Jade Dragon School of Kung Fu and Qigong

Occasional diary and reflections of a martial arts teacher

by Paul Chapman

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Are martial arts violent? Why have the Buddhists and Taoists of China spent so much time studying the arts of combat and war?
Apart from the obvious need to defend themselves against marauding warlords and bandits etc the monks of China found that combat is a microcosm of life itself. In combat, as in life, we need to learn how to cope with being pushed and pulled around without either caving in to the pressure or pushing back in a way that's inappropriately forceful. A good kung fu system teaches you to respond in a way that maintains a calm mind and relaxed body but is able to generate great power. Combat training teaches you a wide variety of ways to repond to pressurised situations as its often a lack of choice that triggers violence in the first place eg the man who is unable to express how he feels and so has to resort to lashing out in frustration. Martial arts teaches us to maintain balance in both mind and body so that we can respond appropriately to any situation or threat. Much of the conflict that we encounter is inside ourselves. Our muscles are tight and are constantly pulling against each other, our minds are full of negative self talk and our emotions are up and down pushing us forward in anger or pulling us back in fear.
The goal of martial arts training is firstly to conquer the battles within, to release tension in the muscles, quieten down the inner voice of self criticism that drains us of energy prevents us from fulilling our potential and settling down our extreme emotional reactions so that we are less affected by the events that go on around us. This is far more important than learning how to kick, punch or throw. All of us are affected by stress and ill health from time to time but few will actually be attacked physically. The martial arts training takes the skills of combat and makes them useful in everyday life. They help to develop you as a more realised person and free the latent resources inside you.

Some people come to these classes looking for an increased fitness level. Some come to learn how to defend themselves. Some come looking for effective ways to release stress while still others are drawn here for a meaningful spiritual pathway to live their lives by.
All of these goals can be catered for if the individual has the ability to commit themselves to study over a long period of time. Many people come for one or two lessons and say it isn't for them. They don't see the value in the lesson that is being taught that evening not realising that it's just a piece in an infinitely larger jigsaw. However, many come and stay. People from other martial arts come and see how the skills taught here are more advanced and complete than other skills they have learned. People with various health problems come and find those problems becoming eased or disappearing completely due to the effects of using the mind and body in a way that restores a natural balance and aliveness. For those who wish to come and try us out then please don't judge us on what happens in one lesson. There is far more here than can even be hinted at.

Apologies for not having written anything on this page for a while. However there are 2 items of club news. Firstly we are saying goodbye to the Henley venue. There were a few problems with the first sessions there and partly because of this the classes never took off. It's not viable to keep them going at Henley so apologies to those who went. Obviously you are welcome to the come along to our Caversham venue.

Secondly I would like to offer my congratulations to Les Dearman and Sam Bates who have shown a lot of commitment and dedication over the last 18 months to 2 years. They have proved that they are capable of studying kung fu at a much higher level and so have been invited to join the inner school of senior students. This is a great honour that is not given lightly. The beginners classes are very challenging mentally as well as physically for all new students and it takes quite a while for them to get to grips with the fundamentals and principles of the system, to learn the moves and forms and prove that they are willing and able to learn more. The jump from beginner to advanced level is a large one (it often feels like they are starting again from stage 1) and if they hadn't gained a good mastery of the fundamentals it would be impossible for them to learn the higher level skills. Senior students are not only given the opportunity to learn skills that go way beyond beginner levels but are also expected to learn how to pass on their knowledge to others. Many of them, in time, will make excellent teachers. If you are a beginner in the school they are available to help you with your fundamental training. They are recognisable by the club tshirts that are only worn by the members of the inner school. Once again congratulations to Les and Sam and also welcome back to Nigel Kelsall to the inner school who had to leave for a while due to personal commitments elsewhere.

The inner school members in order of seniority are as follows:

Paul Chapman
Michael Rueker
Owen Goode
Ian Fisher
James Craven
Nigel Kelsall
Les Dearman
Sam Bates

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Jade Dragon kung fu is what I would call a complete martial art. What I mean by that is that a complete martial art should have an answer to anything that you can throw at it (with the obviousl exeption of firearms). Most martial arts are focused or based on certain elements of combat such as grappling, throwing or kicking. As such they develop good defences against the kind of attack that they focus on. A TKD practitioner would be able to defend well against an attacker who uses his legs primarily because that is the kind of attack they are used to dealing with in class. How well they would fare against an attacker who would get in close and hurl them to the ground is another matter.

