Greetings from a Sifu of Seven Star Mantis

[LawClansman]

Curious,
Wandra asked about the rings and kung fu cat1 asked about the wooden dummy. same questions as you and in the same manner.

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Sifu Carl

[curious]

Sifu Albright,
Wandra is a friend of mine, who is also interested in kung fu, though I was unaware that he emailed you. We are both looking for a sifu right now, and we have many of the same concerns about the safety of body conditioning methods. Sorry about the confusion. Peace, and God Bless. Today, I just entered your guestbook to ask a few more questions about kwon lop Gong. My email address is curiousform@hotmail.com.

[curious]

Sifu Albright,
I am so sorry if you feel that i am playing games with you here. It is really bothering me now. I have the utmost respect for you, and i really aprreciate all the help the you have given me. If you are still mad at me, then I feel like a have just lost a good friend. Peace, and God Bless.

[curious]

Sifu Albright,
I really like to be liked. I hate to make any enemies. I do not see any reason why we cannot bury the hatchet here and still be friends. I really would like to do business with you once I am ready for the training that requires the kwong lop gong. Maybe I do ponder too much, but I am just concerned about the safety of my well-being. Peace, and God Bless.

[LawClansman]

Curious,

I was not insinuating anything.If you don't ask questions you don't learn anything. It was only a comment that since the questions were answered on this fourm there was no need to answer it again on the guestbook. There is no problem between you and I. Go back to the first post in this thread.I still stand by it.

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Sifu Carl

[curious]

Sifu Albright,
You are a godsend! Peace, and God Bless.

[Thrullas]

Greetings Sifu Carl Albright,
I am a new student of the Wah Lum Temple in Orlando, Florida. What do you know of its training and style? I'm new at learning the mantis style - coming from a 5 animal style (tiger) its actually kind of a major transition from non traditional to traditional. I was in awe when I went to the 2000 tournament here in Orlando. I would appreciate your thoughts and anyone elses.

[woliveri]

I think one thing you'll notice about the
Wah Lum style is it's basics. A lot of
people look past the basics. I would
recommend strongly to focus on in training
the basics. From Iron Bridge to side to
sides to straight kicks.. etc. I knew a guy
who could do Iron Bridge for 10 minutes.
This is the core of your Wah Lum training.
When you learn a form take it apart and find
an area your weak on. Extract that part and
make a line exercise of it (doing the left
and right side of the exercise in a line)
until your better at it. Keep a list of
these exercises for your future reference.
One exercise I used to like is standing Golden Chicken for a period of time. This
really helps your balance. After you can do
it on a flat surface, try it on a short
pole. Try it on a red brick. Anyway, I
think you get the idea. Don't get caught up
in wanting more and more forms too much
unless you're really strong in basics. How
about Tam Tui leg lifts? There is so much
just in the basics that you could train for
years before even learning a form. When you
learn a form, do it over and over until you
get it. Then try to do it on the left side,
the mirror opposite of the way you learned.
This will make you think more about the
movements.

Basics, Basics, Basics.....

Also, you might try writing your forms out.
This will also make you think about the
techniques.

Wah Lum has some great stuff... enjoy.

Hope this helps.

[Hua Lin Laoshi]

woliveri,
I second your comments about basics. Too often I see students in a hurry to learn the next move or next form without perfecting the basics. They struggle with the form wondering why they're having trouble.

All the Wah Lum exercises and forms are laid out so as to prepare you for what comes next. Master Chan has spent a lot of years refining the curriculum to make it a natural progression through the different levels.

What the student needs to remember is that learning the sequence of moves in a form is just the beginning. When you finish learning the moves you don't go on to the next form. Instead, you take the time to perfect and understand the form. When you've reached a satisfactory level of proficiency you're ready for the next challenge.

[woliveri]

One other thing I might suggest for serious
students and this goes for outside Wah Lum
as well as inside and that is pick a Gung
for yourself and practice that. That is,
find your strong point whether it be upper
body or lower body and train that every
day. When I trained with a Vietnamese
gentleman he told me stories of how he, his
friend, and other trained in Vietnam (he is
now in his 60's). One method which stuck in
my mind was his friend had in his back yard
a large tree trunk. Every day he would get
into a low horse stance up close to the tree
trunk and with both open palms, push it
forward. Then he'd repeat this until he
pushed the tree trunk across his yard. Then
he'd turn around and push it back. He did
this every day for years. One day my
teacher and his friend were confronted
by two attackers. In a moment my teacher's
friend stepped forward and pressed his open
palms into the chests of the two attackers
and sent them flying leaving each with a palm
print on their chests. At that the fight was
over and my teacher and his friend went on
their way. Take the story for what it's
worth but it does illustrate what daily
training in a gung can do. I've always
considered my leg strength stronger than my
upper body. One gung I've thought up for
myself was to take a old tire and basicly do
the same thing as above. That is, get into
a low squat with my feet together close to
the tire and kick the tire with a side kick
remaining as low as I could but not sitting
on my squat, then repeat.
There is a basic movement in Wah Lum like
this but the tire would add resistance and
a greater workout. This would be done of
course after the same movements without the
tire can be done well.

