Episode 147 A young teenager would walk into a small gym close to the famous Golden Gate park in San Francisco. Shifu Staples, greeting me in his warm yet quiet way, not understanding what I would find entering a world I would never leave. Mike offered a small history of the White Crane style and […]
“The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal name The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of myriad things. Thus, constantly free of desire. One observes its wonders. Constantly filled with desire One observes its manifestations […]
Martial artist, adventure , photographer An interesting teacher, specializing in Chinese swordsmanship “Originally from Holland, Maarten (Maahrtun) Sebastiaan Franks Spijker arrived in China in 2005 at 18 years of age to study Gongfu. After struggling to find authentic traditional arts for many years (but studying Sanda and exploring the country in the meantime), he […]
In my own journey to emptiness I have had many teachers/guides along the way.In the 70s as a young teenager growing up in San Francisco during the troubled times of the day. Looking for a refuge, Chinese Martial Arts “CMA” opened its door and invited me in. Little did I know, I would never […]
張永良師傅
1920–2020
Master Zhang Youngliang, was born in 1920. He started his martial arts training at age of 5, until 14.
Shifu Michelle Gong, Followed her dream as a young girl growing up in a small rural village in China. She learned taiji as young teenager, traveling to the “temple of heaven” in Beijing to study under the taiji masters, and would later go on to win an international competition in 2009. Her dream would lead […]
“Wang Yongquan, Chonglu’s son, was interested in martial arts since childhood and when seven started to study Buku (“wrestling” in Manchu language) and became very sturdy and his movements were strong and vigorous. At the age of eight he often accompanied father to Yang’s house. Mr.Jianhou liked Yongquan as he was a very bright kid […]
Taiji in Golden Gate park An old friend, his early morning practiced filmed by an on looker in Golden Gate park, posted on Utube. At the time alone in his practice he didn’t know someone was filming him.
Winter time, a local Xingyi teacher takes a nap. The others in Master Zhang’s group go about their practices while he sleeps. 在冬天練拳前，我們會掃雪，地面非常硬且寒冷。冬季的某一天，當地的形意拳師傅在打盹兒。 張師傅的學生們在他睡覺時仍進行他們的練習。 Master Zhang, training our group in the park. In his 90s at the time of the clip. 張師傅在公園裡教我們練拳。 在拍攝此影片時他已經九十幾歲了。 His style of training was very informal preferring to let the art […]
沉默的大師
Many years ago I walked up these steps not knowing what I would find.
A blog about Taiji Quan, Bagua Zhang, and other internal martial arts
