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Why My Knees Still Work
I am superstitious; I have two records which I assume will instantly break (literally) once I mention them. The first is that, though I’m a martial arts instructor, I have never had a broken finger....
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Yin and Yang, Water and Fire
The philosophy of Yin and Yang is certainly not the type of philosophical inquiry of, say, Husserl. The consideration of Yin and Yang is closer to a quotidian philosophy, the kind of thing you can...
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Sticky Telepathy
The Problem This is one of those things that veteran martial artists know; once in a while we mention it but we don’t talk about it. You are sparring, fighting, playing Sticky Hands or Push Hands, and...
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QA: Qigong and Neigong
Dear Sifu Mancuso, Is the difference between qigong and neigong simply a matter of intention, so for example, could many qigong routines become neigong ones by simply a change of focus or mental...
View ArticleTutorial: Spear Lesson #5, The Dragon’s Tail
[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.] We begin the next stage of spear training with the first compound shape, the Dragon’s Tail, a low...
View ArticleThe Real Power of Martial Arts
There are many histories to the world, different from the “official” story. One history might be written about non-scientists who have made major breakthroughs. Another might be about the importance of...
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Martial Arts: How Good Can You Get?
Of course, children rarely wonder about their potential. When you are nine, just about anything is possible. Adults are generally more conservative. They go to a martial arts school with tailored...
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Terrible Terrain
“Under everything is the land” may sound like the slogan of a professional real estate organization but it is also the truth of martial practice. Thousands 0f years ago it was pointed out by one of the...
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The Other Side of the Martial Story
For more than a decade the phrase “kick ass” has been closely associated with martial arts, mixed or nix. And, truly, the functional range of skills spanning from self defense to full combat is...
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A Few Observations on Shoulder Training
Brendan Lai, the famous Praying Mantis teacher, once told a student of mine that the trouble with Westerners, as far as Kung Fu skills went, was that their shoulders were too tight. According to...
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Surviving a Seminar
Martial artists like to conduct seminars as much as attend them. But I have to admit I wonder whether seminars have any real function in the long run, whether or not they accomplish anything, whether...
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Why I Like the Staff
Here at Plum we’ve begun working on a new book about the Kung Fu staff. I was surprised to learn that there is very little on this subject, especially if you discount books which are entirely centered...
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INB: Slapping Your Foot
Whap! The noisy authority of a hand meeting the top of a foot in one instant of explosive power and consummate timing; everyone in Kung Fu is familiar with that sound, the loud clap of the performer...
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Practice Your Perspectives
A grand-teacher of mine, Ed Parker, used to say that you had to look at each technique from three perspectives: your own; the opponent’s; and then someone watching the fight from some distance, like...
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QA: Bagua Mud-Stepping
Dear Sifu Mancuso, I have a few important questions as a novice practitioner of Ba Gua Zhang. First, although one of the principal features of Bagua is Tang Ni Bu (Mud-step walking) why is it that when...
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Indirect Thinking
Click image Yang Taiji The Untold Story by Jason Tsou and Arthur Schonfeld is not the easiest of Plum’s offerings. It is an in-depth breakdown on just exactly what is occurring in the martial art of...
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Precision and Poetry
If you are the kind of person who believes that what is said in poetry could be said a lot simpler and more to the point, then you are not going to like this article. Because my contention is the...
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Retreat
There are times when the only way to advance is to back up. It seems fitting that I am considering such a proposition while we spend a few days at this quiet retreat with its famous houses and the...
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Information vs. Knowledge
Previous to the internet, information tended to be something you looked up: a phone number, conversion from meters to inches, logarithmic functions, specs for catenary spans, how to replace the float...
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Training: The Arrow Punch
I started this book on training, Kung Fu style, and who knows it if will ever see the light of day. But I thought I might share a few classic training methods. The emphasis here, and the reason for the...
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