To study a complete martial art means you must be able to deal with a huge range of different attack/defence scenarios. You must be comfortable at all ranges and from all directions. You should know how to deal with long, medium and short range weapons and be able to use them yourself. You should understand how different martial arts develop power and be able to deal with that etc etc. Obviously the study of such an art takes a long time but it is time that you are spending on developing yourself in so many ways. You start to understand the forces that can act upon you and the most efficient ways for you to balance and control those forces, you develop a sense of the environment and tactics, you gain speed and decisiveness of thought and you also learn the most important lesson of all - that the only opponent in life you need to deal with is yourself. If you are attacked in the street your opponent is giving you a set of tactics and forces to deal with. Will the various parts of yourself come together to deal with that scenario successfully or won't they? Study enough, train enough and they will.

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The Jade Dragon School teaches traditional arts in a traditional way. What this means is that the way the school is run has changed little in perhaps hundreds of years. Most martial arts these days have adopted what I call the 'Japanese model' of running classes. These involve lots of rituals, fancy coloured belts, regular gradings, lots of discipline and so on.

This has never been the Chinese way which has more of a Confucianist ethos with a strong emphasis on family. Joining the school is like joining a family where the teacher is the father, the senior students are the elder brothers and sisters and the junior students the younger siblings. The emphasis is on self discipline and mutual support with everyone helping and supporting each other and the older students and teacher available to give whatever asistance and guidance is needed to help you on your path.

This is in start contrast to the more militaristic ethos of many other classes where shouting, drills, instant obediance and so on are much in evidence. We have never adopted the belt grading systems because they tend to be open to huge abuse and aren't really relevant unless you are going to be competing with someone of about the same level. Heavy discipline is ok for teaching children who may need a firm hand at times but for adult classes an approach that encourages self discipline is of more value. If you choose to train hard at home you will progress much faster and will get far more benefit from each lesson than a person who just turns up once a week and does little training in between lessons. This is self discipline and I am only here to show you the path - I can't and won't walk it for you or berate you for not training hard enough at home.

We also have a minimum of ritual here (although most Westerners seem to love the ritualistic side of the arts). We bow as a sign of mutual respect but little else. The students even call me by my first name instead of using a title.

On the subject of titles there are many in the martial arts who give themselves grandiose titles such as master this and grandmaster that. Some people think that because they know a few fancy movements that means they can be called master and gain respect with that title. There is nothing to stop them from doing this so students should be aware that just becasue a person has a fancy title it doesn't necessarily follow that they have the skills or knowledge to go with it.

In our school (as in many traditional Chinese schools) the terms master and grandmaster have a specific meaning. Your teacher is, in effect, your father and should be shown the same deference that you would show your own father. Your teacher's teacher (ie your grandfather) is called master and the most senior master within the system is known as the grandmaster. One cannot become a master until one's own students are running their own classes as one cannot become a grandmaster until there are more than one who have ranked as master in your system. Therefore as a grandmaster you must have taught students who are now teaching students who are in turn teaching other students. Obviously it can take decades to become a master and most of your life to eventually rise to grandmaster as you are relying on being a good enough teacher to keep students long enough for them to become teachers themselves. Therefore despite having far more knowledge than many others who claim the title of master, it would be wrong of me to do so until my senior students are capable and comfortable enough to start running classes of their own.

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What is stress?

Stress is the result of being forced into a direction you don't want to go or into a situation you don't want to be in. That seems quite clear and obvious - if you did want to be in that situation then it wouldn't be stressful.

Another word for stress is pressure and I use this to physically demonstrate the effects of stress on new students. I push one across the room ie forcing them in a direction they don't want to go. I do this not only to demonstrate what stress is but also to demonstrate the three main ways we deal with that pressure.

