I hope you all enjoy it? (there is more if...)

Have a good day.and a happy Easter.
C.A.G.

We are all getting older, some day you can no longer rely on your muscular strength. The speed and power approach is limited. You can only take that approach so far. I have yet to see a limit in the soft approach.

“Through this method you win by parrying the line of the enemy’s attack. You must study this.”

It will take 1/2 of a year to change from your old habits to new habits. Changing habits starts with having the proper concept in your mind.

How Long ?
One day a student came to learn martial arts from a famous master. The student was anxious to learn the art that the master taught. After practicing very hard for many months, the student said, “Master, how long will it take me to get good? The master replied, “Ten years.” The student then said, “What if I practice even harder than that? The master replied, “30 years.” The master went on to explain, “If you have one eye on your destination, then you have only one eye with which to find the way.”
The moral is: You can learn no faster than to totally concentrate on what is being taught to you at the moment. Don’t worry about what comes next. When you learn what was taught, then the next thing will come.

The Tea Cup
One day, a professor came to visit a Zen master to inquire about Zen. It was obvious to the Zen master from the start of the conversation that the professor was more interested in expressing his own opinions than to learn anything about Zen. After listening quietly, the master offered the professor some tea. The Master poured until the cup overflowed. The shocked professor said, “Stop, my cup can hold no more!” The master then went on to explain, “Like this cup, your mind is full, leaving you no room to accept anything new. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

Try to relax, slow down, be soft. Find out what is going on.
Position comes first by training the form accurately. Without proper position your hitting accuracy will be off and your power transfer will be reduced. Without proper position, you cannot neutralize force. Without proper position, you will be off balanced. Proper position comes from performing the first set accurately in front of a mirror. Sensitivity to force comes next. This comes over a long period of time from slow sticking hands practice. Timing comes next. Power comes last. Speed comes before power.

It is important to connect the hands with the feet. Many people get shoved back instead of being able to neutralize the force by absorbing it or by turning the stance. Stance training, such as stepping and turning is very important.

Most students are too tense. You have to constantly remind yourself to relax. The tense way cannot work. You will get tired and it will fail against strength.

If you rely on strength, when you hit the enemy’s sword you will inevitably hit too hard. If you do this, your own sword will be carried along as a result. Thus the saying, “The strongest hand wins”, has no meaning.

Don’t act before you know what is going on. You must feel what is happening first. People act before they feel. Random flurries won’t work. You can’t just rely on speed.

Speed is nor part of the true Way of strategy. Speed implies that things seem fast or slow, according to whether or not they are in rhythm. Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast.

Try to use the concept of neutralizing force along the tangent of a circle. The circle can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.

Don’t push the force away. When nearly all students apply the Pak sau, the Bong sau, the Fook sau, they are pushing the force away. They are scared of the force, they want to get rid of that force. Instead you should accept that force, welcome that force. The principle in Gung Fu is “Receive what comes.” Receive means to really accept it, don’t push it away.

Many people have no rooting. The stance is weak, not sunken. The knees should be in. You should feel like you are melting into the ground. You can practice for a lifetime but if your stance is poor you will have wasted all of your effort. If you meet the right Wing Chun guy, you will be in big trouble.

Sometimes, however, you may encounter the enemy on marshland, swampy ground, river valleys, stony ground, or narrow roads, in which situations you cannot jump or move the feet quickly. In my strategy, the footwork does not change… You must never lose control of your feet.
If the attack is not committed, then don’t react. With a committed punch or kick, you can react and win because the opponent cannot recover. The centerline path will get you there before him.

The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy’s useful actions but allow his useless actions. However, doing this alone is defensive. First, you must act according to the Way, suppress the enemy’s techniques, foiling his plans, and thence command him directly. When you can do this you will be a master of strategy.