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I agree. The key to advancing modern medicine is in going back over the older methods and incorporating them into contemporary systems. To this day, 3rd-world countries like India use traditional medicines, many of which are much more effective than the synthetic junk they have now, with more side-effects than healing properties. What's the point of a heartburn medicine that causes diarrhea and headaches? Such modern medicines are a joke. Traditional Sufi treatment for heartburn is Neem leaves boiled in mustard oil, which has worked without fail, and without side-effects, for hundreds of years. That's the kind of medicine I'd like to see advanced in the modern medical world.

Gah, did my last post mean nothing to you all!? I took me a long time to type that!

No, THIS is what I call brutal! http://www.arjbarker.com/arjimation/ (click on Brutally Ambushed) Behold the wrath of the Tai Chi gang!

In Pin Yin, the k is supposed to be pronouced as a g, just like the q is supposed to be pronounced as a ch. Bruce Lee didn't like the idea, which is why he always wrote it 'Gung Fu'. Just another one of the evils of Eastern-->Western translation.

About the whole Street Fighter thing: Ken, Ryu, and Akuma fight more or less like TKD guys. The closest thing to Shotokan in the Street Fighter world would be Karin as she appears in SF Alpha 3. Low, but mobile stances, strong, rushing attacks, and counters for defense. Other games with Shotokan-like fighters are DOA 2's Ein, VF 4's Akira, and that Karate chick from DOA 3, I forget her name.

I like Shotokan's hip movements and footwork. Once you get it down, you really get a feel of how powerful the style is.

Oh, so you take an eclactic art. Traditional Kung Fu doesn't have belts, but Wushu does. Is that what the class is, Wushu? Btw, don't forget that 'Kung Fu' is Chinese for 'hard work'. Keep it up, and one day you'll be one of those black belts that the new guys will be amazed by.

In my experience, gloves don't diminish power very much. What they DO reduce is the sharp edge. When all the power is focused into your knuckles or first digits, it will tear through your opponent, causing great physical damage. With gloves, the force spreads out over an area, which will have two advantages in spectator events: 1) physically knock the opponent back harder, making the strike look more impressive, without causing long-term damage. This is important for, say, a boxer, who needs to be in the ring, not the ER. 2) cause the impact to jar the senses a bit more, leading to crisp, clean knockouts such as in professional boxing, as opposed to the bloody KOs of streetfights. This makes for safer, but still competetive, tournaments. Gloves still hurt, they just reduce physical injury. If you prefer to go at it the traditional way, keep in mind how 87% of Imperial prizefighters of the Han dynasty left these tournaments: blinded, crippled for life, or dead. I used to dislike grappling, too, because from what I had heard, all grapplers seemed to be arrogant and narrow-minded. But I met Royler Gracie last year, and he is a very nice, intelligent, and open-minded man. BJJ is focued on the submission alone, just as Western boxing is focused on the punch alone. Therefore, these areas of their combat training become extremely developed. For strikers who want to learn a grappling art, nothing, in my opinion, beats Shuai Chiao. You take them down hard, beat them down with close-range elbows, knees, punches, gouges, whatever, and don't really have to sprawl, just go down on your knees and hands. It's called Chinese Fast Wrestling, with quick, brutal matches that are effective and practical for the street. I find it to be an excellent grappling style for those who prefer fists and feet to rolling around on a mat with another guy on top of you.

Ya, that's a good example of what Dim Mak's like. Very exaggerated, of course, but gives you the general idea. The best part about pressure points is that by learning how to use them to hurt, you are also learning how to use them to heal.

Sounds like you've got one of the rougher, more traditional classes. But I'm confused...was this black belt or black sash? Anyway, tournaments usually restrict a lot of stuff, make you wear gloves and pads, etc., so the best sparring you'll get is in your kwoon. You're lucky to have a class like that. Keep up the good work.

Certain arts, such as Shuai Chiao and Shotokan, do not make very good sports, simply because of how dangerous they are, but others, such as Judo, are both arts and sports. Jigoro Kano created Judo to be a sport, yet it is still an art, is it not?

In front of one of the Shaolin temples in China (the Henan temple, I believe), there are these vending machines that sells Shaolin Cola. The commercialism's just sickening, but as a joke, there's a chi percentage listed along with the other nutrients. Btw, the whole 'air in the arteries' was part of the Greek medical system. Beyond that there is the German medical system, which is the one used today, and the Chinese medical system, which is completely different from the other two and as yet unexplained by modern science, but the important thing is: IT WORKS. Anyone can speculate. But have you experienced?

If they didn't work, a Taiji practitioner wouldn't be able to knock someone to the floor with one finger. Yet I have had this happen to me, and I'm 6'2", 220 lbs. Nostradamus is along the lines of dogmatic hype. Please do not confuse this with teachings like the Tao Teh Ching. In part, these things work because people want them to, but the reason they are worth anything is because there is a basis to them. Study up on Special Relativity and then go read the Tao Teh Ching. Then talk.

