My 2 cents !

[jingwah]

Just to mention...

ALL 5F forms are two man sets because you train as if there is an opponent even when you are alone. It is vital to see the opponent in your mind's eye from Day One. You also practice with a partner whenever possible and he/she does the other side of the form, which is the attacker position. In additon one should also practice the forms from different directions and from the left side to balance strength. There are also formal two person forms in the style. BTW It is fun to string together favorite moves from different forms and choreograph them with a partner to make a two-person from. When you have practiced this you can make really solid kicks and blocks and punches.

[bridgeport]

The forms are one of the great benfits of studying 5f... you dont have to want to be a great fighter. What a wonderful combination
of elements are found through practice, exercise, mental stimulation, usable fighting and self defense techniques. I always thought it was very cool the idea that the movements had been developed and refined over time into such highly stylized forms
based on the animal movements... that alone is well worth the price of admission. I wish I had had better appreciation for that when I was younger, Perhaps I did not appreciate fully just what was being handed to me and equally as important, by who.
We have truly been blessed to have Gary as our teacher.

[jay]

Hey Bridgeport,
Is that you Bob? I don't think any of us understood what we had until we got older and began to understand what it is about. I appreciate it more every day as well as having Gary as our teacher and friend.
Jay

[Gary Steuer]

I have to agree with everyone. What is good for one person isn't going to be good for another. Everyone has their right to an opinion , even when I think it is wrong. Sparring is ok , for fun. For fighting, you have to practice with others until it hurts and you know you can go the extra step when you are called to use it . Many people have firearms and go to pistol ranges and are excellent with their weapons ! Key word was weapon.... Your martial art training is geared for many things, but mostly it is to make you into a weapon ! Sparring will not do that for you ! Because of the society we live in it is also immoral and improper to go looking for fights. If that is what you want to do the authorities will eventually put you in a place where there are others just like you and you will have the chance to try your techniques every day ! Like I said beore, many people own weapons, and are good with them, but............. Could you take a human life ? This is a moral dilema... There is no answer ! At our present time we should look at our training as a way to build our bodies and our minds and to be secure enough in our feelings to know that if we needed to use what we have learned we would be able to protect ourselves and our loved ones !

I think a teacher is only as good as the students who have learned from them . Charactor is very very important !

[Gary Steuer]

Jim is right in that our forms should also be learned against the opponants that aren't visible. GM Wong asked me to grab those that were relaxing and taking it easy and make them workout. Even if it is with someone you don't particularly like it will give you a chance to see if your techniques will work and to bruise them a little. Remember, there are at least 4 sides to your form and multiple partners that you can work with all the times.

[Gary Steuer]

Just to recall the experience Robert Dorman just had. Robert worked hard in class and tried all the techniques that we threw around but I would say had probably never had the reason to see if any of them would ever really work. When he was threatened by a bunch of guys who wanted to hurt him and his son , Robert , without thinking let his body take over and go to work to protect them.... Good show Robert !

[bridgeport]

Hey jay, its me... check out the "checking in thread".
Sorry about the pistol analogy... when I re-read that post it just didnt come out quite the way I was thinking.... although I did kind of want to communicate that aspect of the arts as being
"martial" as in Kung fu is at heart a warfighting art and was certainly serious business in old china... very serious business!
I thought my first post in this thread was more accurate.
And Braz if you read this I didnt mean to be confusing... just me being me I guess. Anyways, my kung fu has certainly helped me
"rise to the occasion" a few times.... hey that would make a good thread.... when and where have you used your skill.

[jay]

Bob,
It will be good to see you soon. Any time you want to go over forms, let me know. What's up with your brother. Nobody hears from him anymore.
Jay

[pacificnw]

Thank you Gary

I have to say that the first two maybe three years of training was more like basic training and never really made a lot of sense to me as far as fighting goes .it was as if I was strenghting my body but not my brain . it was not untill many years of practice that I started to see the other sides of the forms and realized there uses . Jay asked me what technique I chose to fight with when we were jumped and I told him that I didnt get to chose and that things just happened . I now know how this happened and have a greater respect for all of the forms and exercises , the meth heads have a repsect for it too now .
Robert Dorman

[jay]

Robert,
I never asked you that. Just the opposite. I commented that we just react from our training.
Jay

[pacificnw]

Gary and Jay

Jay still corrects me ! lol

[bridgeport]

Jay, I am sworn to secrecy.

[jingwah]

Bob

Please give my best to Tim (I actually typed "your best to my brother" just like in the Old Guy jokes). I hope we can see and hear from him soon and that he is doing well....

Jingwah

[bridgeport]

I'm pretty sure Tim will come down in March when Gary is here.
I will come for a visit also... It's really nice to see all you guys.
My younger son has been showing some interest in Kung fu
and I would like him to see a class and meet you all.

[mic]

Just posted this on SeMing's forum and since we are MARTIAL, I thought It would be appropriate to share. Teach, if you don't care for what I just wrote, I think there is a way for you to remove my comments. I don't know how but another forum administrator like Steeve, SeMing, GS or Sergio might be able to help with that.
Thanks a bunch,
mic


"Don't know if I should start a new thread for books but GS can fix that for me, pretty please !
Here are a few books I HIGHLY recommend:

OVERTHROW - America's century of regime change from Hawaii to Iraq -
by Stephen Kinzer (2006)
ISBN 0-8050-7861-4

AMERICAN HOLOCAUST - The Conquest of the New World -
by David E. Stannard (1992)
ISBN - 780195085570

The Civil War in Spain by Robert Goldston (1966) before ISBN numbers.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-252895

Gypsies - Their life, lore and legends - by Konrad Bercovici (1983)
ISBN 0-517-412190 - X

After reading all this you might understand why the rest of the world thinks like it thinks and how frontiers/borders have made our nomadic lifestyle just about IMPOSSIBLE!

The book about The Civil War in Spain tells you about a Dictator called Francisco (Paco) Franco, born one day before or after Custer (Little Big Horn and Cavalry Battalion 4 or 7 something like that) of the US Army branch of US military that really messed up at Wounded Knee , Vietnam :' (and now IRAQ and probably Afghanistan too! I don't follow the military moves that closely. Actually, I haven't watched TV since I went down to L.A. in March, to train with Tattoo Gary (Steuer.)

He was one of the first USMC in 'Nam and he wrote a manuscript that I have always said SHOULD BE published.
Gary if you read this forum... go print it so others know about the effects of warring . Glad it was your way for self-therapy cuz we can't count on Vet's hospital to provide for the returning Vets that don't come back in a box or bag.

They will need serious PTSD help and, someone we all know, want to veto IF Congress passes a law to fund Mental Health for Vets.

The "Coucou's Nest," as Vets call it, is the last step of their journey where experimental brain surgery and electroshock and more is performed on G.I.s.

Hello!!!! Smell the coffee! Decaying flesh smells a lot worse!
Yes, I realize I am writing on a MARTIAL ARTS forum. Thanks again for taking your precious time to read my blah, blah!

Go visit a Vet's hospital, check out the cheapest food they can afford versus the price of a decent and healthy salad. I'll tell you since you probably don't have the time: A lot have liver problems and diabetes. The cheapest is: coffee with "fake" sugar that we find in Diet sodas and donuts! Salad were $6 to $8 a plate last I visited and it was SFO Vet's Hospital a few years ago!

Hello!!! ;D Can you hear me now?

PEACE, PAZ PACE, PAIX, and whatever it is in Mandarin or Cantonese."
(and all other languages of the world!)