Lau Gar UK

[lausan]

Ok i've given my opinion On Lau Gar in the UK on a number of occasions, so lets have some feedback from some other fellow practitioners:

How long have you trained?

Do you consider the style to be traditional and effective?

If you practice Lau Gar Kickboxing tell us a bit about yourself

For the largest CMA group in the UK this forum gets a poor responce when it comes to our our style.

Lausan :confused:

[phoenix-eye]

I've been studying various korean martial arts on and off for the last 10 years. I have been aware of Lau Gar during this period and about 18 months ago started training in the style and am now cursing myself for wasting a few years.

My Sifu teaches in a very traditional manner with emphasis on forms practice. Competition is there if you want it but it is kept as a completely separate class and has never encroached into our standard kung fu practice.

I agree that the Lau Gar system has taken some undue flak in the past from some quarters of the MA world - but a system so popular is bound to have a) some bad apples and b) many people who just want to knock it off its perch.

Anyway, my point is that a system doesn't stay popular for 30 years unless it has something good to offer.

Keep fighting the good fight mate.

"We had a thing to settle so I did him"
Tamai, 43, was quoted by Police as saying.

[Serpent]

Is Neville Wray still active in the UK Lau Gar scene?

[buddhapalm]

Do you know if Ian MacPherson from Aberdeen Lau Gar is still teaching ? I learned from him in the early 1980's and was wondering if he is still teaching. I would love to find him after all these years.

Any help finding my old friends would be great.

David Friedman
Buddhapalm
San Francisco

[lausan]

Hi,
Neville Wray is still very much involved in the UK Lau Gar scene.He is the coach for the Lau Gar British squad,and currently runs the Semi Contact Super League tournaments.

Lausan

ps. Nice to hear from some former Lau practitioners living over seas. :)

[scotty1]

I did some Lau Gar for just under a year, it was what got me started it MA. We did a lot of kickboxing style semi contact sparring and tourneys and it was great! Very little sets, a fair amount of horse, a lot of repetitive drills (punching/kicking etc.)
Yeah, i really enjoyed it. I'm doing 5 animals now and if I hadn't of done the Lau Gar I'd be cmpletly lost!! Given me strong foundations and a good rhythm for sparring. :D

[Rickster]

On the subject of Lau Gar, did you see "Masters of Combat" on BBC2 tonight? The Bristol Death Squad who train in Lau Gar Kung Fu, won the final and even beat off a Jeet Kune Do (sp?) team who were very good at grappling... In fact, I thought the grappling was more of a hindrance than a help during the fights - any views?

Anyway, I was thinking of starting Lau Gar and was wondering what weapons they use (I'd like to learn the fans, sword and staff etc), and also if they do meditation techniques at a higher level maybe?

I've also looked at studying Kuk Sool Won and would appreciate any views on this style as it seems very comprehensive.

Many Thanks.

Rich.

[Ben Gash]

JKD? They had Leigh Childs on the team. He was my old TKD teacher! Classic example of do a few seminars and then claim they've got it. Funnily enough one of my former kung fu classmates now teaches JKD and he did a seminar for him, where he promptly choked out all his black belts.
I watched the Bristol guys in the semi final and I thought they were pretty disappointing really. I think if they hadn't been told not to strike the head the TKD guys would have one. They definitely looked too much like points competitiors and not enough like fighters.
Anyway, the UK Lau Gar guys teach staff, spear, braodsword, butterfly knives and tiger fork.
As for Kook Sool Won, it's a soft system fused form the traditional styles learned by the system's Grandfather, and doesn't really inspire me that much . It did used to interest me when I was younger though.

"Weapons are the embodiments of fear,
the wise use them only when they have no choice"
Lao Tzu

[Ben Gash]

Where do you live? I might be able to point you to a club with said weapons.

"Weapons are the embodiments of fear,
the wise use them only when they have no choice"
Lao Tzu

[Rickster]

I live in South Staffordshire and wanted to study a "complete" system, which is why I was looking at Lau Gar and Kuk Sool... I've also looked at Hapkido, but most of the clubs (except Lau Gar) are about 20 miles away and take about 30 mins to get to...

I have studied systems like Tae Kwon Do (blue belt) and freestyle karate (black belt) years ago, but found that all you seemed to do was breaking and patterns for each belt - there wasn't even patterns in freestyle, therefore I was looking at doing a MA which will last me as I get older and have more in it ie weapons and possibly meditation/internal techniques. There is a Wushu club near by, which I will visit to find out more, I think they study 18 weapon systems and do quite a bit of acrobatics?

Cheers.

Rich.

