Posts
One of the things I noticed during my studies of Shaolin, is that everything is random. If you examine the forms you will see that the techniques flow one to another without any real logic. Simply, the whole system is a put together.
There is nothing wrong with being a big put together if the system works, and, believe me, Shaolin does work. I am concerned, however with another factor. I am concerned with the length of time it takes for Shaolin to become useful.
The reason a system is a put together is because every instructor adds to it. After a while, the the thing become top heavy, the art becomes huge and unwieldy, and the whole thing becomes too much to absorb. Then it takes too long to learn, and when you do learn it, it is not always practical for real combat.
So, how do we make Shaolin so that it retains its spirit, but is 10 times easier and faster to learn? The method I use is called Matrixing, and it is very simple. You just use have to logic.
The way to illustrate this concept of Matrixing is to take one item of the system and make it logical. In this article I'm going to use footwork. Inside one of the Shaolin forms I found a footwork which is quick, logical, only six steps, and yet covers virtually every potential of motion. This footwork illustrates forward, back, side to side, and diagonal.
In applying logic to Shaolin I took this footwork and began exploring the potentials of arm motion. Forward, back, up, down, left right, either arm. Then I put the footwork together with the arm potentials and, voila, fast and easy--and true to the source--Shaolin.
Now, it was not as easy to make this thing work as it is to read these words. Go through your own systems and look for the magic combination of footwork and logic that I have described. When you realize how difficult this task is, you will start to understand how valuable Matrixing is.
I gave the system the name Shaolin Butterfly. It is quick to learn, powerful, and easy to use. The motions are light and flitting and very good kung fu, and, of course--very large grin--one just has to know that the butterfly is the deadliest of all kung fu animals.
There is nothing wrong with being a big put together if the system works, and, believe me, Shaolin does work. I am concerned, however with another factor. I am concerned with the length of time it takes for Shaolin to become useful.
The reason a system is a put together is because every instructor adds to it. After a while, the the thing become top heavy, the art becomes huge and unwieldy, and the whole thing becomes too much to absorb. Then it takes too long to learn, and when you do learn it, it is not always practical for real combat.
So, how do we make Shaolin so that it retains its spirit, but is 10 times easier and faster to learn? The method I use is called Matrixing, and it is very simple. You just use have to logic.
The way to illustrate this concept of Matrixing is to take one item of the system and make it logical. In this article I'm going to use footwork. Inside one of the Shaolin forms I found a footwork which is quick, logical, only six steps, and yet covers virtually every potential of motion. This footwork illustrates forward, back, side to side, and diagonal.
In applying logic to Shaolin I took this footwork and began exploring the potentials of arm motion. Forward, back, up, down, left right, either arm. Then I put the footwork together with the arm potentials and, voila, fast and easy--and true to the source--Shaolin.
Now, it was not as easy to make this thing work as it is to read these words. Go through your own systems and look for the magic combination of footwork and logic that I have described. When you realize how difficult this task is, you will start to understand how valuable Matrixing is.
I gave the system the name Shaolin Butterfly. It is quick to learn, powerful, and easy to use. The motions are light and flitting and very good kung fu, and, of course--very large grin--one just has to know that the butterfly is the deadliest of all kung fu animals.
About the Author:
Al Case has been researching Shaolin for over 40 years. You can view The Shaolin Butterfly at Monster Martial Arts. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.
No comments:
Post a Comment