After practice I might suggest a sitting
meditation to collect back to the center.
I've found this very beneficial.

[Thrullas]

I agree.... I used to prcatice doing the Golden Cheicken Stance balancing a glass of water on my knee. This was to help me with balance while practicing my 8 point blocking system from 5 animal style. I am very pleased with the Wah Lum Temple. I believe that instead of everyone bashing each others styles that they should practice on bettering what they know. I dont believe any style is better than the other..... it depends upon the student who can develop the style to make it work better. I was told before the Wah Lum Temple, that the monks used to only learn 1 strike a year. This was for them to better this strike or block. To me this is what makes your style better. I hope everyone understands, you have to remember no matter how good you are there is always some one better. But to better yourself makes everyone better. Like you might have noticed Im new here on this forum and the temple, but I have seen alot of things in training.

Enjoy everyone and enjoy life.

Thrullas

[Spaz]

Im studying Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu, and i was told that after i learned the base of Kung Fu itself ,, and begin to learn the forms of Mantis Kung Fu,, that i would accually b able to learn Tiger Claw, Eagle Claw,, and other animal forms from instrucional videos, considering i cannot learn any of them because Mantis Kung Fu is all that is offered in my area,, dont get me wrong, i love mantis kunf fu, probobly the most, but i would like to learn many forms of kung fu,, especially Drunkin Monkey.
Just wondering if learning from videos would just b a waste of time [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]


[This message has been edited by Spaz (edited 08-28-2000).]

[woliveri]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Thrullas:
I am very pleased with the Wah Lum Temple. I believe that instead of everyone bashing each others styles that they should practice on bettering what they know. I dont believe any style is better than the other..... it depends upon the student who can develop the style to make it work better.
Thrullas[/quote]

There is a LOAD of great stuff at Wah Lum.
My only advice to anyone there would be to
put on your plate only what your sure you can
eat. That is, it's easy to get caught up in
the seminars, cruises, trips to China, etc.
It's very easy to get sidetracked and spread
yourself thin. Then your doing so much stuff
you forget what you learned on that seminar,
cruise, etc. I suggest that you go slow,
learn well and move on to the next exercise.
If your a dedicated student I would even
strongly suggest private lessons. If you
know how to practice on your own this is a
good way to go. It keeps your training
focused because of a lack of distractions.

I'm speaking from experience and offer only
to help, not bash.

Hope this helps,
William Oliveri
wuji@nivets.com
wuji@bigvalley.net

[Thrullas]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by woliveri:
There is a LOAD of great stuff at Wah Lum.
My only advice to anyone there would be to
put on your plate only what your sure you can
eat. That is, it's easy to get caught up in
the seminars, cruises, trips to China, etc.
It's very easy to get sidetracked and spread
yourself thin. Then your doing so much stuff
you forget what you learned on that seminar,
cruise, etc. I suggest that you go slow,
learn well and move on to the next exercise.
If your a dedicated student I would even
strongly suggest private lessons. If you
know how to practice on your own this is a
good way to go. It keeps your training
focused because of a lack of distractions.

I'm speaking from experience and offer only
to help, not bash.

Hope this helps,
William Oliveri
wuji@nivets.com
wuji@bigvalley.net[/quote]

Sorry woliveri,
I didnt believe you was bashing ... im just tired of seeing on this and other forums arguing who style is better. I agree with you 100 %. Thanks for your input.

Thrullas

[Lost_Disciple]

Hey sifu Albright!
Just checking in to let you know that I'm still alive.
Made the dreaded move back up to school 2 weeks ago. Time to see if all that preparation for coming back here will pay off. Getting a deal from the phone company that I can have unlimited minutes in Texas for a flat rate. I should be on the phone with my sifu at least once a week, and my classmates moreso.
Hoping to go back to Austin to train in late september, but my loan payments haven't come through, and I can't even pay the bills.
I bought 2 of the Lee Kam Wing books, and a lot of philosophy books as well. I set up that shrine too. Got any advice for staying motivated, being able to find time, and any tips on practising when stuck so far away from the kwoon?

After reading the WHF kicks thread, sounds like you got a lot going on, I'm totally envious. hehehe [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Take care