Black and Blue

No, I didn't fall down the stairs. Yes, I'm looking all battered, but I bruise like a peach anyway.

All of the contact stuff in Kung Fu and Kali, etc. pretty much ensures that I'm forever sporting huge black and blue eyesores. Thankfully, it's still too chilly around here to go out in short sleeves. I don't think I'll be wearing many of those anyway this year if my arms don't develop a tolerance to the strikes. I read that Dit Da Jow, a Chinese liniment, is supposed to work wonders on bruises, so I'll have to give that a try. Despite the pain, there is value in training this way. After all, it's not like a potential aggressor is going to take it easy on me just because I'm a woman. If you don't train hard, or "with intent," as our Sifu says, then you're not preparing yourself properly for when you may need to use what you've learned for legitimate self-defense purposes. Not to mention that training with intent, and in earnest, is all so cool! And fun!

I'm really excited, too, because we just started learning Long Fist, a Northern form. The name is very appropriate, as the motions are long and extended. Most Northern forms involve long, extended motions, as the region to the north of China offered lots of wide open spaces. In contrast, the Southern forms are more grounded, and involve shorter extensions, presumably because these styles were practiced in more densely populated areas. Long Fist One, the form we're learning now looks so graceful and fluid, yet the hidden self-defense applications in the form are direct and effective. It's amazing to me how with Kung Fu, a smaller, lighter person, can gain advantage over a larger and stronger attacker. It's all about not meeting force with force, but rather "going with it" and using an attacker's momentum against them. It makes sense, and it works.

Here's a video of a woman doing the form I mention above.



There are only very slight differences in the way we do it. This is something I've noticed since we started Kung Fu. There are so very many variations, often depending on lineage, or varying from school to school. The methods and applications however, are all sound, so the variances aren't a major issue.

Every day our Kung Fu / Martial Arts repertoire keeps growing. We've learned so much in the short time we've been training. It's hard to believe that we only just started in June of last year. So far, we've touched upon a number of styles, forms, methods, weapons, etc. These are Spring Legs (or Tan Tui with applications), basic blocks and self-defense, Ba Bu Chuan, a monk's morning energy drill, stances (horse, empty, crane, drop, sitting, dragon, etc.), Chin Na (a method of subduing your opponent via joint/muscle locks), Wing Chun (Sal Lim Tao - a Southern style, with applications), Kickboxing, Tai Chi, Qigong, Kali (a stick-fighting Filipino martial art I've posted about before--so far we've learned some drills, disarms, applications, w/ and without knives), straight sword (Jian form and applications), and we've only just started learning Long Fist and Xing Yi with the three quarter staff and empty hand. Xing Yi, along with BaGua (which unfortunately, I do not take, but my husband does) and Tai Chi, make up the three internal Chinese martial arts--all focused around the spirit, mind, and energy (qi or chi). Of these, Xing Yi is the hardest hitting, and it's also the most linear. BaGua is more circular, and Tai Chi is more meditative in nature, although it is a martial art, and as such has countless self-defense applications as well.

We're having so much fun with this, it's crazy. Just over a year ago, I never thought we'd all be taking up martial arts. And just this past Saturday, we were all promoted to our green sashes. A sash or belt system is not common to Kung Fu. Traditionally, there is no ranking system in Kung Fu, but more and more schools seem to have adopted this system. It does make it easier to see at a glance where everyone stands in terms of ability.