1. Parts of us will automatically and instinctively resist if it is possible to do so.

The act of pushing a person will cause certain muscles to tense up to physically oppose the push. However, unlike a physical push most of the pressures we face in life aren't physical so can't be physically opposed. If your boss dumps a load of extra work on you towards the end of the day that must be finished before you go home you can't physically push it back in his or her face no matter how much you may want to. However, certain muscles will tense up in resistance to the fact you are being forced to take on more work. If there was something to physically push against then when the force was removed those muscles of yours that opposed it could relax again but in this case there is no physical pressure so your muscles stay slightly tensed possibly for a long time and usually much longer than the mental tension that caused the muscles to contract in the first place. This tension, which is largely subconscious, adds to the many other layers of tension that already exist and are forming an armour of tension that covers much of your body.

2. Parts of us will try to find a way to wriggle out of the situation that's causing us stress.

This, of course, is the healthiest option and we get a lot of self satisfaction from the feeling of having 'got one over the system'. We usually get a sudden buzz of energy when we work out a way around a stressful situation and this buzz comes largely from the sudden release of tension in the muscles and the sudden release of energy that's no longer tied up in holding on to all that tension.

3. Parts of us just give in and accept the situation.

Some things you just can't fight against and recognising that we just give in. However, we will never give in entirely - our ego will never accept that we are completely helpless so there is usually a contraction deep inside us that represents not so much an attempt to resist the situation but an armouring of our deepest selves to protect us from the feelings of helplessness.

This physical tension gradually builds up over the months and years and huge amounts of our resources are consumed in holding onto to all that tension. The body slowly gets throttled to death from the inside out and we end our days stiff of limb, brittle of bone and unclear of mind. Studying a system such as Jade Dragon or tai chi etc can help you to learn how to reverse the gradual build up of layers of tension and so help you to live a longer, happier and healthier life.

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Which is more powerful - a punch or a kick?
Traditional wisdom would say a kick because the muscles in your legs are bigger and stronger than the muscles in your arms. Correct? Of course not. Who says that when we punch we use only the muscles in our arms?? I can pretty much guarantee that I can punch much harder than most people can kick. That is because a proper punch (or strike of any kind) uses muscles in the legs, hips, back, shoulders and arms - in other words whole body power.

There are many disadvantages to using the legs as a primary weapon:

You are forced to balance on the remaining leg thus your balance and stability can be taken easily by a skilled opponent.
Your mobility is drastically reduced leaving you virtually unable to move in any direction without hopping or bringing the leg back to the ground.
To kick with any power above the waist you have to be very flexible and strong in certain key muscles and fast enough to get your foot from the floor to its target before your opponent can move or block you.
It's impossible to use whole body power when kicking as it's only the muscles below the waist that are in play. For the same reason you cannot kick and at the same time strike with any real power as the strike would use arm and shoulder muscles only and couldn't be done with power without jeopardising your balance.
It is difficult to kick effectively unless you are throughly warmed up and wearing loose fitting clothing thus making kicking as your primary weapon next to useless in real life (outside the ring) combat.
Kicks above the waist are easily blocked/controlled with forearms and elbows.

In the Jade Dragon system we use low kicks and only kick above the waist when we are either controlling the opponents movements through his arms or when he cannot see the kick coming (blind kicks). Otherwise keep your feet on the floor as when kicking we lose both stability and mobility.

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I have said many times that perhaps the greatest benefit to studying kung fu is learning to be adaptable. The phrase "survival of the fittest" was attributed to Charles Darwin but it would be more accurate to say survival of the most adaptable. The world around us is constantly changing and those who adapt fastest thrive whereas those who won't or can't adapt suffer the most. An inability to adapt to changing circumstances is almost a perfect definition of the word stress.

Nowhere do changes happen faster and with greater consequence than in combat where the situation can change many times during a single second. Under such circumstances there is little room for thought, worry, introspections etc but simply to make decisions fast and carry them out. Any indecision or hesitation may be punished severely yet you mustn't be too rigid in thought or application. We learn that if something doesn't work instantly - if there is resistance to what you are doing or you aren't getting the effect you want then you must adapt - change your tactics and try something else without hesitation. All too often in combat as in life people continue to do the same things even though they know they aren't working, often because of a fear of change, wanting to stick to what one knows and fearing to change in case things get worse. Yet change is a part of life and if you can't embrace change then you can never be truly happy. There is a saying 'if you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got'. How many people do you know who moan endlessly about their lives but do nothing to change their circumstances. They refuse to adapt and so suffer (and make sure everyone around them knows how hard done by they are). Kung fu teaches us that we have a choice, often many choices and if the path we have chosen isn't working or taking us in the direction we wish to go then why stay on it? Take another path - adapt and thrive.

