Kung Fu: History And Basic Principles (chinese martial arts shoes)
June 1st, 2007
Kung Fu: History And Basic Principles
The Term:
Historically, the term ?Kung Fu? is not really featured in any ancient texts. It was first coined by a Frenchman named Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, a missionary who lived in the 18th Century, in reference to Chinese martial arts. Kung Fu is also called Gongfu, Wushu, or Kuoshu, and originally denotes expertise in any skill, and not exclusive to martial arts.
Brief History:
The practice, philosophy, and concept of Kung Fu can be traced back to ancient Chinese texts such as Zhuang Zi, Dao De Jing, and Sun Zi Bing Fa (Art of War written by Sun Zi), all written between 1111-255 BC. These texts contain passages related to the practice, propagation, and principles of Chinese martial arts, or Kung Fu as it is known today.
One theory regarding the first written history of Kung Fu suggests that the Yellow Emperor, who reigned from 2698 BC, wrote the first treatise on Chinese martial arts. Others give credit to Taoist monks for introducing an art form that resemble modern Tai Chi around 500 BC. Then in 39-92 AD, Pan Ku included “Six Chapters of Hand Fighting” in his discourse on the history of the Han dynasty (Han Shu). As the popularity of martial arts progressed, a physician named Hua T?uo also wrote his own treatise entitled, ?Five Animals Play” in 220 AD.
Kung Fu had become a common word in the West beginning in the late 1960s, popularized by martial arts movies and TV series. The Western world today has also seen an immense upsurge in the creation and production of martial arts movies starring great actors/masters such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
Basic Principles:
The concept of Kung Fu revolves around three basic principles ? Motivation, Self-discipline and Time.
According to experts, the real motivation behind learning Kung Fu is inspiration and not force, which should come from an inner craving to learn and develop the mind and body. Motivation here is the fundamental driving force. There is no external or worldly gain for the learner, and the only reward is that of knowledge, skill, strength and wisdom.
In Kung Fu, discipline is complementary to motivation. Discipline puts motivation into deed and action. A learner has to make an effort into what he has been motivated for, and self-discipline helps him get started and guides him to achieve that goal. Therefore, without discipline, motivation is just a dormant state of mind.
Time is the path to perfection in martial arts. Once motivation and self-discipline have set in, a learner has to spend a considerable amount of time putting mind and body into practice. A truly inspired learner does not have the privilege to waste time, stay idle or indulge in fruitless activities. Everything done by him/her should reflect real motivation and self-discipline.
Variants and Styles:
With the passage of time, numerous variants and styles have come up in martial arts, or Kung Fu. Some of the more popular ones include Karate, Escrima, Wing Chun, Jujitsu, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Shaolin, White Crane, T’ai Chi Ch’uan, and Bagua Zhang.
<a href="http://martialarts-hq.com/">Martial Arts HQ</a> offers articles, tips and tricks about different martial arts.
Karate World Champion Launches a New Line of Martial Arts Activewear Clothing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Montreal, Quebec, Canada - January 20, 2006 — Traditional Northwest Native American Indian art is getting a boost in exposure worldwide with the help of today’s internet high technology. Previously, the only outlets to the outside world for Northwest Native American Indian art were mainly the relatively small number of street retail galleries that specialize in this traditional fine art form located in Vancouver or Seattle. Visitors to the Pacific Northwest region or those living there were the only people who got exposed to authentic Northwest Native American art.
Now, with the help of Montreal-based Free Spirit Gallery, people around the world can see and learn about Northwest Native American Indian art without leaving their homes. The Free Spirit Gallery website is loaded with beautiful color images of exquisite Northwest Native American art as well as numerous information resource articles.
Clint Leung, who created Free Spirit Gallery in 2004, says, “Our website is so informative about Northwest Native American Indian art that we’ve had many requests from students and publishers of art related ezines to use some of our information articles.”
One popular feature of the Free Spirit Gallery website is the section of eCards or electronic postcards featuring Northwest Native American art. Visitors to the website use these eCards for free to send special greetings or messages to friends online to help spread the word about Northwest Native American art. Free Spirit Gallery is the only website in the world that offers eCards with both Northwest Native American art and Eskimo Inuit art.
Through the website, fans of Northwest Native American Indian art can now continue to build their collections from the comforts of their own homes wherever they are. According to Leung, Free Spirit Gallery has shipped Northwest Native American art to happy customers all over the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Because of the limitations of regional exposure, Northwest Native American artists have always had difficulties in getting their artwork out to the rest of the world. The modern technology of Free Spirit Gallery is now helping these artists gain much needed international exposure for their beautiful work.
For additional information, see www.FreeSpiritGallery.ca.
About Free Spirit Gallery:
Free Spirit Gallery is an online gallery specializing in Northwest Native American art and Eskimo Inuit art including carvings, sculptures as well as prints. Free Spirit Gallery has numerous information resource articles with photos of authentic Native Indian art and Eskimo Inuit art as well as free eCards.
Contact Information:
Clint Leung
Free Spirit Gallery
514-421-1124
http://www.FreeSpiritGallery.ca
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About the Author
Clint Leung is a lifelong martial artist with over 32 years of training experience in kung fu, tae kwon do, karate, kickboxing and martial arts weaponry. He has won Canadian and world championship titles (NASKA, NBL and WSKF). He is also owner of Free Spirit Activewear (http://www.FreeSpiritActivewear.com) , an online retailer and designer of premium martial arts activewear. Free Spirit Activewear has martial arts info articles.
