong exercise which is wholly based on being spontaneous). You are now actually using what you have learned, and while it may not cure you instantly, it will help you recover more quickly. All you need to do is move, and do not think about the hours you have to spend going over your exercises. Of course, you can practise to develop yourself, but first think about being healthy, because without this first step you will not get very far.

by Darryl Moy

When Shaolin Temple is perceived its picture through a Kungfu (Panda?) movie, most likely in the knowledge of a typical moviegoer it’s the Shaolin Temple located on Five Peaks Mountain, Songshan, Henan Province. Nevertheless, did you know that during the Yuan Dynasty the abbot of this Shaolin Temple, Fo Yu, also built five other Shaolin Temples in five different provinces : He Lin, Lou Yang, Xi An, Tai Yuan and Ji Xian.

Not long after his works were done, he was given permission to build more and he was said to have built more than ten temples. Unfortunately, to this day, none of them has been found or the trace of evidence to their existence has been buried in the mountains. All. Except the one in Fo Jian Quan Zhou, that was built around 874-879 BC.

Historic records reveals certain incidents happened to this Shaolin Temple multiple times. First it was gutted by fire twice, fortunately during the late Ming Dynasty in approx ~ 1435, it was repaired and enlarged. Since that mark of time, the Temple developed very quickly. When the Ming Dynasty came to its end and the Qing took over, Shaolin Temple gave shelter to of the many people across the country, who wanted to escape the society system that they had to live in. Because of how Shaolin Temple’s teaching, it earned trust and faith from the suffering people at that time. Thus the aforementioned Abbot, Zhi Shan (or or Gee Sin) had a strong status in society and he knew many important people. The abbot also had very high level martial arts skills and knew many different styles.

Southern Shaolin Temple became the place where many martial arts gathered to protest or fought against the Qing Gov’t as they took an oath of “Rebel against Qing and reinstate Ming”. As people believed on Shaolin Temple could help them to defend against the new Gov’t, thus it led to the end of the Southern Shaolin Temple itself.

Ma Hing Er, one of the monks within the Temple betrayed them to the Qing military. When the swords were drawn, a large and well armed army was sent to attack the temple at midnight. Ma Hing Er set fire to the temple, creating the chaos battle internally and externally. Eventually, unable to defend and protect what meant most to them, all the monks began to fall one after another. However, Five monks who were very highly skilled in Martial Arts were able to escape. They knew they were the only hope for the life of Shaolin’s teaching and wisdom, therefore they had to take the choice to leave the fight. These five Elders were Mew Hing, Ng Mui, Bak Mei, Fung Doe Duk and the Abbot, Zhi Shan. The ancestors of Southern Shaolin Temple were the true legends as they maintained the most respectable martial arts and wisdom for us, the descendants who still fight the same fight to protect what are good of life.

Mew Hing taught the arts of 18 Lohan Palms System.
Bak Mei, also known in the U.S as Pai Mei, continued to teach the powerful arts of Shaolin Fists

Fung Doe Duk settled in Mountain Daoist Temple where he gained a wealth of knowledge about ancient internal arts and self-preservation (Qigong). He created the powerful internal system of kungfu called White Tiger.

As for grandmaster Ng Mui, she took shelted in Foushan mountain near a small village. The moment she witnessed a fight between a white crane and a snake, it became the birth of the new Softened White Crane martial arts. Ng Mui taught this arts to a young girl in the village, who was in trouble with a group of gang. She learned  very quickly and Ng Mui decided to give permission to the young girl to name the martial arts after her, Yip Wing Chun.

According to history, before Southern Shaolin Temple was attacked, Abbot Zhi Shan created Eight Treasures Fist by taking three treasures from heaven, The Sun, the Moon and the Stars, and three treasures from man, Jing, Qi and Shen to combined them with self-defense and Hard Qigong.

This martial arts is strong, pure power and deadly. However, with his wisdom of internal arts, Zhi Shan separated the techniques into both Yin and Yang training. In the beginning, Eight Treasures Fist was developed in South Shaolin and it was not permitted to teach to anyone else outside the Yong Chun Room. The Yong Chun Room was a special Hall where high level monks used to train their skills.