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Fear - we have all felt it at some point. That tightening feeling in the stomach, the loss of strength in the legs that spreads through the whole body leading to a trembling sensation, the feeling that we're becoming smaller as the object of our fear grows, the breathlessness and so on. We all react differently to it and interestingly we all have different secondary emotions related to it. For example some people love fear - rock climbers, racing drivers anyone who does a bungee jump or goes on a roller-coaster. Many others are embarassed at their fear or fear their fear. The last is the most pernicious - those who are afraid of being afraid and so spend their lives locked in an increasingly small comfort zone and never take any risks. Some people can take a lot before anxiety starts to show whereas others feel panic and anxiety at seeming trivial things.

As martial artists we learn how to control situations through long practice with our partners etc and so gain some confidence that we would have a better chance if attacked in the street. However, our training is done in a safe and friendly atmosphere so doesn't have the same emotional content that real conflict does. When under real stress the whole body can freeze solid preventing or at least drastcically slowing down any movement which makes you easy prey for the attacker. Most attackers will try to psyche you out first to instill that frozen, defeated attitude in you to make it easy (and fun) to attack you. One simple way to reduce this is to completely ignore the words that are coming out of their mouth and to recognise that they don't believe those words either but they are being said for one reason only - to provoke a response out of you, either fear or anger. Ignore their words, stay calm and smile inside. The training that I give in physical relaxation to control fear (that we do at the start of every form) works very well but like all things needs to be practiced if it is to be effective under stress. Our emotions can be our worst enemies if we let them run riot so learning to understand them and gain some control over them is vital for our health and wellbeing.

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Spent most of the day updating and rewriting our Jade Dragon Qigong website.

For anyone who is seriously interested in martial arts practice, especially in a system such as Jade Dragon then the study of qigong is an excellent addition to your knowledge and training. There are many reasons for this:

One of the primary aims of qigong is to release physical tension thus increasing your efficiency, speed and power.
Regular qigong training helps you to remain calm when under extreme stress and so be more able to take control of the situation.
Qigong gradually teaches you to use your internal energy (chi) to speed up healing of injuries and eventually to 'turbocharge' your techniques.
Qigong vastly improves your balance, coordination and ability to produce power with little effort.

There are many other reasons why qigong is an essential part of the training for serious martial artists and so I'm looking forward to starting the qigong classes next month. Even without the martial arts aspects the benefits to one's health, emotional stability and levels of physical and mental tension are enormous and make it a well worthwhile study.

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A new student came last night and was looking to start a new martial art but couldn't decide between our school and a karate school. Could he train in both he asked.

This question of cross training often comes up between martial artists and is often a bone of contention. Because many martial arts are fairly specialised eg focusing on joint locking, or kicking skills or close quarter combat etc. many martial artists train in more than one style to give themselves a more rounded set of fighting skills. This is fair enough and one admires their dedication. There is, however, a major downside to this.

A comprehensive system like Jade Dragon uses specific principles of movement and power generation and the indvidual needs to train these principles until they become instinctive and natural. Unless the other martial arts the person is practicing also use the same principles they are putting themselves at a huge disadvantage by constantly swapping between different modes of thought and action. I know from the other ex karateka that train with me how long it took them to unlearn their karate habits and gradually adapt to a different way of moving. This was after they had quit their karate and were focusing solely on Jade Dragon. They have all said that to attempt to do both at the same time successfuly simply isn't possible.

