In this volume of Internal Gung-Fu ,I will try to present the more practical aspects of
the art. Namely, self-defense, healing and the all-important training methods.
Internal Gung-Fu treats fighting differently from the external systems. Whereas the
external systems place great importance upon techniques of fighting, Internal
Gung-fu places much more importance upon the holistic aspects, i.e., defending
One self against the whole body of the attacker rather than jus this peripheral weapons.
Internal Gung-Fu places much more importance upon ?€˜how?€™ to fight rather than the
techniques of fighting. And although there are some wonderful techniques as such,
some of which I will be showing in this book, it is more important to be able to react
instantly and reflexively to attack rather than thinking about
perfect technique.
The animal kingdom knows how to fight, animals know
how to survive using the best methods for their own body
shape and size. We humans tend to think logically so we
tend to prefer to learn technique orientated methods of
fighting. However, if you only rely upon learning
techniques, then you will lose every time. We must get back
to thinking subconsciously when fighting, we must get back
to fighting the way that animals fight. If there is an
opportunity for instance, we take it with what ever weapon is
there at the time and with whatever method is there to give
us the greatest advantage. In other words, when we are
attacked, we turn into an animal and that is the only way to
survive in a realistic deadly fighting situation. The attacker
finds that he is now faced with not a human being but a wild
animal attacking him with every weapon that is available to
it.
And it is the training methods from the internal martial
arts that gives us this ability to be able to attack
spontaneously like a wild animal.
Overall in the fighting or self-defense area, it is two chapters
in this book that will give you the tools that you will require
for using internal Gung-fu for self-defense. The first is the
chapter on training methods, the second is that chapter that
deals with fighting techniques and the ?€˜way?€™ that we fight.
However, it is the way that we fight and how we move the
body spontaneously that is the most important thing in using
internal Gung-fu for fighting.
The training method section of this book will give you this
ability. However, most of the training methods are also
excellent fighting techniques. I have always tried to steer
my students away from thinking of these training methods
as being fighting techniques because if they do that , then
they will never learn what these training methods have to
offer. And the advantages of training methods over only
learning techniques, one step sparring for instance, are one
thousand fold.
The training methods teach us ?€˜timing?€™ ,?€˜coordination?€™ ,and
?€˜distancing?€™, three of the most important areas in
self-defense. Without all three of these, you will never be
able to defend yourself against an attacker who is intent on
getting you in a real situation. The training methods
themselves are fighting methods. Some of them may seem
quite simple and herein lies the danger of a student thinking
that they know a certain training method, they learn it and
then think that it was easy and go on to the next one. But they
have only learnt the technique from that training method.
They haven?€™t learnt ?€˜timing, distancing, co-ordination
and balance?€™ from the training method. You must keep
training in these training methods for the whole of your
martial arts life.
In the beginning of course each training method must be
practiced greatly. As you become more fluent in each
training method, you can cut down on the time spent on
these training methods. But it is the underlying things
that you will receive from the training methods that hold
the greatest value. You will learn how to respond to an
attack in exactly the right manner, relying only upon
what the attacker is doing to you. Your body will react in
exactly the correct way without even thinking about it.
This is what the training methods give us.
This book is divided up into five sections. ?€˜Training
methods?€™, that will teach you the second section, ?€˜how
to fight?€™. The third section is ?€˜the techniques of
fighting?€™. The fourth section is a very important section
on ?€˜healing in internal Gung-fu?€™, not only healing
oneself but also healing others. The fifth section is
called ?€˜You Have the Power, Use it?€™ or ?€˜the esoteric of
internal Gung-fu?€™. All of those areas that have no real
pigeonhole of their own are grouped together in this
section. Things like ?€˜how to gain the power ?€™and?€˜ how to
use the power?€™, the power of Qi.