I do not know how this arts was introduced to my old master and how he learned it, but it was not taught to the public until many years later when Hu Hui Gan (who studied from Abbot Zhi Shan) traveled west into the country side to Fo Jian Xi Chan Temple and started to teach Eight Treasures Fist to the public. Now you have gained another history knowledge of one of the very legendary martial arts that is left by the Ancestors of Shaolin. I do not write the method of training this Hard Qigong here due to several reasons, first and most importantly is because you may damage your Qi. You could find the instruction else, but again, it’s not safe to practice unless you have a teacher who knows it well to study with!

Paul Luong

Those who read many of the US Martial Arts magazines will know what I am saying when I say that the focus within the general Shorin Ryu community is on the Hakutsuru kata (Crane forms). This would be fine if this focus was directly proportionate to the place that Hakutsuru holds within our system. Because the Hakutsuru is the last kata within our system, it is unfortunately considered the ultimate, and that by studying this kata one will become advanced much quicker.

Well in my opinion this is trying to run before you can crawl.

Our system is made up of Naihanchi (2), Passai (2), Chinto, Rohai, Gojushiho, Kusanku, and Hakutsuru. All of these kata complement each other with concepts being learned within one kata, then reflecting through in the others.

I learned the ground gripping techniques (with the toes) from Naihanchi, and now practice this throughout the whole system. I learned many of the seated and ground work techniques from Gojushiho and Kusanku, which combined with the techniques of Naihanchi, Chinto, and Passai, are a great complement to each other. Our Hakutsuru is a kata that was formed from the best of our other kata, not the other kata as a preliminary to the Hakutsuru ONLY.

By training in a more advanced kata, your earlier kata should improve with the techniques that you learned in the new.

. . . We should not concentrate on the bunkai of an individual kata, but the bunkai of the whole system, which mixes and draws from our kata to achieve a limitless system.

Keep in mind that our Hakutsuru is from our other kata, and that the movements and methods learned within Hakutsuru will reflect back through the kata that formed it, while the theories that we learned in the earlier kata assist us in understanding the Hakutsuru.

Soken Sensei didn’t learn kata first. He learned to step correctly, then kata. After training (twice daily) for 10 years he then began to learn Hakutsuru. Not after 10 years of casual practice, or even 20 years of causal practice.

How can we then expect to obtain the same degree of proficiency without the mastery of the kata that were drawn upon to create Hakutsuru?

We cannot expect to have a full understanding of Hakutsuru without a full understanding of our other kata.

Steve Watson
To contact Mr. Watson, email: watto@midcoast.com.au

If a conversation is taking place about the Qi phenomenons and supernatural Elements, a typical person usually believes it is something related to the Eastern supertitious or religions.The word Qi or Ch’i (pronouced chee) in which has been explained in nearly every one of my articles that talks about the practice of Qigong. For every attempt of giving it a proper definition, Qi comes under a different translation or interpretation.

Knowledge of Qi does not limit only to the word itself but has been spanned more than 3000 years old of the oriental civilizations. Qi, also called Vital Energy or Bio-Energy, is a phenomenon that has drawn much attention in the West for the recent years. Acupunture, too, is now commonly known and there is hardly a doctor anywhere who has not spent some time looking into it. However, both of these works bring along doubts. Modern science pronouces the phenomenon of Qi medical and physical investigation.

The original ideogram for Qi in its root should be rendered as “Vapor” in English. It has also been known at “Vital Energy” or “Vitality” in reference to my Qigong fellows. But Qi is very closely associated with breath (though it would be better to say that breath contains Qi). Chinese is not the only Eastern culture that has been aware of Qi, other cultures have given Qi the other names as well: Hindus call it prama, Pacific Islanders refer as mana, the Tibetans rlung (means Wind), Hebrews ruach (wind) and even the ancient Greek called it pneuma (spirit, wind). Qi is similar to how electricity flowing through a metal wire and it can generate heat or work or energy, but in fact none of these energy could identify Qi, or Yin Qi to be specific.

