A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF FIVE ANCESTOR IN THE UK.

Tue, 6 Oct 2009 19:45:49 +0100

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN FOR THE CHINESE PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL WUZU ORGANISATION, AND THEREFORE IS BRIEF. PLEASE ADD YOUR OWN MEMORIES OR QUESTIONS IF THIS HISTORY HAS TOUCHED YOU IN SOME WAY.
In 1976 one Friday evening Shigong Han gathered his eager students in a circle and began for the first time to teach them the foundation form of Wuzuquan:- Sanchien. It was a strange set of movements to those assembled, with stances they had never seen before and breathing that was peculiar and challenging. But for many, like myself, it was precisely what they had been waiting for. I had been seeking an authentic experience of Chinese martial arts and was warned that something interesting was about to happen in the training hall at the top of a British Telecoms centre. So I was there when it began, and remember clearly the excitement of the evening. Here at last was the real thing.
Sanchien has been taught, every week of every year, by Shigong Han ever since then. And, of course, so much more. Since then innumerable forms, weapons, qigong exercises, breathing routines, and techniques have been added to those first strange movements. The road has been tough and demanding. But the rewards have been great as well.
Early in the school’s history we were honoured with frequent visits from Grandmaster Chee Kim Thong. We learned with a great appetite, inspired both by Grandmaster Chee’s supreme skill as a martial artist and by his amazing abilities to heal others. I still remember him sitting calmly with crossed-legs, receiving the full-strength blow to the top of his head from a Taekwondo instructor, and then rising to check that his hand was not damaged. From all these experiences a greater and more rounded appreciation for the tradition we had joined was created. Grandmaster Chee continued to visit us throughout the rest of his life.The School has had many triumphs. In 1980 the UK School participated in the 4th South Eat Asia Sanshou Championship and won a gold medal in the middle-weight category. Two year later a silver medal was won in light heavyweight category at the 5th championships. Shigong Han has been the National Wushu Coach for Great Britain, and during this period the team consistently won medals at every European Wushu championship as well as further medals at the 3rd International Wushu championship in Hangzhou.
But perhaps its greatest triumph is its longevity. It was born amid the kung fu craze of the 1970’s along with many other schools. Few of them have survived. But the firm roots of Wuzuquan and the ever-deepening understanding of Shigong Han, together with hi generosity in teaching have ensured a continuous history for Chee Kim Thong’s heritage in Europe. The school has expanded. From the early home in London the school has expanded across European borders. In 1991 Ireland formally became part of the Wuzuquan School. Shigong Han’s students also teach in Norway. The School regularly takes trips to Wuzuquan’s homeland, participating keenly in the International gatherings in Fuchien, meeting other practitioners, contributing to the displays, and continuing the learning of its students.
Today the European school heads towards its 35th anniversary. For more than three decades Shigong Han has generously and tirelessly given of his time and understanding. The number of people whose lives have been touched by his teaching and this ancient art is impossible to say. Many will testify to its great impact on their lives, an impact that goes so much further than just being able to defend yourself.
The European school will continue to train, and continue deepening its understanding, as far as experience and the continuing advice of Shigong Han allow us to. We wish all our fellow Wuzuquan practitioners, wherever they are in the world, good health and training. We look forward to further chances to share and deepen our experience of the art with you.

MOMENTS OF HARMONY & PERFECTION

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 20:32:57 +0000

Here are a few video moments worth watching for their sense of harmony and perfection achieved through many years of practice. (Don’t forget, there are more videos of Five Ancestors on the FIVE ANCESTORS & WUJI page.)

The first one here is a compilation of wushu. I am not usually so keen on wushu, but I loved this.

Here is another compilation from a different tradition, embodied in the shape of the famous Grandmaster of Ninjutsu. A few moments here to make you smile?

And here is the glorious sumo, Chiynofuji, in 53 successive victories!

Lastly a change in form, to show that there are many embodied arts that years of practice can raise to a sublime level.

I am interested in your own suggestions. Post the hyperlinks below.

