Master Danny Lai demonstrating Iron Shirt Chi Kung at the Cross River Wilderness Center. This version has some footage from a second camera and can be viewed on iPhones.
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Tags: Calgary, Canada, Chi Kung, iron shirt, workshop
Cain Velasquez in the Octagon
YouTube has a lot of great martial arts videos these days. And it’s interesting to see all of the “I’d like to see that guy in the octagon” comments. Or, “you have to wonder how’d they do in a UFC bout”.
I think we are losing track of the many different reasons people decide to study martial arts. We may also be losing track of who our possible opponents might be.
If you want to be successful in the octagon then you better be strong, fast, fit and trained in a well balanced assortment of martial arts before you even step foot inside. That’s the current pinnacle of martial gladiators. If gladiatorship is your goal, then follow that path.
If kicking and punching is your thing, just about any martial art can help.
If increasing your power, peace of mind and a healthy body interest you, along with punching and kicking and self defense, then one would do well to consider studying Tai Chi or Ba Gua from a qualified instructor. Internal martial arts like Tai Chi can certainly help a mixed martial artist or any kind of athlete with concepts like “rooting”, “fa jin”, and “tai chi body”.
If surviving in a tough part of town against armed opponents is your goal, well, martial arts can help, but I haven’t seen Iron Shirt chi kung stop a bullet, so that’s an entirely different requirement that martial arts can’t entirely remedy.
Most likely, any person you’d have to defend yourself against with your martial arts, is going to be under the influence of alcohol with not a lot of training. Octagon level fitness, strength, speed and skill aren’t required to stop drunken Joe at the local pub. Fortunately, many of the people with a lot of training have learned self-control and discipline along with their martial arts, so you’re not likely going to face a highly skilled martial artist in the street.
If a person you have to defend yourself from has studied some martial arts, then you start to measure fitness, speed, strength, depth of study, type of martial art, etc to differentiate who is the better fighter and who is going to win the confrontation. By the way, if your fight lasts longer than 30 seconds that person knows at least as much as you do.
However, if you even have to throw a punch, in a sense you’ve already lost — lost control of the situation and anything could happen. My goal is always to control the situation like one of my old teachers did in this blog post: Last Fight. For me, free beer from an adversary without throwing a punch is the ultimate victory!
So, for all of you who look at martial arts and artists on YouTube, and think, it looks good, but how would they do in the octagon, the answer to that is probably they wouldn’t do well. And that’s okay. That’s likely not their goal. Their goal is likely to improve their health, to be able to keep themselves and their families safer for having martial arts and to share what they’ve learned.
Practice hard,
David
Danny had the last of his Cross River Wilderness Centre Tai Chi Retreats last weekend. What a beautiful place. The Centre is entirely off-grid. They use solar and hydro power. Propane appliances. They have beautiful cabins with attached bathrooms or you can stay in a teepee. I, trying to get as close to nature as possible, stayed in a teepee. Danny, who’s only known city life, stayed in a cabin. My teepee was warm and dry, even in a thunderstorm! The food was amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed the wood-fired hot tub after each long day of exercise. A First Nation Elder lives at the Centre and leads sweat lodges and vision quests. Here are some photos from the weekend.
Below is a video we recorded on Saturday, before lunch. Danny demonstrates one type of hard chi kung called Iron Shirt Chi Kung. There are no tricks, he’s not wearing any padding under his shirt, it’s the real deal. Click here for an older blog post with more on hard chi kung from Danny.
The training really started for me the Thursday I flew from Austin to Calgary. Danny started showing me some of a Shaolin stick form and then I attended one of his regular Thursday classes. Danny and I met about 11 years ago, so it’s interesting to see how he runs his classes these days. I figure he’s taught about 6,000 classes since the last time I was a regular attendee! Danny teaches 2-3 classes a day, 6 days a week.
On Friday we drove out to the mountains and to the Centre. We got ourselves settled in time for a tub and then a jam by the bonfire. It was a nice night.
We started Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7:30 with breathing exercises. These exercises involve abdomen movements that massage your internal organs and increase circulation to them.
At 8 we’d wander from the yurt down to the main building for a yummy breakfast. After a nice long leisurely break, allowing time to digest, we headed back to the yurt for stretching, standing meditation and chi kung. It was nice to try one of Danny’s newest chi kungs, Tai Chi Chi Kung, and to have a full 30 minutes to do the standing meditation. In class, we usually only practice it for 15 minutes.
On Saturday, the hour of sitting meditation followed lunch. As we all ate too much and were sleepy after lunch, on Sunday, Danny kindly moved the meditation to be before lunch. The meals by the way were awesome! Steak, homemade blueberry apple bread, tortilla pie, salads, steamed veggies, salmon, ginger curry soup….