Our body, our world and life and everything in our surrounds, there are two types of Qi energy exist. They are called Yin and Yang Qi. Each of the component creates the interaction between one another that makes life possible. Our bodies are briefly capable of storing both pure yang and pure yin Qi in different areas, though this state of nonquilibrium is subject to entropy ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_%28information_theory%29 ).

The questions remain is what kind of energy is Qi ? Is Yin a negative pole while Yang a positive pole in an electricity current? Clinical investigation in medical laboratories seems to indicate that the electrical resistance of the skin changes markedly at acupunture points. There are “electrical acupunture machines” that make use of this phenomenon to locate the points for neophytes. This is an indication that Qi and voltage are somehow inversely related. However, Qi displays neither voltage nor amperage; rather it is an entirely different phenomenon, based on very different forces. Innate Yin and Yang Qi in human body are limited under certain amount and are stored by the size of the Dantien. These two opposite energies can never meet. They normally run parallel to each other, yet never letting go of one another. By itself, Yang Qi cannot pass the limits of the body without sufficient amount of Yin. Some of us are born with a greater amount of Yin Yang Qi therefore they can bend spoons, levitate items, predict events in future, etc…how and why? because Yin is the only energy that can overcome, penetrate or take control of the strong and solid characteristic of Yang objects. We will discuss about Yin energy in a different time, in this article we learn about the Yang energy, healing colors and energy systems in the body.

Yang energy, if anything to describe such force, it should be the solar energy stored in our earth’s asmostphere. Yang energy is created by nature. Yang energy is hot, pure and if to be seen Indonesian Qigong master John Chan’s demonstration, it has the blue color. Yang energy has the capability of incendiary effects, as evidenced by the pyrogenesis demonstrations. In one of the cancer treatments by John Chan*, he successfully used an overdose of Yang Qi to dry up the cancer cells as they were exposed to strong beam power. While three of patients were instantly cured and still alive today, the other four died on the spot, their weakened frames unable to endure the blast of energy. Sometimes, it is the Will of heaven that every single life on earth must follow.

Nevetheless, practicing Qigong means we are getting closer to nature, delaying the aging process and leading a healthier life. Another importance skill gained from practicing Qigong is the ability to heal other people. Before taking the step deeper into the techniques, we must understand how the human body has different energy systems that circulate in every major organ system. A blockage in one organ often indicates blockages in other organs within the same energy system. Each energy system or channel also responds favorably to various colors. Knowing the relationship of our internal organs is very important for the healing process to be effective.

Five Internal Organs

Paul Luong — 2010

*John Chang is a Qigong Master whose story has been told in the book called Magus of Java

…Aug 24th

“What’s time is it?” , “9:26 pm”

…Aug 25th

“What’s time is it?” , “9:05 pm”

“Wow today is the past of yesterday!” — “What are you talking about??”

My friend was completely puzzled from my random response… as usual. And you, what do you think of time? or our world? ..yes, the physical world that our continual knowledge believes in, despite the fact that Hindus, Incas, Buddhist, Daoist, Mayas and many other ancient civilizations regarded the whole “world” as an illusion. How much can we truly ‘know’ for certain?

Weird..my pizza should have arrived by now

Some people, or theories postulate that there is no past and future but only the present. Isn’t it time like a river that each one of us either swims, floats, boats, or drowns in? We can embark and disembark at different points but it is all just the same river. Another example requires more work or imagination if you don’t have the tool: if you look through a lens at a holographic dish the entire hologram can be viewed at any point. Therefore, similarly, the universe is present at every point in time, and the past and future are likewise, present.

