When you learn from us: Your instructor will talk with you about what you need out of the training, from self defence, injury rehabilitation, calming of the mind and body or powering up a weak system, to general health and well-being. We have an array of traditional forms, single and two person training methods, for fighting, general health and fitness and for Qigong healing, to make sure you get out of it what you came for. You can train only Form and Qigong, or add some of the more gentle partner training like push hands, maybe get rougher and more martial with things like San Sau and pad work, or take it right the way to free fighting, it's up to you. Some people may want to one day become an instructor under the wtba, for this we will make sure you learn what is needed to become a good teacher. Health and Well-Being: The internal martial arts are about creating balance of the internal and external systems of the body, so the practice incorporates these into your training. Just because it's an "Internal" Martial Art, doesn't mean we focus purely on Qigong and negate the physical and external areas of the body, so the practice will work every area of your body, stretching and strengthening, cardiovascular, bone health, Qigong and the mind, everything is included. Sometime we focus more on either the physical or the internal depending on what the student needs, but ultimately the two should become one.
Martial Training: The fighting area of the internal martial arts are trained for self defence and not for competition. We train in a series of practice methods with a partner to learn about good movement, balance and timing etc, but most importantly how to stay relaxed under pressure both in mind and body. Power and structure is learnt through these training methods, including a lot of bag work, then gradually moving step by step into more free style reaction training and finally into totally free sparing which we train in several different ways to get the best results, with and with out protection equipment. The internal arts incorporate Fa-jing and Dim-Mak, but not in the same way you see all over the internet where people make it out to be almost supernatural. Fa-jing simply means Explosive Energy, this is how wee strike with great power over a short distance, the whole body shakes like a sneeze and we concentrate that force down into the striking weapon. Dim-Mak just means to hit the most vulnerable points on the body, no you cannot touch someones arm and have them fall to the ground, but you can aim at the weakest area of a big guy and at least have a far greater chance of getting away compared with just punching him in the face.
Dedication and time: You will learn to understand the principals behind the forms and training methods. This teaches you how to move, how to fight, under any situation, from any angle, not just to do each form and drill perfectly. We care more about the principles of movement than the sequence of a form, though you will still learn the form.
