Bak Mei

[dwid]

-----On a personal note, I find Black Belt on the average to be a much more self defense focused mag than Inside Kung Fu.------

I would agree that neither magazine is very good. Check out "Wushu-Qigong" or "Taichi and Alternative Health" (I think this is the correct title - it's a British mag.) Both are solid internal style magazines, and Wushu has some stuff on external styles. I guess my problem with Black Belt is it gives a snapshot of an art that is more distracting than enlightening (even though it's technically more self defense focussed). You're right though about Inside Kung-fu, in trying to be some pre-eminent magazine about the incredibly huge world of kung-fu, it kind of seems unfocussed on anything very specific, and I've read some pretty poorly researched stuff in it, like last months diatribe on what is internal and what is external in the martial arts - that was a hoot...

Anyway, if you want a good mag, check out those two I mentioned above.

[bigbear]

the information about breathing in and compressing your stomach is correct however it does not apply to bak mei breathing. it is of daoist origin.
the siu lum monks breathed normally but filled the stomach region, many people these days breathe through the chest, not through the stomach.
bak mei has sui lum origins as well as daoist methods.
when we breath, we breathe in and float, exhale and sink (tun toa fou chum).
it is like breathe in and rise, breathe out and fall.
power is generated through the perfect usage of these breathing and body techniques.
when we breathe out it not a full breath, just a little, so we keep reserves for follow up techniques.
your idea of breathing in to strike is correct in a way.
when performing jik bo kuen, you use bui ji as an initial technique while breathing in. it can be used for deflecting, bridging and attacking at the same time, depending on your angle or the attack. so it can be said that we breathe when we strike. this does not mean that every strike your breathing in. that is incorrect.

fubokuen is correct in that the breathing in compressing the stomach, and the breathing out expanding the stomach theory comes from daoist beliefs and is used to channel chi through different chi gung methods. just like different breathing persentages activate different parts in meditation


i hope this helps [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[This message was edited by bigbear on 10-06-00 at 10:39 PM.]

[This message was edited by bigbear on 10-06-00 at 10:42 PM.]

[Brad]

I like Journel of Asian Martial Arts.

yut tun, yut tou
hay chum dan tian

hope this helps if you understand...

big bear- very nice post
if your doing multiple strikes eg: breathe in once punch out 3x breathe out 3 short breaths.
never exhale all your breath.
reverse breath is daoist and is more for chi kung and meditation. your breathing should be deep and it should sink and stored down in your dan tian,
then pushed out through the body. (ging)

[Fubokuen]

These last posts are too good for THIS Forum. Please, open a topic in the Southern?

fu bo kuen- thankyou for your honesty

i have many things to talk about, unfortunately some people just stop you in your tracks and dont give you a chance.
i might just start up a topic!

peace

[bigbear]

thank you for your comments
it is nice to be able to talk about topics we love with people that understand and that have mutual respect for each other.
F.T, as always, it is nice to hear your comments about topics. your knowledge of the arts is respectable.i'd be interested in your history of BMP. the similarities etc.
Fubokuen, i know little about you, but from your recent posts, i gather our systems aren't that different. body postures, power generation etc. seems very similar. i would like to know more about BFP.

thankyou [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Lau]

Bigbear,

Interesting to hear that you breathe in when you do the biu tse. I breathe out during that movement. And since it is an attack I find that more natural.

Do you have a specific reason to breathe in with that move?

Regards, Lau

lau,
you can use it as both, if you use it in rising you can up root your opponent, set up for a seizing hand then follow as sinking with the rear hand exhaling, locking waist, sink shoulder,ribs elbow when striking. thats the basic bil tze choom choy.
if you use it to exhale you would simply be striking your opponent while you sink this will not allow you to up root properly, plus when sinking especially bil tze if your opponent is taller than you, you will not have the reach and the proper alingment for that strike.

in my jik bo kuen ther is a move that we breath in and sinkchi and posture not rising, then bil tze choon choy explodes in 2 short exhales with still air packed down in dan tian.

hope this helps you a little bit [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[Lau]

Big Bear

interesting to hear that you breathe in with the biu tse. I breathe out with that movement. and since it is an attack it seems the most logical and natural to me.

Do you have a specific reason why you breathe in with the biu tse? Do you breathe in with all the biu tse's in the other forms?

Regards, Lau

[MoQ]

But if it's like a biu sau before lap sau chung chui it's a fundamental float up "in breath" and then out for the grab and punch.

Sometimes its hard to say since to "breathe normal" is to let the body actions set the breathing and then there's breath methods that allow breathing in and out in various partial breaths to become natural.

[bigbear]

Lau,
we use it primarily to uproot the opponent, so yes it is done with breathing in. however when you bridge and it is close range, you can use bui ji to attack the throat,eyes or muscle points on the shoulder region, in this instance you'd breathe out not in.
i feel more at ease with breathing in while doing bui ji because we rise then fall while punching.
you have to breathe in initially with bui ji.
however, depending on the speed of your techniques you might take a deep breathe and perform 3 moves while breathing out in short spirts.
the shorter the breathe, the quicker the technique. our forms are there to guide and educate us the fundamentals of kung fu.

hope this explains, sometimes it is hard to put in words what the mind knows.

[phantom]

Thank uor, Dwid. Could somebody please tell me who are some legitimate sifus of this style in the United States?

im in san deiago........