GATEWAY TO THE INNER WARRIOR

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 11:37:05 +0000

Inside every true martial art, and indeed every profound practice, is a gateway to a much greater world, the landscape of the wisdom traditions, and the path of the inner warrior.
Warriorship is an evocative term. Most people have a strong reaction towards it, either positively or negatively, partly because it is an archetypal term. In other words its meaning stretches roots deep into our psyche, and depending on our own relationship to these deep and energetic images, we will respond. Some will resonate powerfully with the term, and aspire to warriorship, others will reject it as a deeply suspect area of human life, responsible for violence and suffering.
But warriorship needs redefining. I have been disappointed and bored with the public face of martial arts for some time now. It is not that I want to exclude from warriorship or martial arts learning to fight. In fact, I remain committed to keeping this at the centre of any martial arts practice. It gives us a certain grounding in reality often missing from those who practice a form that is not challenged in this fundamental way. I have met too many yoga and ‘tai chi’ practitioners whose view of their own development is unassailable, precisely because they have ensured they are never in a position to be assailed!
But, having practiced the art for 35 years since I was 13, I believe we trivialise the vast riches available within martial arts if we don’t lose this frankly teenage exclusive focus on being tough, invulnerable and beating all opponents. More than that, when placed beside the huge and pressing demands of the next century, with the very survival of a civilised, humane global culture threatened, well… I feel we can offer more to the world than a good punch, kick and grab.
In fact, this deep pool of desire for invulnerability is mainly fed by the stream of fear. It is a fear of life, its knocks and pain, its tenderness and sudden savagery that often motivates the tough guy. One of the many paradoxes of the martial experience comes when the art itself brings us smack bang up against our own actual vulnerability. Early on this may simply be a realisation that all those ways to kill someone with the greatest of ease can also easily be used on yourself, and instead of feeling a powerful and invincible it dawns on you that like everyone else your life is available to the many accidents and intentions of fate. Later this vulnerability may be rediscovered in the sudden breaking open of the heart one can experience on the meditation cushion.
For the external warrior these concerns are not to be acknowledged. It’s not tough or cool. But for me a fundamental part of inner warriorship is to live bravely with this vulnerability, recognising that you will get hurt and eventually die, but nevertheless continuing to risk your whole self in the world.
A bigger vision of what it means to be a martial artist is to find and walk through the gateway to a way of living that is far greater than our present self. This is what we have to explore. This is the realm of the grown up martial artist.
One of the major lessons of my life I learnt in the training hall. My teacher, now Grandmaster Han Kim Sen, was very firm on this issue:- you are responsible for each other’s safety in training and sparring. Especially as you rose to seniority, you were expected to have the skill to measure your blows so no real harm should be done. But it didn’t end there. If you got hit, you were also responsible for getting hit, and could not off-load responsibility for your harm on to the other person. You were to blame if you hurt someone, you were also to blame if you got hurt! Everyway you looked the training returned the responsibility to you.
This was really a form of the more well-known question, the one we need to arrive at the gateway to wisdom. It is this:- who is the real opponent?
Practice mindfully for sometime and you arrive at a very different answer to the one you started a martial art with, because the grown up answer is always… the real opponent is within. The apparent opponent, the one who is out there in front of you, attempting to do some damage, is actually your momentary friend or teacher, revealing the edge you now need to grow along. This attitude, learnt in the sweat and heat of the training hall is one that easily transfers to the turbulence of the rest of our lives, to dealing with the incoming attacks and demands of work or relationships.
The inner warrior’s training has a different emphasis to the external warrior. It utilises the vast technologies of inner knowing that are embedded in the art. In particular, meditation, other awareness practices, and the raising and circulation of energy are central and will be explored here over the coming period.
So the task is to find within whatever practice we have the gateway, and then to walk through into a larger universe.

THE INNER WARRIOR COMMANDMENTS. A DRAFT.

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 11:33:09 +0000

I have written a few ideas about the characteristics of the inner warrior here.
You might like to debate, disagree, add or subtract from it.
A DRAFT OF THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE INNER WARRIOR.
(As warriorship is neither a male or female characteristic I will alternate between his and her.)
1. The inner warrior knows the primary opponent is always within, and that external opponents are often valuable sources of knowledge and energy.
2. The inner warrior takes responsibility for his own being, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, while respecting other people’s journey and decisions.
3. The inner warrior has the courage to risk herself fully in the world.
4. The inner warrior seeks integrity, that is, an ever more perfect alignment between thought, word and action.
5. The inner warrior seeks a life of purpose and service to other living beings and the planet.
6. The inner warrior acknowledges fear without being controlled by fear.
7. The inner warrior seeks growth and trains along the edge of his capability.
8. The inner warrior takes responsibility for her own and others well-being and growth.
9. The inner warrior dedicates his training to life, not his life to training.
10. The inner warrior seeks to develop in all areas of his life, and is dedicated to ongoing practice.
11. The inner warrior seeks to fully embody the qualities of balance, vitality, compassion and commitment.
12. The inner warriors most powerful ally is a sense of humour, for he realises that no matter how well he organises his life there is always a bigger story that makes his look ridiculous.
13. The inner warrior seeks to be defeated by ever greater forces, sacrificing what she is today for what she might become tomorrow.