When was the last time you watch a video clip on youtube or a TV show? Technically there are just images lined up one after another in the interval of one second. Each second one screen comprises twenty four frames of celluloid film. Each frame, or moment, is a separate but complete piece of action that is perfectly still; There is nothing enters or leaves the frame, or appears or disappears. In the theater, the projector slides the frames past the lens rapidly so that the action onscreen creates the illusion of motion…

In our daily waking lives the thinking mind we own, sees everything constantly in motion and changing continuously just like the projector lens, but the still mind registers the present, which is like holding the film up to the light and looking at individual frame. Then the whole world’s movement stops and every moment is infinitely still and complete. There is no time, and nothing appears or disappears. You lose the still mind by following your conceptual thinking, which it believes that this is real.

The present moment is used simply to distinguish the past from the future. However, it is very difficult to pinpoint this very moment, because since a fraction of a second before the present moment exists in the past while a fraction after it lies in the future. The second one attempt to capture the present moment by exclaiming “Now!” as soon as the world is uttered, are already in the past. Both past and future depends on the present but we experience only the present. Only in the present are we really alive, as the past has already happened and the future has not yet arrived. Heard about World End 2012? If the sun were to explode right now we would not know about it for another eight minutes, as that is how long it takes for the lights to reach us from the sun. Then…then the Hercules constellation is 27,000 light years, which means that we see it as it appeared 27,000 years ago, before the first ever human city, or the invention of the bow and arrow! ..Then you see, the light from distant stars may take millions of years to reach us, so we actually just know how the stars looked in the past but not their present status.

Hercules Constellation

A week ago my girl friend and I went to the movie downtown Silverspring. She went to the second floor of the Majestic Theater waiting, while I was on the road making an attempt to cross the street to Chick-a-fil-a, hoping for success smuggling in the theater some chickens. We had a phone conversation while I was walking back. The traffic was bad, or at least in my field of view. Yet the traffic I was seeing was purely my own judgment of present. The traffic having passed out of my view is the past, and that which is yet to appear in the future. Suddenly, she told there was a fire truck heading on my crossing line and I should be careful. She also made astoundingly accurate predictions regarding the make and color of some cars approaching out of view. If I was not to know she was upstairs looking the theater windows, I would have been tempted to think it’s a supernatural skill or Divine being, when in reality it is just her several floors up with a much greater view of the street. Her present includes part of what I see as the past and future; she is also reading my future from my present. Higher up, at the roof top of the building, where there is an even greater view (symbolic of higher consciousness), future and present cease to be and there is only the present. From my limited perspective, at street-level, there appeared to be a past and future but it’s all just one and the same…

Time is connected to space and is relative to how fast an object travels through space. Ay yay yay I hate physics, maybe you do too. Let’s think of a simple fact to avoid confusion even though I’m quite sure you are in the middle of some right now. As we begin to reach the speed of light, time slows down, and when we become to the speed of light time becomes stationary… Or other word froze. So, in theory at least, travelling faster than the speed of light then we should be able to travel backwards in time. However, according to Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, as we approach the speed of light the whole universe becomes concentrated into an infinitely thing consequently infinitely dense barrier in the direction in which we are travelling. The force of friction would increase accordingly so it is nearly impossible for an object to actually reach the speed of light. The physical world can be thus defined by space and time, but what happens when the consciousness is removed from the physical world ? … For my friends or anyone who knows about yin and yang, what if we enter the yin world, the world of unconsciousness whereas the boundaries of yang world no longer exist, where would we be? Where would we go? …And why we exist?

In the realm far, far beyond the gravitation of the earth (known to me as the pure Yin energy) where time does not exist, you cannot know which was yesterday, or today, or tomorrow. When time is gone, the future and past also go. There is only eternity. In eternity there is no yesterday and tomorrow, it is just here…and now.

Paul Luong — 2010

Last semester was a great solid training for all of the disciples in my Karate class at MC. Sensei put up many outstanding excercises for everyone, and we love each one of those workouts wholeheartedly. When the second term of the year started we welcome new comers, along with friends of our friends who love to join us for a lesson or two. Sometimes people came for their credit requirement, some came because they have an enthusiam for martial arts, and sometimes they come to learn new experience of what they studied some where before. Back then when I was in Vietnam, that reminds me of an person who came for the very same reason, but the intention was so much different.

