Welcome

Mind Body Kung Fu

Lancaster, PA.

Classes in I-Liq Chuan (意力拳), the martial art of awareness.

Power and grace through mindful movement.

Zen and Tai Chi principles.

Unifying the mind and body.

Recent Posts

What a child can teach you about learning gongfu

10/25/2012 - 23:43

Babies start their lives with very limited movement abilities, and yet they can learn to crawl and walk largely on their own. They focus their attention on themselves to wire up the neural pathways that allow them control their bodies and feel what their bodies can sense. Learning gong fu as an adult requires a similar sort of focused attention to develop the body control and awareness that will allow the skill to manifest. The mindful physical practice establishes the movement foundation that allows the art to be expressed.

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Why I-Liq Chuan?

06/28/2012 - 22:52

I haven’t given the question much thought in a while since I had already long since decided to focus on ILC. But now that I teach as well as study the art, it is a question I have to answer with some regularity. After I was recently asked about the specific distinguishing characteristics of ILC, I finally sat down and revisited the question.

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Squats, hip rhythm, and projecting

03/13/2012 - 23:43

One of the things that I find painful to observe when I go to the gym is watching people do squats. It’s a basic movement that gets butchered since our sedentary lifestyles have made us forget how to move from the hips. Instead, what happens when people squat is mostly poorly coordinated movements starting from the knees. Rather than try to explain this in text, I find that Kelly Starrett’s video post about squatting is easier to visualize:

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Skill is not automatic

09/16/2011 - 03:14

Achieving proficiency in a martial art requires certain abilities. However, the abilities themselves do not equate to high level proficiency. To achieve mastery of an art requires developing skill. Skill and ability are related concepts, but are distinct. The difference between the two is subtle, and I have not always had the best explanation to distinguish them when I get into a discussion with others. But after reading through Geoff Colvin's "Talent is Overrated," I see that the difference between the two can be succintly stated: skill is not automatic.

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Physics of Fajin, Pt. 2

09/09/2011 - 02:30

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out fajin, but you might want to use a little rocket math to understand it. The force equation is a fundamental relationship for understanding how rockets get off the ground. In the last blog post, we left off mentioning how we need acceleration to generate enough momentum over short distances. For our purposes, we can use the force equation to analyze how it is possible to generate enough velocity and momentum for a short distance attack.

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Physics of Fajin, Pt. 1

09/01/2011 - 22:10

Being a science sort of guy, I like understanding mechanisms of how things work. Tying in concepts from biology, physics, and neuroscience into martial arts training is something I can totally geek out to. In my mind, demystifying martial arts esoterica using science is a good thing. However, science is sometimes used incorrectly to justify certain principles and phenomena Fajin--the issuing of power--can be understood within the framework of sound science; it does not have to reside solely in the realm of qi, magic, superhuman abilities, or hand waved pseudo-science.

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Horizontal Control and the Four Strategies

04/07/2011 - 22:33

When gaining the upper hand position, getting to the horizontal usually works to your advantage. Dropping your opponents into the horizontal plane in effect closes them in the up-down dimension. This makes it much more difficult for them to project force against you and is getting the upper hand into position to attack. From the lower hand horizontal position, it is tougher to achieve the spacing necessary to strike in. To strike from the lower hand position, the elbow extends and the shoulder flexes to straighten the arm.

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NC March 2011 Workshop Recap

03/25/2011 - 10:41

Last weekend, I made my regularly planned trip down to NC to train with Sifu at the NC ILC workshop. As always, I left with a lot of stuff to work on. I find going to workshops to be highly informative. This is not just because of the knowledge that gets presented, but also because I get feedback from touching hands with more and different people than I normally would. Interacting with different people gives me access to people with different feels, which is invaluable for learning to put principles into action.

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Blink and the Power of Words

03/11/2011 - 00:20

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The Body Line

02/17/2011 - 21:21

After the center of the feet, usually the first "easy" idea I teach to new students is paying attention to the body line. When the hand (or more precisely, the point of contact) is inside the body line, it is easier to absorb. Conversely, when the hand crosses outside of the body line, it is easier to project force. The body line is an important transition point which needs to be recognized to maintain unification with an opponent's force.

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