Question for Gene and others

[JamesC]

Gene, I know you were the lead Shaolin instructor for Wing Lam years ago and that you've now moved onto SSL.

I'm just curious about the range of BSL. I've seen it practiced as more of a longfist style for the most part. However, Wing Lam practices his with more of a mid-range style in comparison( like SSL, imo).

My question: is it because of his Hung Gar background, or is it something that was left over from Yim Shang Mo? I remember Tom(i'm a moderator on the old WLE boards) stating that he had a Shaolin monk ask him who his teacher was after performing a set at a tournament.

Just a thought that I had recently. There seems to be some definite stylistic differences in Wing Lam's BSL when compared to other instructors who seem to favor the long-range style.

[GeneChing]

There is a fair amount of mid-range material within BSL. It's definitely more of a long fist, but it's a pretty big system so there's a lot. As for whether this is from Yim Shang Mo, I can't really say as I never studied under him. I've never even seen video of him. My old sifu Wing Lam definitely put a Hung Gar spin on his BSL, plus he's not tall, so he played the system to his advantage and placed more emphasis on the BSL techniques that were more effective for him. Don't we all?

Actually, variation is one of the primary reasons I moved from BSL to Songshan. All the monks and disciples have their own spin on the material, and there's so many of them that there's a lot to explore. I imagine there would be an equivalent amount of variation if the same number of people practiced BSL. You see it in some of the primary forms, like #6 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12952).

[JamesC]

Thanks for the response Gene. That is what I figured.

Even the power generation seems different to me. It seems like more of a full body power generation in comparison. Not sure how to put it into words, really.

For instance, if you take a look at the longfist done by students of Dr. Yang, it seems all of their power comes from the waist. Again, this is probably a carry over from his White Crane.

Anyhow, Sifu Lam's BSL looks similar to what you typically see from SSL guys while other BSL i've seen looks a little closer to stuff like Dr. Yang's students.

If that makes any sense at all.