Different martial arts require different kinds of training and so the individual must make a choice of where to put their attention and training time. As I have said before It is preferable to dig one deep hole to find good water rather than many shallow ones where you may just find a lot of mud (which is an original phrase by me now found on many other martial arts sites). This means that any good martial art has many layers of knowledge and the teacher will gradually open up these layers for you provided he can sense you have the dedication and perseverance to keep learning and so help preserve his art. It is actually harder for a teacher of a geniune art to find students who are willing and able to stay the course and carry on his traditions than it is for a serious student to find a teacher willing and able to teach him. If, on the other hand, you are like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower the teacher will be much more reluctant to open up the deeper layers of his knowledge to you.

As a beginner to martial arts or as a person who is unhappy with their current school then feel free to try several schools out. Come to us and also try other schools in the area before you decide where to make your commitment. Ask yourself if this is a school where I will still be happy to learn and will still feel fulfilled in 10 years time or does it have little knowledge to offer. Decide what your specific goals for studying are and discuss these with the various teachers you meet. If they are genuine and their school can't meet your needs they will say so and not try to sell their school knowing it won't meet your needs just to gain a few weeks membership money from you. When you have decided which is the best school for you then commit yourself fully to your training and the school in question. You will need at least 3 months to decide if its for you or not as it will take that long for your body and mind to start to adapt to the movements and exercises that you're given. If, after that time, it isn't for you then explain so to your teacher and find somewhere else.

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In the Jade Dragon system we don't focus on conditioning specific areas of the body such as the fingers, fist, palm, elbow etc as this kind of conditioning frequently leads to joint damage, arthritis, swelling of soft tissues and even bone deformation. I have personally seen many examples of martial artists who have tried this kind of conditioning and the damage and pain it has caused them. If your body is held correctly at the point of impact then the returning force can dissipate through several muscle groups that act as shock absorbers so conditioning the impact points to develop hard, calloused skin isn't worth the enormous time and effort it requires.

The other problems with this kind of training are firstly the peripheral nerve damage that leads to loss of sensitivity in the hands. Hand sensitivity is very important as we need to be able to feel the movement of our opponents on contact ie the direction and amount of force they are using so that we can quickly redirect their attacks. Losing that hand sensitivity robs us of our ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances. Secondly the damage done by hand conditioning affects the ability to open and close the hand easily and quickly which again makes it hard to grab an opponent then let go and strike at speed. We use a lot of movements that use open then closed then open hand positions so cannot lose our ability to open and close our fingers.

The best way to train the hands for gripping and manipulating a moving opject such as an opponent's arm is to use weapons such as the staff. It develops powerful hands that can strike with authority without losing sensitivity or range of movement and don't cause the damage that's often done by hand conditioning exercises.

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It's amazing how many students say they have been to other kung fu schools and were shown some beautiful looking forms but were never shown how to use them in combat. What is the point of that? It is like owning a fabulous sports car but not having a driving licence.
The forms of a kung fu system should be the living text books of that art. They should show the movements that make that art special and the student should be shown how every aspect of every form works. if the instructor doesn't have that knowledge then he shouldn't be teaching that form. The forms need to be adaptable to suit changing circumstances and not fixed as having 'only one right way'. One movement in a form may have 10 or more applications and the student needs to know how to adapt the form under combat conditions. The form should also offer a pathway that allows the student to develop himself and his art through continuous refinement of the movements and movements within movements.

Many students of non Chinese martial arts mock the flowery forms of kung fu saying they look beautiful but have no real value. This is hardly surprising as so few instructors seem to know the real values and applications of the forms they are teaching. It is this tragedy that is ruining the reputation of kung fu as a whole.

China themselves are largely to blame for the erosion of kung fu which is one of the finest aspects of their great cultural heritage. During the cultural revolution it was forbidden to study in the martial arts and many schools and temples were destroyed and the masters forbidden to teach. Then in 1963 the Chinese government decided to use their martial arts to show the world the beauty of their culture and ordered several top masters to develop a system that could be showcased on the world stage. Thus modern wushu was born and since then has had the reputation of being more a performance art than a martial art with its emphasis on showy forms, acrobatics and competitions based on style over content. This trend has continued with the 'Shaolin Monks' on tour who have as much to do with genuine Shaolin knowledge as an abacus has to do with computing power.

