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Kung Fu workshop

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This morning I gave a Kung Fu lesson at a local Dutch college. The students were around 17/18 years old. I am glad that this school pays extra attention to sports and Martial Arts, especially allowing me to introduce Chinese Kung Fu to this group of students. Karate, Teakwondo, Judo are all familiar sports. But how about Chinese Kung Fu? Which is the father of various Martial Arts.

I asked them to describe Kung Fu in 1 word. The Dutch students in majority said 1 word : ‘Complicated’. Now I was thinking, why does it seems so complicated to these youngsters?  It might because of the rather new and unknown movements of Kung Fu. It comes from the far East, and I can say there is zero attention in the Dutch media about Chinese Kung Fu. What people get to see are the fancy kicks and people flying around in such Kung Fu movies. Which is of course not a realistic image of the Arts of Chinese Kung Fu. We start the class with the Kung Fu greeting and the experience starts. Actually, with proper explanation and guidance, the students learn very fast. The PE teacher recorded the class for evaluation. The students have to learn the theory as well and pass the test. In my opinion all schools should have Kung Fu classes once in a while, simply because of the many benefits of practicing it. (stretching, basic stances, proper body structure, tai chi, self defence) Chinese Kung Fu is a valuable Art.

When I finished teaching I wandered around in the school. It gaves me some old memories from the college time. Now looking back it was a wonderful time isn’t it?

This is what happened when the Kung Fu class starts!

I’m just kidding, the school bell rang.

Tai Chi Helps Fibromyalgia Pain

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That a Kung Fu practitioner have a stronger body and mind, is a common saying. But does it really improves ones health? Well, in this article Fibromyalgia patients benefited from Tai Chi.

To start with, Fibromyalgia produces pain in the muscles, ligaments and tendons. The nervous system processes pain. The common symptoms are: Pain, Fatigue, Memory and Concentration, Sleep Disorders.

Fibromyalgia patients who took tai chi classes twice a week for three months experienced less pain, stiffness, and fatigue than a control group that attended lifestyle education and stretching sessions, according to the study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Read more about this story at: www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH

Why are thousands of people gathering in National Parks of China  to do Tai Chi in the early morning? Because they know that Tai Chi is a real good meditating method to benefit from.

The practice of Tai Chi promotes the circulation of chi within the body, encouraging wellness and vitality of the person. Although many of these movements originally comes from the martial arts, this art form has developed into an exercise meant for relaxation and reduction of stress.

I personally like Tai Chi a lot. It’s movement in calmness and Stillness within motion. Formless as Wind, Fluent as Water and strong as rock. It includes elements of the Taoism and teaches us to center ourselves both emotionally and physically. Tai Chi practitioners builds up tremendous inner leg strength. The Beauty of the Tai Chi movements, filled with relaxation and that flowing sudden explosiveness. The picture next here seems beautiful, but is unfortunately not a form of Tai Chi.

In the old days most of the people practice Martial Arts to defense itself and the weaker. Nowadays, people practice Kung Fu to maintain its body health, or simply because of interest. Some practices it to gain confidence, discipline and respect, the other does it for a living and so on . .

How about you?