Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

I'm reading a great book -- American Shaolin by Matthew Polly. He went to China to study kung-fu at the Shaolin Temple. The book is a very interesting account of his adventure.

The Shaolin monk who "drew the short straw" and had to teach Matthew his first form didn't act as if teaching the American was a chore. It's funny to read about the monk going through ten moves of the form then stopping, trying to remember the next move. He sheepishly told Matthew that he hadn't taught the form in a while.

The monks at the Shaolin Temple don't think a lot of Americans. The monks spend 6 months to a year practicing basic moves over and over before they learn their first form. Americans, they believe, don't have the patience to become really good at a technique or a form before moving on.

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar. Anyone? Bueller?

There is a quote attributed to a Taijiquan master, who used to ask his students, "Do you want to learn quality or do you want to learn quickly?"

You ...

My favorite martial arts weapons are swords--broadswords or straight swords. I also love the elk horn knives because of their versatility in blocking, catching, and cutting.

One of the concepts that many beginning students misinterpret (and they carry this misinterpretation on their backs for decades) is something I was told a couple of decades ago, too -- that you should "extend your chi" through the blade of a sword.

The impression that all of us beginning students were given was that this mystical, invisible energy actually goes out of our hands and through the sword. If we can't achieve that, we just aren't using our chi properly.

Let me put this concept into a more realistic frame of reference. When you perform techniques with a sword, you're not extending some mystical energy through the sword--you're using it as an extention of your body, with the same body mechanics applied as in the empty-hand forms that you do. In other words, the ground path, peng jin, whole-body moveme...

When I first started studying Chen tai chi, I kept hearing the name of Chen Xiaowang and how good he was. One night, I was having a holiday party with my students, and we put a video on TV showing several different martial artists performing. I looked over at one point and saw the most beautiful tai chi form I'd ever seen.

Who is that guy, I wondered. I later found out it was Chen Xiaowang. It's still the best example of tai chi I've ever seen. It's from 1988 when he was in his early to mid-40's. There is so much information in this form that you could study it for a lifetime and learn new things.

I was practicing push hands in the park yesterday with my friend, Douglas Nakamoto. He has learned from some excellent Chen teachers and has excellent insights into body mechanics. We were testing each other and then working out the body mechanics of handling an opponent's push, and we began discussing the concept of "maintaining your integrity."

There is a balanced position that you want to attain in tai chi. When you are in that position, where you can deal with attacks from any direction, you are said to have "integrity." When you find yourself becoming unbalanced, you must move in a way that brings you back into a position of integrity.

Naturally, since I love to translate the physical action into philosophical principles, this one is very interesting and I've been thinking about it. Having mental balance is to have mental integrity.

It's amazing how often our daily lives put us off-balance, from driving on the street (the drivers here in Tampa are crazy) to the bizarre behavior...

I was in the Washington D.C. area in 2003, attending a workshop by Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang. The highlight of the workshop, which focused on Laojia Yilu, was when we all got personal attention from Grandmaster Chen on fajing. I stood in front of him to do the hidden hand punch and when I sunk into my right kua before the punch, he said, "Too much." So I tried it again and he said, "Too much." I lightened up a little on the sinking and he smiled and said, "Ahh, okay." 

Then he took both my arms in his hands, had me relax my body, and he jerked one hand forward and pushed the other in the opposite direction. He did that two or three times as if I was a puppet. The little lightbulb above my head went on. He backed away and told me to repeat it, in front of the entire workshop. I did, relaxing and letting the fajing fly. He smiled and said, "Okay."

In the same facility where we were training, a big kung fu tournament was being held the same weekend. On Saturday night, a masters demonst...

My good friend and loyal visitor Evan Yeung wrote this in an email:

"I'm thoroughly enjoying your latest DVD release.  I'm halfway through the Beng Chuan section.  The applications you've presented are straightforward and applicable to real life situations and some tournament sparring as well.  I suppose the magic of Hsing-I is that the base moves are simple (relatively speaking, of course), but are remarkably versatile.  John Painter, in his book on Combat Baguazhang, says that in a true fighting situation the complex moves rarely work... when the adrenaline is pumping, tunnel vision is occuring, and tactile sensitivity is going to hell, it's the simple moves that have been drilled that rely on larger muscle groups that take over.  I think Hsing-I fits that bill." 

I agree with Painter -- in a real-life self-defense situation, you won't have time for a lot of the complex movements. I've thrown out some chin-na movements because they were so impractical in a fighting situation that ...

Three of my students went to the Day of the Champions tournament near Chicago on Sunday and represented us very well in the internal arts and sparring divisions. The photo at left shows, from left to right, Kim Schaber, Kim Miller and Chris Miller.

Kim Schaber in the novice division placed 3rd in weapons, 2nd in sparring, 1st in Tai Chi, and 1st in the Interal Arts.

Kim Miller in the intermediate division placed 2nd in Tai Chi and 2nd in the Internal Arts.  In the advanced divsion she placed 1st in sparring.

Chris Miller in the intermediate division placed 2nd in weapons, 1st in Tai Chi and 1st in Internal Arts.  He also brought home the Grand Championship for adult under black belts.

Read more about it on their website. Chris and Kim Miller are leading the instruction in the Quad Cities since I fled to a warmer climate last June.

Congratulations, guys. I'm proud of your hard work!

--by Ken Gullette

This photo of me and Nancy isn't taken at the best angle. We're both having bad hair days. I was playing around with a camera and suddenly held it in front of us and snapped the picture. Although it isn't the most flattering shot, I love this picture because it captures an essence that is at the heart of our marriage.

After 4 1/2 years of marriage, we can't wait to see each other at the end of the day. We can't wait for the weekend so we can hang out. We laugh our heads off every day. We're both able to be ourselves. I can be silly and so can she. And both of us know for certain that I've got her back and she's got mine.

This is my third marriage. It took me nearly 50 years to find Nancy. I treat her the same way I've treated every woman I've every known (we don't really change our personalities, you know). The difference is that she's the first woman in my entire life that I've been able to depend on. And a year ago she turned to me and said, "There's one word that comes to my mind...

We had a great turnout of around 14 people at our two-day training workshop in Davenport, Iowa. It was great to see everyone and we spent about 5 hours training on Day One. We worked body mechanics, Hsing-I fist postures, a couple of Chen tai chi movements with a focus on body mechanics, and we finished shooting the next DVD on the fighting applications of the Five Fist Postures. Not pictured here is Chad Steinke.

The workshop started with standing and corrections on posture. We then took Buddha's Warrior and each person demonstrated it in front of the group and received feedback. Everyone seemed to learn by seeing other people move and seeing the corrections they received. We also worked Single Whip, focusing on whole-body movement and silk-reeling.

This workshop was intended to focus on fundamentals because when you learn the principles and you can apply them to one movement, you can then apply them to all movements. Often, we try to learn a lot of forms before we're able to ...

So we're on the way to the Quad Cities to meet our new grandson. He's three weeks old and I plan to introduce him early to the ancient Chinese secrets of Kung Fu. Here is what I have planned:

Lesson 1 -- You've Dirtied Your Diaper. Who is Dishonored, You or the Diaper?

Lesson 2 -- Crying or Kyap? Stunning Your Opponent (Parent) with the Shout.

Lesson 3 -- The Way of the Drool.

Lesson 4 -- Becoming One with the Binky.

Lesson 5 -- The Tao of Toothlessness.

Lesson 6 -- Store and Release: Chi Flow and Gas.

Yes, I believe young Robert Anthony is going to get started on the path to mastery this weekend.