Kung fu as it is taught these days is mostly form over content with little of the awesome fighting skill that it should have. There are very few good schools teaching the real deal left and I am very proud to be teaching at one of the last of the few.

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It seems to me that there are 2 kinds of martial arts - those that develop power using excess muscular strength and those that use body alignments. Use of body alignments involves maintaining a posture where every joint is supported by the whole structure. When you can do this successfully then the body can generate and withstand great force with virtually no effort. I think its only lack of knowledge in how to align the body correctly that leads other martial arts to focus on building up muscle power. Creating a good structure is a better philosophy than pumping iron for several reasons:

It is the only way to use the whole body to generate force, that is to spread the necessary force needed through many muscle groups at the same time. Only when the body is correctly aligned can the force be transferred efficiently.
It prevents excess force being used and so doing more damage than the martial artist intended.
Because it doesn't involve excessive muscular tension the practitioner can move freely in any direction with greater speed and efficiency.
Muscular strength becomes weaker as you get older, physical alignments mean you can still deliver power well into your old age.
Physical alignments help to release tension thus are good for stress relief in every day life.
Most importantly if you know how to hold your posture correctly then joint locks and throws etc that others may try on you simply don't work.

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We had 2 new students this evening. One of them had done some karate and the other had no previous martial arts experience.
It seems to me looking at my more longstanding and senior members that the vast majority of them have come from another martial art. Coming to these classes presumably better suits their needs as they seem to appreciate the breadth of knowledge available to them. Complete beginners with no experience have nothing to compare us to and so will sometimes leave either because our sessions are too difficult for them to cope with (whereas students with some prior knowledge can coordinate their moves better to start with) or look elsewhere to see what else is around. New students really need to stick with a class for at least a month to give themselves a chance to start to coordinate the skills they are shown.

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9 July 2009
Spent the whole session going over work with the staff. It is really the best training implement you could have as there's such a huge range of exercises you can do with it. There is no better way to train a person to use their whole body in their movements and to flow smoothly from one technique to the next.

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Sparring time for the more senior members of the class. I'm not an advocate of getting beginners to spar as they have no usable skills to work with. It's better to give them some skills and get them to practice them solo and under controlled conditions with a partner so both can feel what effects they have. Gradually the sessions become less controlled so the defender doesn't know what kind of an attack they will face but must use the movement shown and apply it successfully.
Learning any kind of movement comes in stages -

Practice on your own to get basic coordination
Practice with partner to position your body correctly in relation to them
Partner practice timing your movements to theirs
Precise body aligments to generate the most efficient and powerful flow of movements
Generate speed through release of tensions
Higher levels of development beyond what I can write about here.

They enjoyed the sparring and started to see how much you can learn about your opponent within a few seconds of sparring. Their preferred tactics, their exposed and protected areas and so on.

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During throwing practice this evening i was asked what to do if we go to the ground - what our ground fighting tactics are. Ground fighting is the hot topic in martial arts these days but to my mind there can be only one tactic - get up again as soon as possible and don't allow yourself to be taken to the ground again.
The problem is that as soon as you end up on the floor all your attackers mates will see you down and come piling in to join in the fun of keeping you down and kicking you. Ground fighting skills may enable you to survive one person kicking you but not 4 or 5 kicking from different positions around you.
NEVER allow yourself to be taken down to the ground. If your body alignment is good it is very, very difficult for anyone to take you down with throws or joint locks. There is still the possibility of being knocked down by a solid strike but, again, if you have good blocking and avoidance skills strikes will have problems getting through to you. You can make it very difficult indeed for an attacker to take you down if you use your body correctly so the answer to ground fighting is simple. Don't allow yourself to be taken down in the first place.

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Flexibility should form the core of any training routine. When muscles and other surrounding soft tissue are stretched they gradually lengthen thus increasing the range of useful movement in that joint. The majority of sports related injuries come from joints being pushed beyond their range of movement so regular stretching is the best thing you can do to prevent injury.
Stretching also releases tension inthe musculature so increases the efficiency, speed and strength of the muscle. The released tension feels great as if someone has squirted WD40 into all your joints. Every movement you do becomes so much easier without so much tension in the opposing muscles.

Make regular stretching a part of your life.

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