Sigung Henry Wong and Sifu Eddie from Milwaukee, Tai Chi One of the many mind-blowing training experiences I have encountered in this style is the "back bow". In Milwaukee, my teacher Sifu Eddie stood in one place with his arm across his chest, extended about a foot, fully relaxed. He told me to run toward him and push on his arm. He tells me as I am running toward him, that he will pull my energy in like drawing a bow, from my tantien (center of energy), through his arm and then pulling back from his tantien, catch my energy before I get to his arm. Once I touched his arm, he drew the bow back further, yielding the arm, giving me the feeling of running into a brick wall that suddenly disappears, leaving me off balance for one to two seconds. Within those seconds he released the back bow, sending me 7 to 8 feet slamming into the wall! We did this repeatedly and I was able to do the exact same thing to him as well. It got to the point were we had to put a mattress up against the wall to keep from hurting ourselves and disturbing the neighbors. Luo De Xiao (Eric Luo) Pa Kua (The 8 Diagram Palm) I was at a martial art seminar and workshop at the In Motion Martial Arts school, Bernard Langan's studio where Eric Luo comes once a year from Taiwan to teach. One of the things that he taught was something called the body wave, which he explained moves internally from his feet going up through his spine and directing the crash of the wave through the tips of his fingers. He walked around the class tapping everyone on their shoulders. Everyone he touched, including myself, had their body jolted as if someone wound up and smacked the center of our insides with sand bags. He then demonstrated how to practice the body wave, by doing large exaggerated body wave, and then he said to keep the feeling of the exaggerated body wave and place it into a small refined movement. Eddy Deutsche, Pentjak Silat Training with Eddy Deutsche has shown me that with the art of Silat comes a tribal warrior no retreat-attack-everything-in-your-way spirit, that is packed up by physics of triangles and ancient diagram called the ponchar. The ponchar is too deep to discuss at this time, however, the movements of Silat can be compared to a rapid fire, center of gravity driven dance. Since training with Eddy my sparring ability has increased 100%. My body alignment and awareness of my opponents body alignment is much more clear. I can now paint a mental picture of the ponchar over my opponent and ride the angles to their center. When in motion I compare this teachers strength to a tank or semi-truck, but also with the ability to control it. This must be a sign of a true master. Sifu Chu, Choy Lee Fut Kung Fu Sifu Chu and I had a very unique teacher student relationship, because he does not speak English and I do not speak Chinese. He would simple do the movements and I would repeat them. Then he would demonstrate the application. It was undeniable that these moves were effective. One move in particular operated in this manner: one of his arms would swing and attack from one way, while at the same time the other arm would attack in a totally different direction. Whenever we trained I would literally feel like I was in a kung-fu movie. He also gave me a technique called the Lions Breath. I used this breathing technique on sparring partners of many different levels. One of my sparring partners was a seventy year old Tai Chi practitioner who I would meet on the weekends to do Tai Chi push hands. This gray-haired man, Mr. Chow, has a much smaller frame than I and would constantly throw me around like a rag doll. He often seemed to be rooted like an oak tree. When I used the Lion's Breath technique, he suddenly began to be uprooted by my force. With this new development, he had to change his game plan. This experience with Mr. Chow was a direct result of Sifu Chu's training. For Sifu Chu to have improved my performance in such a short period of time, credits him to be, in my mind, a world treasure. I can't wait for the day to train with him again. He is now back in Hong Kong. I quote Sifu Tony Chen: "...a good sifu will give you small details that will bring large results". Sonny Umpad, Visayan Style Eskrima Sonny Umpad focuses his class on flow. Being that his art focuses on the blade, he says "there is no room for freezing points". In his style, you should not execute a form such that you stop after each movement, even if it is just for a second. If you do then he says you are training your body to have freezing points. Execute the form as a smooth flow of movements to avoid building predictable reaction or "freezing" points. To flow or spar with Sonny is like fighting a perfect dancer, who seems to continuously cut you as he attacks or retreats using both hands and feet at the same time. He will move with you, and time your rhythm. As you move back or to the side, he waits for the exact second to break your rhythm by lightly stepping on your foot while striking and poking key points of your body as if he is walking up a staircase. To train with Sonny is exhilaratingly fun, and scary at the same time. To think that all of these moves are meant to be executed with knifes.