After the sitting meditation, we then worked on the Dharma-Zen 24 form. I also practiced the Shaolin Long Stick Form. On Sunday, we were all feeling pretty comfortable with the forms, so Danny led us all in the Dharma-Zen 48 form, which is the 24 form repeated, but the second time through you go the opposite way.
The most amazing part of the weekend for me was the hour of sitting meditation on Sunday. I was comfortable and really had a nice experience. I became very conscious of two knots in my back that I’m often entirely unaware of. They started to ache and ache and ache. Stress knots from sitting at a computer all day.
While I was sitting, I started breathing into these knots. I felt them loosen and relax and it even felt like energy was raining down out of them. It was the most amazing thing. I’m going to build more sitting meditation into my practice. A really wonderful experience.
I left the retreat energized, with three new forms to practice, a better understanding of the rest of Danny’s curriculum, and having learned and laughed with Danny and the other students. I’m very much looking forward to March, 2010, when Danny’s coming to Austin to teach a similar workshop.
Practice hard,
David
Here is an article about my Tai Chi and Chi Gong Workshop in Manitoba, Canada June 2009. If you are in the Manitoba area and would like to try Chi Gong, yoga, drumming, or music bowls, you can contact Ginette Hacault. Her e-mail is:momma_yellow@yahoo.com
Finding the best way to treat yourself
Posted 2 months ago
Photo by Glen Hallick Ginette Hacault of New Beginnings in the middle of her labyrinth at her home west of Bruxelles. She uses the labyrinth to help people get rid of stress.
By Glen Hallick
Ginette Hacault has found her calling.
From her home about two kilometers west of Bruxelles the former social counsellor has opened a consulting service she calls New Beginnings.
“I do one-on-one consulting for people who experienced cancer or a different immune deficient disorder,” Hacault said.
“My business is primarily to build people’s immune systems.”
She pointed out anyone can seek her services, which includes attending her day retreats.
One such retreat is scheduled for June 21 and will focus on Tai Chi and Chi Kung. For the retreat Hacault is bringing in Master Danny Lai from Taiwan and he will show participants the Asian martial arts exercise techniques.
“Chi Kung is a stretchy, bouncy type of exercise,” she said.
Tai Chi, already well known in North America, involves synchronized movements.
“It’s quite intense, there’s over 100 different movements,” Hacault explained.
Although she has a large grassy area to practice the exercises, she said there are two quonsets in case of rain. However the preference she said is for a person to be in contact with nature.
STRICKEN BY CANCER
With a background in psychology Hacault counselled homeless people in Calgary until she was stricken by cancer about two and half years ago.
“I intuitively healed myself, which means I quieted my brain and I paid attention to my higher self,” she said.
Hacault said her self-healing included nutritional supplements and spending six months immersed in nature. She said western culture needs to look to eastern healing methods and combine the two. Which is what she did for her cancer that included surgery.
Hacault said the body can heal itself by a person getting back in touch with nature, which in turn reduces stress. However she said such a process is not for everyone.
“What I believe is whatever you feel will heal you, is the best way you need to heal yourself,” she said.
“So if you believe [chemotherapy] will heal you then do chemo. I don’t suggest or advise doing what I did.”
Hacault explained New Beginnings also offers yoga, drumming, music bowls and labyrinths under one roof. The idea being to get people to relax and have them feel like they have been heard.
“People don’t feel like they have been listened to in our western medicine.”
She offers day retreats along with one-on-one counselling and family/group counselling. Although she can’t recommend nutritional supplements she does have a library for people to do their own research.
The one-on-one usually lasts two hours and Hacault is willing to meet the client wherever is suitable. And some of her methods include journaling, vision boards, and affirmation writing, along with talk therapy.
Hacault said the idea is have a person discover the healing process that’s best for them.
The article link: http://www.carmanvalleyleader.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1598724
For centuries, Chinese doctors have understood that the body is made up of nerves that carry eletrical energy around your body, through your spine and to your brain.
Western doctors understood nerves might carry electricity a few hundred years ago with the publication of Luigi Galvani’s (1737–1798) theory of animal electricity (galvanism) in 1791.
Chinese doctors prescribe Chi Kung for bursitis.
Western doctors prescribe pain pills.
Western doctors prescribe surgery for knees.
Chinese doctors prescribe Tai Chi.
Chinese doctors prescribe Tai Chi and Chi Kung as a daily practice to make illness and injury less likely.
I’m reading Wong Kiew Kit’s tome on Chinese Medicine.
Good read. In the book, Master Wong says anger doesn’t come from solely from external stimuli. In fact, anger comes mostly from internal stimuli. That’s why someone who meditates every day isn’t easily angered by external stimuli. Someone who is meditating daily is calming the self.
Practice hard,
David
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