[Colin]

Hi,
It's good to see some positive comments about Lau Gar.
I've just got back from the BKFA national championships in Birmingham.
This is the event to see if you really want to find out more about Lau Gar Kuen.
Obviously there is a large semi-contact tournament, but there was also the sticky-hands competition that showed some real fighting skills.
A forms comp for juniors & seniors. (It was nice to see a junior team from Shotokan enter the forms.They were pretty good too!)
Apart from the competitive side there was also demonstrations from some of the most senior instructors, varying from an incredible 5-Animals form performed by Morag Quirk, to a butter-fly knives form by John Russell.
There was also 4 seperate seminars conducted on the following subjects:-
1. competition fighting techniques.
2. Set application / self defence techniques.
3. Chi Gung.
4. Sticky Hands.

So yes Lau Gar has a very healthy tournament side,
but as can be seen there are many more facets to this great style.

Oh yea, as for Lau Gar in Stafford. Go see them, one of the most senior Lau Instructors teaches in Stafford, and you will get an excellent opportunity to practice traditional Kung Fu.

As for Neville Wray, he is very much still active.
He did alot of the competition judging and conducted a seminar too.

As for me in Lau Gar, what can I say, 12 years of regular study, and I feel that i'm barely scratching the surface. We have s standard comment now to the question:
Are you any good at kung fu?
The answer I now give is that I have just about learnt how to stand correctly!
The more you learn the deeper the search for the answer gets.


Colin.............

[Rickster]

Colin

Just a few questions:-

a) What is Chi Gung?

b) Does Lau Gar practice break falls and wrist locks etc?

c) Do you get the chance to learn more exotic weapons such as the fans, 3 section staff etc? I know they aren't in the Lau Gar syllabus, but was wondering if Master Yau holds seminars for special stuff like this?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to get as much info on the style before starting it...

I found the club in Stafford on the web : www.stafford-lau-gar.co.uk (http://www.stafford-lau-gar.co.uk) and the instructor Pete Hornby seems to have a lot of experience in the art !

Many thanks.

Rich.

[Colin]

Go see Sifu Pete Hornby.
He is a really nice guy!
Recently ( about 1 year ago ) Master Yau awarded a special title to about 6 (six) of his most senior students, that of "Guardian of Lau Gar" these are the people that he has selected to carry on his teaching when as he said " when i'm no longer around."
Pete Hornby is one of these 6. He has been a personal student of Master Yau for 30 years and to my knowledge has never fought in a semi_contact tournament, but instead specialises in forms, chi gung & sticking hands.
Go see him, you will not be disappointed.

As for what Chi Gung is....
Here's one answer, there are many opinions on this.
Chi Gung is a form of excerise designed to stimulate the flow of energy internally in the body. To clear the Meridians and to improve and maintain the health and vitality of the practitioner.

Weapons in Lau Gar as stated else where:
Broad sword. (Master Yau likes it to be called a knife not a sword, as a sword has two edges)

Staff. The staff is used extensively within Lau Gar. We generally start with the standard 6 foot red oak. But this is superseded by the longer white wax wood staff for more advanced forms.

Butterfly knives. The forms for butterfly knives are very complex and are generally only studied after the empty hand forms have been learnt.

Other weapons used are the Tiger fork, long spear & straight sword.

As for locks and throws, they are an integral part of Lau Gar. "Chi Na" or "cum na" throwing and locking is taught extensively by certain instructors Sifu Pete Hornby being one of these people.

I could sing their praises endlessly but a recommend you get down there and see for your self.


good luck
Colin..........

[This message was edited by Crawling Tiger on 10-23-01 at 06:59 AM.]

[This message was edited by Crawling Tiger on 10-23-01 at 07:05 AM.]

[Ben Gash]

What does Lau Gar Gim look like? Southern sword forms always interest me.

"Weapons are the embodiments of fear,
the wise use them only when they have no choice"
Lao Tzu

[lausan]

Lau Gar does not teach the Gim as part of the sllyabus.I presume some people have seen Lau practitioners practicing either Yang or Chen Gim.

Lausan

[Rickster]

Hi

I went to a Lau Gar class last night and saw the advanced grades practicing with nunchuks (sp?) and also the straight sword (is this the Gim?)

Do many (any?) students practice other weapons outside of the syllabus?

Cheers.

Rich.

[phoenix-eye]

To my knowledge nunchaku are not a part of the Lau Gar syllabus and the students were probably p1ssing around.

Nunchaku in CMA always seem a bit naff. To my (limited) knowledge they were not a popular weapon through history and the big sweeper (pole with short section attached by chain) was more favoured. Nunchaku seem only to belong in demonstration forms.

Correct me someone if I'm wrong (although I'm sure you will)

"We had a thing to settle so I did him"
Tamai, 43, was quoted by Police as saying.

[Colin]

The nunchukas are not part of the Lau Gar syllabus, and I agree they are generally regarded as a pretty basic weapon within the CMA.

Some senior students still like to play with the chucks and it does impress the kids! LOL.

As for the Gim Straight sword. IT's not part of the grading syllabus, however many of the senior instructors do practice with this weapon as it is very graceful and the form practiced is very complex & develops many aspects of the practitioners martial skills.

regards
C...........