In this lesson, we introduce the concept of Pre-Sense and going with the opponent's energy.

Pre-sense is the development of the kinesthetic senses to such a degree that you can feel an opponent's intent. Sensing the positioning and direction of all other parts of his body through a single touch. 

This lesson just touches on the concept.

If you have ever seen Push Hands or Sticky Hands exercises that is the intent of those exercises. 

It creates a way of controlling your opponent that is extremely confusing to the opponent. Always one step ahead.

Enjoy!

In this lesson we cover proper distance line on an inward block. 

A common mistake is to move in to before blocking possibilities. This creates a big problem. Crowding your own weapons and also putting your own targets closer to the opponenets weapons. 

This mistake necessitates the need for extreme speed in weapons. The speed is needed to make up for the technique. And speed is no substitute for positioning. Obviously speed is good but a trained fighter should not rely on it to cover for positioning mistakes. That's a very dangerous ground.

In the Beast Magic series, we take Shou' Shu' (Beast Magic ) demos and explain the nuances of what's going on.

You will:

• Begin to understand how 7 individual beast arts combine to become one art
• Begin to understand how the 3 principles are present in each and every move

Shou' Shu' is a difficult art for the camera. It's subtleties go unnoticed. It has very little dramatic appeal. Its entertainment value is lost on most. It just gets the job done quickly. Which is what is truly needed in a fighting art.

In this lesson, we take the dynamic tension we have learned to create in our legs and release it into the hand as a weapon. 

To make this happen a few things have to be correct.

1) Reinforcement - If the arm is not at a reinforced position it will not be able to handle the power created by the legs. Bone alignment principles must be used of the arm will simply collapse and the energy will not be delivered. However, with the principles of bone alignment applied the arm will have the required reinforcement to deliver the energy.

Disciple's Workshop - Lesson 4

One Leg Step Correct with Resistance

In this lesson we begin to introduce two principles.

1) The Step Correct

2) The Floating Foot

Neither concept is introduced fully here but we will use what we learn here to introduce them later. Right now we are just building in some muscle memory.

The horse stance is the most fundamental of all stances. It is used in virtually every martial art. It links all arts. We'll probably never know if this is due to common ancestry or if it simply evolved separately. Regardless, it is a common thread.

One would be wise to not overlook the subtleties of the horse stance. Many other principles are built upon it. And truly you are only as good as your basics. This is where the basics start.

Disciples Workshop - Lesson 2

Six Inch Drills

This is a simple drill that is great as a warmup. It not only develops the muscles needed for a horse stance but also builds them in to muscle memory (pain is a great teacher that way)

Note the discussion at the end about building up an internal brace.

Teaching The Magic

In this workshop, we are breaking martial principle down to its fundamentals. That's where the magic is

"There is no magic in magic, the magic is in the details" ~Walt Disney

My Grand Master always told me "Teach the magic" and that is what this series of lessons is about. Without the magic, martial arts becomes just techniques. No more than dance moves. But with it...well obviously...magical.

Unfortunately, the magic seems to go missing a lot. We're going to fix that.

The history books that mention Cobra Kung Fu (Boli Yan She') say that it was lost many years ago.

Turns out that's not true at all!

Cobra was preserved by the Tong. The teachers of it began migrating to the US in 1900. They taught the young men in the Chinese communities because these communities had no police protection.

Eventually, these groups of protectors devolved into protection rackets. Such is the way with humans.

I just left an old friend's house. I had not seen him in over a decade but I needed to reach out. 

Two days ago he lost his daughter to a drunk driver.

After inviting me in he recounted the past two days. The whirlwind of emotions. And of course, I just listened.

Then after an hour or so he started recalling the old training days. His daughter was a student of mine and so was he.