Lum Gwai

[The Xia]

Running on the balls of the feet using short strides, knees slightly flexed, thigh muscles and hip flexors doing most of the work. I believe the idea is to move quickly while having as little impact as possible on the ground.

Some white crane schools also keep up the tradition of verticle jump training. Quentin Fong has a terraced garden in his back yard with concrete ledges--a source of pain for many students.

Thanks. Do you know of other Southern TCMA that do this?

[jdhowland]

Thanks. Do you know of other Southern TCMA that do this?

No, I don't. I have heard of many southern styles practicing footwork on muih fa jong, teapots, rims of baskets, etc., but none do the running. Maybe it's a peculiarity of lama styles imported from western China.

I studied under two masters of the lama tradition and, although they were from different branches of the art, both emphasized running and jumping as a part of daily training. Running and jumping contests were important sports among ethnic Tibetans and were even a part of monastic training for some kinds of monks such as "lung-gom-pa" messengers.

The general consensus seems to be that southern systems prefer to issue power while grounded, hence good footwork but not a lot of jumping. Some northern stylists have no problem with issuing power while in mid-air.

[The Xia]

No, I don't. I have heard of many southern styles practicing footwork on muih fa jong, teapots, rims of baskets, etc., but none do the running. Maybe it's a peculiarity of lama styles imported from western China.

I studied under two masters of the lama tradition and, although they were from different branches of the art, both emphasized running and jumping as a part of daily training. Running and jumping contests were important sports among ethnic Tibetans and were even a part of monastic training for some kinds of monks such as "lung-gom-pa" messengers.

Sounds great. One of the things I like about it is your running becomes martial arts practice. You know, I've always wondered just how much in the way of Lama practice remains in LR arts. Here is another example of some of it.

The general consensus seems to be that southern systems prefer to issue power while grounded, hence good footwork but not a lot of jumping. Some northern stylists have no problem with issuing power while in mid-air.

Stances definately account for different kinds of jing. Although, it's worthy to note the jumping that's found in southern traditions. I tend to think lots of it is battlefied material. Also, there are Southern stylists that are famous for their "light body skills," such as Lum Sang of Jook Lum Southern Mantis.

[The Xia]

ttt..............