Wing Chun has a new home www.wingchuncy.com.cy
New website dedicated to Wing Chun for Dragon Hall Limassol. There you will find interesting articles, videos, and pictures about Wing Chun, Dragon Hall, and other topics.
You may reach the page from www.wingchuncy.com.cy, www.dragonhallcyprus.com, www.dragonhallcyprus.eu, or www.wingchuncyprus.eu.
Enjoy!
Redesign
A common trait among developers is their restlessness when it comes to code. This site has been up since July; I guess it’s about a good time to give it a facelift 
Hopefully by next February this site will have a brand new and more interesting persona!
Body, Motion, and Potential in martial arts
It’s common in martial arts exhibitions to see fancy movements involving kicks, punches, throws, and so forth, but the question that begets itself is how applicable are these movements in real life?
It’s imperative to understand that our bodies have a certain structure and mechanics that once compromised we would certainly injure ourselves. For each person those limits vary; as such we can’t really say that there’s a universal standard that defines our limits. A super athlete can endure X while your average Joe can endure Y. Our living conditions, age, stress level, and so forth can definitely affect our physical abilities and the bodily expression that we can withstand.
Even though the former paragraph suggests that we are confined within our current limits, this is simply not true. What it really conveys is that one must understand their ceiling before attempting to overcome it. This is fact of life for every competitive athlete that should also be for each and every one of us.
Our bodies and their beautiful mechanics have an amazing potential and this what this post is all about. One may pose the question, how does all of the above relate to a martial artist? People who train in martial arts use their bodies to go through motions that their art instructs them to do so; hence, these people need to utilize every bit of themselves to achieve perfection through training in their art.
To further expand on the concept i will use as an example your typical karate-ka. A karate-ka is a person that to achieve a certain technique must do it through a stance and as such use their body as a whole to perform it. Some techniques lend themselves better to some stances than other. Imagine a karate-ka trying a round kick from an upright position; will that kick have any power? In all honesty it might look nice and fancy but it would not be effective. Now imagine that same person trying the same kick from a fighting stance; wouldn’t that kick be more effective? You bet it will! But to really achieve the true potential of that kick one must have a with a well balanced core and be able to shift the body weight with good timing. To the untrained eye both kicks starting from a fighting stance will seem equally impressive but they will sure not have the same effectiveness against an opponent. In fact the first kick might cause damage to tendons and ligaments throughout the body while the second one will produce the desired result without minimal stress to ones tendons and ligaments.
To achieve the greater potential of ones body in martial arts, repetitive training on the sound foundation of understanding ones body is a definite must. This concept as mundane as it may appear at first has the potential to furthering ones limit to a perpetual path of continuous improvement. In sensei Enoeda’s own words, “if you practice once punch you are worth one punch, if you practice one million punches you are worth one million punches.”
In conclusion, to improve ones martial art skill the first step is to understand their body, then to go through the motions of their art slowly at first to understand the concept behind them, and lastly to train continuously stepping it up a notch in each and every session. Eventually one will reach their ceiling and with sensei Enoeda’s advice that ceiling will be breached; hence, a new unthought off limit will be reached in the continuous cycle of improvement. This does not only translate to speed or stamina, but it also points to accuracy. This is something that most beginners tend to underestimate and choose to ignore as a “fast and seemingly powerful” punch is fancier than a “slower but more accurate punch.” The bottom line is to learn correctly and improve upon it, as a incorrectly learnt technique is harder to fix than a correctly learnt technique to improve in speed and power.
Wooden Dummy
The main purpose of the Wooden Dummy is to help a practitioner to improve their technique, footwork, fighting distance, fighting angle, movement flow, and form application.
Often times people think that by hitting the Wooden Dummy hard it will help them train better; unfortunately, this is a fallacy as the Wooden Dummy is neither a punching bag, nor a live partner, or can it respond back in any way.
The Wooden Dummy it is believed to originate from the Shaolin temple and it is known as “Muk Yan Chong.” Legend wise, there was supposed to be a hallway with 108 Wooden Dummies where the monks would pass certain tests before leaving the temple. The legend also attributes the compaction of the 108 Dummies into a single Dummy to Ng Mui.
There are basically two types of Wooden Dummies with many variations as to how they get mounted or positioned. The two main types are the wall mounted type originating from Hong Kong and the free-standing type originating from Foshan. It is worth mentioning that the wall mounted type is attributed to Yip Man.
Construction wise, the traditional choice of material is wood. Alternatively, metal and plastic can be used to create a practice Dummies.
Familiarity and Repetition
Quoting the late sensei Keinosuke Enoeda “Practice one punch and you are worth one punch; practice one million punches you are worth one million punches.”