To give a person one's opinion and correct his faults is an important thing. It is compassionate and comes first in matters of service. But the way of doing this is extremely difficult. To discover the good and bad points of a person is an easy thing, and to give an opinion concerning them is easy, too. For the most part, people think that they are being kind by saying the things that others find distasteful or difficult to say. But if it is not recieved well, they think that there is nothing more to be done. This is completely worthless. It is the same as bringing shame to a person by slandering him. It is nothing more than getting it off one's chest. To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to recieve it or not. One must become close with him and make sure that he continually trusts one's word. Approaching subjects are dear to him, seek the best way to speak and to be well understood. Judge the occasion, and determine whether it is better by letter or at the time of leave-taking. Praise his good points and use every device to encourage him, perhaps by talking about one's own faults without touching on his, but so that they will occur to him. Have him recieve this in the way that a man would drink water when his throat is dry, and it will be an opinion that will correct faults. This is extremely difficult. If a person's fault is a habit of some years prior, by and large it won't be remedied. I have had this experience myself. To be intimate with all one's comrades, correcting each other's faults, and being of one mind, to be of use to the master is the great compassion of a retainer. By bringing shame to a person, how could one expect to make him a better man? ~Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo

It's a natural instinct. Unless you wanna chop off your balls and get rid of the testosterone, it always will be a natural instinct, until you're old and wrinkly

Why not? Bruce was a powerful ground fighter; he just never showed it in the movies and such, preferring to stick with his mobile, energetic striking. The Gracies are not bad, but there are much better fighters out there, such as Sakuhabara, who annihilated several of the Gracie clan in tournaments. Remember, though, that such tournaments as the UFC are not measures of true skill. I can't sit here and explain it, but they simply are not. Too many people overrate the Gracies.

Does anyone know of the technique called Mai Gerk (possibly Lau Gerk or something)?

Of course. Watching Taijiquan and Shotokan forms, you see the stark differences, and subtle similarities, between these two strikingly different arts. Both arts have beautful forms, one gentle and fluid, the other sharp and energetic. Through forms, you can see what your style means, both aesthetically and in application. Just think of forms as scenes from a Jackie Chan movie. Y'know, Jackie vs twenty thugs, and he whups them all. That's basically what a form is, a way to showcase the art's power in a poetic way.

Cool. Goju-ryu's pretty unique as a Karate style, having such a strong internal aspect. I once saw a guy doing a kata with deep breathing excercises interlaced. Apparently he was doing it wrong, because five moves into it he just keeled over and fell flat. Out like a light.

From my understanding, Okinawan Karate generally seems to be mostly hands dooing the blocking, controlling, and opening, while the legs are used every once in a while to get a really hard strike in. I find myself using my hands a lot against most opponents, unless it's something along the lines of Muay Thai or TKD, in which case I use long-range kicks and try to find an opening.

There's a major nerve straight down the sternum thatm when ruptured, slowly leaks toxins that should be filtered out by the liver, killing you within 3 days to a week, unless you're in top physical condition. It's commonly known as the delayed death touch, but all the hype surrounding it is just that, hype. In traditional Daoist accupuncture, there are methods with which you can trick the brain into commanding platelets to form scabs where there is no cut. This is somehow used to treat viral infections, but it could have deadly martial possibilties. Imagine a scab forming in the aorta or something. Dead within minutes.

I hand-wash the muck off of my white belt (which is the only one I wear, regardless of rank). It's naturally gritty now, but it's not dirty, just like something can be clean and still have that seasoned, worn-out look. I think you should keep your belt and gi clean, but leave the blood in , your own or otherwise.

It's sad, the things kids will try to get high off of these days... Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that a lot of Eastern texts have roots in very advanced science, everything from the medical field (The Tibetian Book of the Living and Dead) to astrophysics (The Tao Teh Ching). You just have to read between the lines, between the words, between the letters. If you think this is all bull, try doing the 2nd form of Chen Tai Chi. If you do it correctly, it will make you a little dizzy, at the least, if it's your first time. If you do it incorrectly, you'll end up coughing up blood. So how can you end up coughing up blood simply from waving your hands and moving in circles? Read some Eastern philosophy. It'll become evident, given time.

Whether scientists can explain it or not, chi is there. Athletes have chi, boxers have chi, singers, dancers, musicians, anybody. It's nothing mystical. Can scientists measure brain waves? Yes. That's the very basis of chi. The question here is not whether chi works or not. It's that chi does work, and the question is: how? Yoga is a LOT more than just stretching. Have you ever done the mountain palms? That's where you push your palms together, arms parallel to the ground. Y'know, that thing Dhalsim does on Street Fighter. Most people can't hold the mountain palms for more than 5 minutes, and yet Yogi (Yoga practitioners, not bears) can hold it for hours on end, without the slightest muscle fatigue. It's mental focus. Your mentality affects your physical state. Remaining calm, decreasing mental tension created by the pushing of the palms, and keeping your composure loose results in power without exertion. It's simple body mechanics, and yet it's chi at its finest. I can recommend http://www.qi.org for some good reading, but beyond that, there are few authentic and reliable resources to be found on the web. Everything is a science, CKD, and the depths of the mind are no exception. After all, if biochemistry hadn't been deeply researched, wouldn't we consider adrenaline to be along the lines of what we now call 'chi'?