I studied some martial arts with an old man, named Mr.An, who lived close to my house. He was a security guard for a nearby elementary school at night and apparently, he spent his whole life living a simple happy life without any fancy material possessions. To us, he was weird and creepy but as a teacher he was a great man. One day my friend and I were practicing in his back garden while Mr.An was busy teaching other students. In the mid afternoon, a person we did not recognize came in through the gate and stood by the hall. We presumed he was a prospective student as often many people came hoping to be accepted into the class. Mr.An nodded to me, telling me to go and greet the visitor. With a bright smile, I went over to say hello. “I would like to study with your teacher.” Said the stranger. This was not a problem as our class was open to anyone. I told the man this and politely explained how the class ran and how we were taught.

After a few minutes the man said, “I have studied some Qigong exercises before.” I politely enquired, “What sort of exercises were they?” The man slowly replied, “They were quite simple, some Standing Positions. I have been learning for 3 years but I would really like to have a teacher.” That questioned my curiosity and so I asked, “Who do you study that with?” The man smiled and said, “I found a book in the store and have been following it.” As my friend, Tuan overheard this conversation, he came over as well to greet the man. The visitor smiled again and said “Hello”.

“Standing postures are very simple and there is not too much you can do wrong.” Said the man confidently. Tuan had to patch up the idea because sometimes the basics c

ould be wrongly executed, too; thus he replied, “You still need to be careful as you can still make mistakes”. “I’ve been doing it for three years though” said the man puffing up his chest slightly. “Maybe so, but just because something seems simple, it does not mean that it is simple. Simple things are often the most difficult to reach”, Tuan explained. “Yes but…” started the man, “Please sit down and watch the rest of the class of you like.” interupted Tuan. “Erm, yes OK.” said the man taking a seat and with that Tuan walked off to me and we carried on practicing.

After ten minutes or about, the man asked me what the different people were doing. Some were practicing Qigong and some were doing forms. “Oh, I want to learn those” said the man pointing. “I would also like to learn that one as well” he continued pointing to another groupd of students across the yard. I just smiled.

Towards the end of the class the man told me, “I think I will stick with the Qigong I have. I feel good doing it. I would like to learn some of the martial arts though. I have also studied some for five years and so I have a good background.” Again I asked, “Where did you study?” and the man replied, “I have a book.” I said goodbye and the man left.

After the class had finished we were tidying up the training yard. Mr. An came over to us and said, “What did you think of him?” he asked. Tuan replied, “I don’t think he will come back.” Mr. An looked at Tuan, “And why do you think that?” he asked. “We he came looking for a teacher, but at the same time he thought that what he knew was so good. He only studied from a book and so it means he thought he is very clever and would not listen to any advice, so how can he learn? After a few minutes I did not want to talk to him anymore. Was I wrong”

Mr.An smiled and said, “Many people do not know how to talk to others. Some people are rude and do not even greet you properly, introduce themselves and thank others for their time. Sometimes though you find these people are OK, they are just naive and have never been taught how to address people. The important thing is they are honest and respect what you do.

Other people however, have a high opinion of themselves and think that they are very clever or gifted.. They say things to make themselves feel good and do not care about the effects of their words on other people. They can upset people easily and do not even realise it. These people are arrogant and ignorant and sometimes dangerous.

Actually, you were already teaching him by saying what you did, but he was too arrogant to accept what you were saying and too ignorant to notice you were trying to help him. In the end you were right not talk to him anymore, as he was not ready to listen to you. He said he has been studying his Qigong for three years but really he has been reading the same book for three years.

He did not come here to study, he just wanted to pick something interesting up, like the books he found at the store. But we are not bookstore and do not bartter and sell our skills. A lot of people do not realise this.”

I said, “Su phu, should I have spoken to him differently?” Mr.An smiled and said, “No you were right to be polite and explain, your job was to greet people and make them feel comfortable. You give them space to decide, everyone will eventually find their own way. But of course, if they can make their decision we can also make our decision: this makes everything fair.”

Paul Luong- 2010