The great master is merely trying to say that the greater effort one devotes towards a goal the more likely is to achieve the goal. Sensei Enoeda spoke through the context of karate, but this saying extends far beyond that. I our day-to-day tasks, be it work or a hobby, if we invest in them then it is almost inevitable to bring them to fruition, no matter how mundane these tasks may be.
This attitude or persistence lays deeply in the moral code of karate. You may read more about it in the post “Spirit of Martial Arts.” This particular attitude can help an individual to achieve a goal that may seem as impossible at first. Through familiarity and repetition the impossible becomes i’m possible and as such success is almost guaranteed.
In every situation, if one becomes familiar with the environment that encompasses the situation and persists towards the resolution of it is an almost inevitable fact.
Keep practicing!!!
Fluidity
I would like to start this post with a quote that deeply roots itself in Taoism. A quote that many will recall coming from Bruce Lee himself. ”Be formless, shapeless just like water. If you pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup. If you pour water into a bowl, it becomes the bowl. Water can crush; water can flow. Be water my friend…”
What does this simple but so meaningful saying means? This saying can take many dimensions and can be applied in many contexts. To martial arts it has a special meaning in regards to morality and appliance. A martial artist once confronted in any given case scenario needs to be fluid and pretty much adapt to the situation in an effortless manner just like water.
When it comes to sparring or a real life situation, opponents appear in different shapes and forms. Each new opponent is different from past encounters with different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. How does a martial artist deal with such an unpredictable diversity? By knowing one’s self and becoming fluid like water, each situation that presents itself becomes an effortless task.
Consider yourself in a series of sparring sessions with different opponents; some may be strong, fast, technical, or just plain brute. By pacing and adapting yourself in regards to each sparring partner, you can achieve your best performance without any serious effort. This same principle applies to encounters with other people be it work, family, and so forth. Some of your co-workers or family members might be shy, cocky, aggressive, passive and so forth. By adapting to the situation, your interaction with these people in a one to one or a group setting would allow you to interact at your best.
Such is the nature of adaptability that water teaches us through life. Sometimes you need to “flow,”sometimes you need to “crush,” or simply adapt to the setting.
The most important thing about fluidity is that it helps us conserve precious energy that we can devote on more important things instead of day-to-day confrontations that may seem unavoidable.
Be like water my friend….
Spirit of Martial Arts
Quite recently I came across a lady that had a certain perspective on martial arts. Her view was that martial arts are nothing more than a violent behavioral expression and nothing more than that.
What is often misinterpreted as a violent expression hides a deep moral code and a pragmatic approach. The spirit of martial arts engulfs a lifelong commitment that helps an individual reach inner peace and a healthy living. Most people take a martial arts class for various reasons. Some of the most common reasons are self-defense, fitness, and so forth. Eventually as these people progress and reach a certain threshold in their training, they realize that behind those fancy movements there is a higher purpose.
People who have practiced for many years begin to see things through a different perspective. Having the ability to assess any given situation through a calm and firm composure is such a perspective. There are many case scenarios where someone would panic, a martial artist that embraces the true spirit of martial arts would remain calm and embrace the situation with utmost calmness. A few years back a friend of mine did travel to a foreign country for leisure. One day as he was walking down the street, three men approached him and asked rudely for his money. My friend did not panic and after two minutes the three men were lying on the pavement unconscious. If this person did not practice karate and remained calm at that given moment, he would probably be lying on a hospital bed with all his personal belongings gone.
Taking shotokan karate as a prime example, the first thing that any serious karate school, dojo, should teach is the karate moral code.
The more code roughly translated from Japanese is as follows, “1. work to perfect your character, 1. have fidelity in seeking a true way, 1. cultivate a spirit of endeavor and perseverance, 1. always act with good manners, 1. refrain from violent and uncontrolled behavior.” One may notice that all of five rules are numbered as one: as such, there’s no particular order. All of these rules are equally important and should be upheld with no discretion.
Even though these five rules are not worded in the exact same way in the moral code of all martial arts, the context behind them exists as such. What’s more important is that this approach help’s individuals to become better people though arduous training and self discovery.
This is the true spirit of martial arts.
Video Section Updates
Tubepress is a wonderful plugin for wordpress but in order to get the best results out of it some minor tweaking is inevitable!!!
Social Integration
A necessary evil to all modern websites; it’s imperative to be able to share content on social sites without going through the hassle of copying, pasting, and so forth. Now you can easily share on Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook with a simple click!
3 New sections added!
After not using wordpress for the longest, I decided to give it a go yet once again! The page from being bare with only the Home link on the menu, now it sports a Gallery, a Video Section, and a Contact form!!