DEVELOPING SENSORY AWARENESS

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 11:21:46 +0000

How do we increase our sensory awareness? For a martial artist the question takes on increased weight, as our awareness and senses are our first and best line of defence, the source of power and ease. Stories of martial artists with vastly improved sensory awareness are numerous, from the Tai Chi master who could sense and thwart the tiny efforts of a bird trying to launch its flight from his hand, to the blind swordsman’s acute hearing that pin-points the arc of an enemy blade, to the master who is so attuned that he can sense even the first thought of an attack from someone standing behind him. Of course, good sensory awareness can often ‘win’ a struggle before it even begins, as the attuned martial artist steps down another lane rather than the one a mugger waits in, or hears the change in the rhythms of a crowd’s chatter and shifts just a little to the side to avoid an escalating confrontation.
Developing enhanced sensory awareness for martial artists is a key component of developing the inner warrior, and like so much, is a life-long path. We will begin to explore its many dimensions here.
The human being is a very forward orientated animal, with many of the major sense organs positioned to create a highly detailed, sophisticated sense of what is in front of them. Our eyes, nose, mouth and even ears pull us forward into the future we are stepping into. This creates a lopsided energy field, with much less energy circulating at our backs. Balancing this energy field is an important part of feeling centred and alert.
The lack of awareness to what is behind us usually does not bother us. After all, what we are not aware of will seem not to disturb our usual way of functioning. But equally, without awareness of something we are unable to change it.
The opposite is not the case, however. What we are not aware of may literally one day smack us over the back of the head! One way I have for developing a more all round awareness, and particularly awareness of behind me, may not be to everyone’s taste.
I often train in the forest I live beside. A cluster of holly trees can create a large clear space beneath their canopy. Find a way to penetrate through, and it opens like a temple, providing a private area I enjoy practicing in. Yesterday I trained late in the day. Darkness had already descended. It was raining, and although the trees provided a cover from the rain, the inner space was full of random drippings onto the fallen leaves. It was so dark I could hardly see my hands. The random drops behind me sounded like steps, and without willing it I experienced what it was like for the lopsided energy field to flip the other way and be focused on my back. A prickly awareness flooded my spine, my ears strained to distinguish and interpret each sound.
I balanced my field, returning as much awareness to the front, sides, top and bottom as my back just demanded. I restrained my imagination. In the dark you have to pay a lot of attention to the feet, with uneven ground and fallen branches ready to trip you. It is valuable practice for developing all round attention, and this is one reason I enjoy a dark forest for training.
I finish my movements. I felt rooted and good. I turn round to walk, and stumble, shin-first into a fallen log. The pain tells me that there are no special moments for sensory awareness. It is not just for the formal movements of a martial art. The practice is to maintain it at all times. I bow to the log as a worthy opponent and teacher.
You can increase your capacity for more global awareness only through practice. Primarily this requires you to stay aware of your back when you would normally allow it to fade back into sub-consciousness. This means literally your physical back, but also whatever elements you can keep track of in the environment behind you through your hearing, sense of smell, or heat. The point is that we build greater neural connections to our back only through maintaining this awareness. Each time we do it, the existing neural connections get strengthened. It’s like walking across a field. Do it once and the trail fades. Do it everyday and gradually a clear and solid path is created. Practice as always is at the heart of growing awareness.
As you are sitting reading this, stay aware of what is behind you. Try to track the movements of the people behind you. How many are there? What else can you tell about them without turning? How tall? What is their mood? Anything. Just keep connecting to your back.
In the training hall, stand still while someone else approaches you to tap you somewhere on the back. Gradually, learn to anticipate their movement, where the tap will come. If you practice in rows, don’t just be happy with expanded peripheral vision, but put effort into staying connected to what goes on directly behind you.
So the question here is, if training in a dark forest is not your thing, what other ways can you develop a more centred and multi-directional awareness?