Skip to main content

Book Review: The Tao of Gung Fu

Post a Comment

Theme of the month March 2009: Beautiful breakfalls

Our second theme of the month -- we resumed in February -- will be beautiful breakfalls.

Anthony demonstrates the side-breakfall warm-up exercise

Breakfalls are truly the foundation of our system. In order to practice throwing techniques we need to be able to fall safely. While mats help, breakfalls allow us to dissipate the force of a throw by rolling and/or slapping the mat.

We practice breakfalls as our warm-up and -- in the form of rolls -- to cool-down. I have previously written about some of the many benefits of breakfalling.

Once practical benefit of knowing how to breakfall is that when you fall over (which happens to most of us occasionally) you are much less likely to break something. This is self-defence against one's own clumsiness.

Beautiful breakfalls
This month we will be aiming to improve the standard of our breakfalls - make them louder, more efficient, and -- through better form -- more beautiful.

We will go through as many of the supplementary breakfalling exercises as I can remember, and also delve into some of the applications of breakfalling to offence, including some sacrifice throws.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 favorite sayings of Confucius

From the numerous sayings attributed to the ancient Chinese sage, Confucius : "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." "The cautious seldom err." "A person who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is committing another mistake." "Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles." "By nature, people are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart." "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." "Respect yourself and others will respect you." "Every truth has four corners: as a teacher I give you one corner, and it is for you to find the other three." "Wherever you go, go with all your heart." And here's a selection of  Confucius jokes like the ones we used to tell in high school.
Post a Comment
Read more

The ancient art of Ti Kwan Leap: Boot to the Head!

A very nice re-enactment of the classic "Ti Kwan Leap" sketch -- the original soundtrack is by the Canadian comedy troupe The Frantics -- that I spotted on Wim de Meere's blog : And if you think that "too much ti kwan leap is barely enough", here's a realization of the catchy follow-up song, "Boot to the Head": Now, "Let us meditate..."
Post a Comment
Read more

Kung Fu animals

Many styles of Chinese Boxing (aka kung fu or gong fu ) have origin stories based around the observation of animal movements and fighting styles. This notion has been popularized in the Kung Fu Panda animated movie and its sequels. Many kung fu styles incorporate aspects of multiple animals, with specific animals identified with specific techniques, or entire "sets" taken to embody a particular of mindset and/or physical characteristics In drawing on the animal heritage of kung fu it is helpful to learn more about the nature of the animals in question. Ways to do so include: Visiting a zoo for direct observation Watching nature documentaries and clips Learning about the cultural significance of the animals And, of course, go practice and pay attention to what you find! * * * In Hung Kuen chinese boxing (and other styles) the main five animals are: Tiger (trains bones): sheer power, prowling, connection to the Earth, ultimate predator, claws Crane (sinews): balance and gr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Recommended For You...