Newsletter 926
The Last Word on Chiang Nan
Got an email from Tom J the other week,
said an interesting thing.
I am getting the picture that “real” true karate, being true to its Okinawan roots, comes very close to stand-up grappling with strikes, I think, also, much of the sensitivity developed in Tai Chi – like exercises was there.
Even though they were not doing Tai Chi as such, lots of practice and thinking through the moves probably brought the Okinawan masters into that level of skill
Which brings me back to your “Everything must be practiced”, admonition. All the pieces are like pieces of a pie and all should be visited in practice.
Thanks Tom.
And he is so right.
People think that Tai Chi is the ultimate,
and it is,
but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others that are the ‘ultimate,’
it doesn’t mean that there aren’t other arts
that don’t elevate the student to the top.
My instructor said to me once:
There are many roads to the top of a mountain.
He had certainly reached the ability,
let alone the sage wisdom,
of a tai chi master.
The problem is that so many people think it is all about fighting.
Fighting is important,
but you go past fighting,
and start to understand how to handle life,
and what person can fight you
if you know how to handle life?
Heck,
a guy throws a punch
and it is an exercise in dissection,
in quick and sure manipulation,
and there is no fight.
And the truth of the matter is that these old guuyts,
these old masters,
who knew so much,
they knew so much because they studied more than just half an art.
Shake Morihei’s tree and you’ll find
the very thorough and complete
aikido jujitsu.
And you’ll find spear fighting,
sword fighting,
and all many of no nonsense studies.
Take a look at the Tai Chi masters,
you’ll find Shaolin,
types of kung fu,
history as bodyguards,
and it’s all to the death.
So don’t think you are going to be a master
if you study just one art.
Oh,
maybe,
but it’ll take half a century,
and then you die.
All of which means you should study ‘Chiang Nan,’
Which takes karate and applies tai chi principles to it.
You get a soft way of train a hard art.
You figure out different ways,
sometimes more efficient ways,
to move the body.
You undo the effects of training that has been too hard,
and has resulted in injuries.
You elongate your life in the martial arts.
You learn more than you ever thought there was in the martial arts.
Okay,
enough preaching.
You heard or you didn’t,
and the choice is up to you.
I think,
next time,
I’ll talk about the various courses.
I’ve got so many,
got so many books,
I should probably differentiate them,
maybe acquaint some of the newbies to this newsletter
about the how and the why of matrixing your martial arts.
Until then,
think about Chiang Nan,
And have a great work out!
Al