(wow!) His home-made training inventions are practical and ingenious. One (named "The Frustrator" by some students) simulates a two-handed knife attack at various speeds, depending on how you respond. I came up with the name of my school through one of his philosophies. He says, "...when you come to my class you are an immortal because here you will die a thousand times, to learn how not to die in a real situation." Thus the name of my school "House of The Immortals". Sonny Umpad is most definitely a world treasure. I am more than honored to have trained with him and to receive his teachings from one of his students. Especially because he will only train a select few. It is very hard to get in his circle. Tony Chen, Hsing-I (The 12 Animals) Tony Chen is already a world-renowned martial artist. He was named martial arts hero of China in 1991. From my experience Tony Chen's speed accuracy and power is phenomenal, yet to flow with him you would think you were putting your hands on a feather (light and elusive). For years I would read about him in magazines and hear stories through his students. I eventually met him but was unable to train with him. One day he asked me to video and edit a series of training tapes for his school. One of the tapes was the 12 Animals of Hsing-I. Through making this training tape I inadvertently received a private behind-the-scenes lesson in the 12 animals of Hsing-I. The internal twisting of this style when felt is like feeling a drill that penetrates the layers of your body accompanied by a spring effect that shoots you outward from the direction of the punch. To have had that opportunity was definitely receiving jewels from a world treasure. Many students from his school are in my movie. Terrence Clark, Shaolin Kung Fu When I first got the idea for the hip hop kung fu movie over 8 years ago I had no formal Kung Fu training. In Milwaukee I could not find any Kung Fu schools. When I was younger I did take Karate for a short while and continued to watch Kung-Fu movies with my older brother Chris. I would always "play" Kung Fu, so when I decided to make Birth of the Hip Hop Dynasty Part 1 (the prequel). The original title was The Drunken Pole. I felt, because of that title, if I did the drunken style in the movie my kung fu stances would not have to be strong and solid since I would be moving around like a drunk. I was most definitely wrong!! Luck or should I say destiny, lead me to a park one day where I saw for the first time in Milwaukee two people doing real, authentic kung fu. I approached the teacher, Terrence Clark of Ma Bu (horse stance) martial arts school. I became his student that day. Sifu Clark's teaching became my doorway to everyone in the martial arts world. His emphasis was on stance training: 1. Horse Stance; The beginning of his class after warm ups, was to do each stance for 2 minutes moving from one stance to another. He gave me a mental goal to strive for 5 minutes in full Ma Bu. These stances are the foundation of most martial arts. It was only right that my first sifu concentrated on the very thing that would make it possible for world treasure artists to even consider teaching me, and that is a strong foundation. I thank Sifu Clark for giving me the key to obtain many more other treasures. I Ping, So Jing So Jing is done while sitting in Lotus position or with your legs folded. To see someone doing the form, an onlooker might not be impressed; at least if you don’t know what your looking at. I’ll explain… Unfortunately I did not understand what I Ping was teaching me until it was almost too late for me to learn for from her. She is Taiwanese, only in America to attend college. She knew Terrence Clark’s Sifu in Taiwan so she offered to teach So Jing to him and any of his students who were interested. She said "if person A did martial arts all day, and person B did So Jing all day, when person B did the same martial art form that person A did, he or she will do it better". I did not understand this then, but now I do. The So Jing form is done very slowly. You must relax and let your mind guide your limbs as if they are floating on water. Otherwise there is no way you can follow her through the whole 45 minute first form. Using the form, you also push out "dirty" chi, and absorb "clean" chi. You "wash" your chi as if you are washing clothes. I feel this woman sifu came in to my life to show me the discipline of slow movements and to show me that slow movement refines the fast movement. Her Sifu invented the form of So Jing. She informed me that the people she taught in America, are the only ones with this particular forms. Without doubt, I regard her as a world treasure. I patiently wait for the day I can go to Taiwan and learn the standing form. |