Self Defense And Psychological Preparedness
Being psychologically prepared is critical for self defense during an assault in the street. It is very important to be ready to repel the assailant (assailants) using all the means you have. Note that even being in not very good physical shape these means could be quite sufficient to disable your enemy (enemies).
For example, if you wear hard sharp-toe shoes, then kicking your enemy in groin or shank with the toe of such shoe (even if there are no years of practice behind this kick) immediately makes him writhe with pain for several moments. And this gives you enough time to either disable the enemy or simply run away.
Scratching facer using fingernails also causes pain shock to your enemy and makes him unable to resist for some time. Remembering how dangerous a furious cat can be for people is enough to understand this.
In several cases, a furious cat is known to make its owners hide in one of the rooms and wait for the police to come and help them. Police officers in this situation often have to use guns to protect themselves and rescue the owners of the animal.
Now let’s take a look at a cat, its weight is about 30 times less than that of a man. And this tiny thing can resist police officers armed with firearms. That’s one thing. The other thing is that a common schoolboy, who tortures a cat giving it a hard time, can cope with it, the cat doing nothing to protect itself.
Now you can see the difference between a man employing everything he has at hand to give furious resistance to an assault, and a man who does not resist at all or makes poor attempts to resist.
So we see, at one hand, the enraged and furiously attacking cat that a couple of armed policemen cannot restrain, and, on the other hand, a meek unresisting cat that a little boy can easily handle. The difference is very substantial. This example clearly shows that the more furious and fast you resistance, the more chances you have to win the fight.
I remember a story told me by my disciple about one weak man small in stature, who succeeded in protecting himself against a husky trained fellow with the black belt in taekwondo, who assaulted him.
This small man was so furious and fearless giving his much stronger offender a hail of blows (weak and unskilled as they were) as to shock the guy and made him only try to cover himself from the blows.
One would think what chances had this tiny, middle-aged man, who has never gone in for any sport in a fight against a young and well-trained in taekwondo school guy with the black belt. Any one would say he had no chance. However, it all turned out badly for no one, but the young insolent beggar.
Why, after all, the winner was that small man, who had no chance to win. It is very simple. The moment the fight began, he had his consciousness fully blocked; he acted automatically guided by his subconsciousness.
At the moment, he had nothing in his mind, but the enemy and the thought of disabling that enemy by any means possibly. At that moment, his consciousness was, as it were, at one with the Universe. He feared nothing since the sense of fear was gone from him.
He had neither diffidence nor other impeding factors, that’s why all his actions became TRUE ones. Even though he had not much power and skill, but all he had he putted in each blow. So that’s why, seemingly, with no chance to succeed he won the unequal fight.
Quite contrarily, his enemy was stiffened with fear and uncertainty as a result of this sudden and furious repel. Who could ever dare to attack him, as he was so strong and practiced fighter, he thought. Certainly not this small man, who, as it seemed, was supposed to be trembling with fear.
But it turned out so that it was that strong and trained beef, who had a weak spirit. At the critical moment, his will, composure and fighting skills failed him. He simply got scared and confused, and, as a result, was defeated by a weaker and less skilled opponent.
Alexander Popov is the leading expert in knife and hand-to-hand combat in the version of Spetsnaz GRU. Spetsnaz martial arts videos and ebooks: <a href="http://www.spetsnaz-gru-smersh.com" title="http://www.spetsnaz-gru-smersh.com" target="_blank">http://www.spetsnaz-gru-smersh.com</a>
How to increase your Martial Arts Weapons Skills Almost overnight!
How to gain more in the next 6 months in Martial Arts than you have in the prior 5 years! Learning Martial Arts is a lifelong process. That statement is certainly true but in the last 6 months I have learned more than in the prior 23 years about the inside secrets to real Martial Arts Training Success. It took learning real training methods from an incredible Grandmaster and true Martial Arts Legend to help me leapfrog my technique to a much hirer level almost overnight. You see I used to train about 1-2 hours a day in my teenage years, and I had a very good instructor. However; even at the 1st Dan Black Belt level he would not share much of the behind the scenes training secrets that there are in Martial Arts. Since those early days I have trained with some of the best in the World, and I have gained a lot personally from everyone. However; in the last six months I have experience powerful gains in a key area of my Martial Arts Training and that is in Weapons Training. Yes ever since I joined the Martial Arts Weapons Association and started learning the methods that Grandmaster Ted Gambordella teaches, I have made huge gains in weapons knowledge and skills. I have nearly mastered 5 weapons in only 6 months and that is just launching from a basic knowledge level. Sure I knew my Katas and my basic weapon work, but now I understand the inside mechanics of my weapon Kata and the overall advantages of one weapon over another. Here I am in my 30s and I am now finally getting it, and thats after a 3rd Dan in one style and a 1st Dan in another. I am lucky that my basics were as solid as they where because considering that I trained in traditional schools and Dojos over the years. If you too want to make massive gains in your Martial Arts Weapons training I strongly recommend the Martial Arts Weapons Association. It is the lowest cost way to learn from a legend and get an entire library worth of books and videos. In fact Grandmaster Gambordella has reduced the cost to only $35 so anyone at any level in the Martial Arts Sport can afford to get the best training and information. The secret to proper training is studied and practicing a real method. Katas are fine but they will never take you to the highest levels. You can be great at a Kata (as I was) but still be bad with your weapon. So you simply have to learn the right way from the right instructor. This is your opportunity to learn from a legend and for next to nothing.
Lee Warrick is a seasoned Martial Artist and instructor and is working with Grandmaster Gambordella on www.themartialartssite.com/MAWA.html
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