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Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Mixing it up - Kung Fu style
I think it's a given that most people who are into martial arts will not try just one style, and will look at a few before they find a style that suits them.
Here's the point, the style that most suits them: whether it is the fundamental basis that the style is formed from or the philosophy espoused by that style's teacher, one chooses a style for several reasons, but essentially, the decision comes from some sort of attraction.
Some people like the hard hitting style of Thai martial arts (not to say there are no soft forms, but fundamentally, Muay Thai is a very hard style) and feel it reflects parts of their personality, whether it be the aggression, power, spiritual etc blah blah, and equally, some people like softer, internal styles like Tai Chi and PaQua, for the opposite reasons.
Whatever the reason of your choice, your chosen martial art is a reflection of facets of yourself. Mixing styles is not a new phenomenom due to the shrinking global village. For centuries warriors and fighting monks alike have swapped styles and techniques and evolved their own fighting methods, so its hard to say whether any one style is less or more true to the 'original' founding forms.
The fact is its down to individuals, namely the teachers and masters and their disciples and students.
An old Chinese phrase, loosely translated, goes like this:
'One Style, One Master, Different Methods of Play"
or, essentially, that even though three masters might have been taught by the same grandmaster, each might have a different emphasis on their forms, techniques and methods, not to mention, different teaching techniques, different students and different attitudes.
There is no such thing as true to the original form, for each master evolves their style as they see fit, much as Wong Fei Hung and Lam Sai Wing revolutionised Hung Gar from just another Southern Shaolin style, to one of the most prominent styles in South China.
Why do styles evolve?
Usually evolution occurs due to improvement: the good parts are emphasized and expanded, and the redundant parts are filed B for Bin.
Styles evolve and become prominent largely through the teacher or an excellent student, and their own influences in life and martial arts colours their version of their style too.
Despite this 'watering down' or 'loss of originality', one must remember that a teacher or master who has used and proven their style has tested their theories and practice, and one can never dismiss the changes made, for they were probably made for a reason.
Back to the point of mixing styles though, I personally think it makes one a more rounded martial artist, because when you have the experience of differing styles, and you have the intuition to examine yourself and your technique thoroughly, you can apply the parts of each style you've experienced and adapt it to your own particular physicality, mentality and spiritual attitudes etc blah blah.
A martial artist is a martial artist no matter the style.
J
Here's the point, the style that most suits them: whether it is the fundamental basis that the style is formed from or the philosophy espoused by that style's teacher, one chooses a style for several reasons, but essentially, the decision comes from some sort of attraction.
Some people like the hard hitting style of Thai martial arts (not to say there are no soft forms, but fundamentally, Muay Thai is a very hard style) and feel it reflects parts of their personality, whether it be the aggression, power, spiritual etc blah blah, and equally, some people like softer, internal styles like Tai Chi and PaQua, for the opposite reasons.
Whatever the reason of your choice, your chosen martial art is a reflection of facets of yourself. Mixing styles is not a new phenomenom due to the shrinking global village. For centuries warriors and fighting monks alike have swapped styles and techniques and evolved their own fighting methods, so its hard to say whether any one style is less or more true to the 'original' founding forms.
The fact is its down to individuals, namely the teachers and masters and their disciples and students.
An old Chinese phrase, loosely translated, goes like this:
'One Style, One Master, Different Methods of Play"
or, essentially, that even though three masters might have been taught by the same grandmaster, each might have a different emphasis on their forms, techniques and methods, not to mention, different teaching techniques, different students and different attitudes.
There is no such thing as true to the original form, for each master evolves their style as they see fit, much as Wong Fei Hung and Lam Sai Wing revolutionised Hung Gar from just another Southern Shaolin style, to one of the most prominent styles in South China.
Why do styles evolve?
Usually evolution occurs due to improvement: the good parts are emphasized and expanded, and the redundant parts are filed B for Bin.
Styles evolve and become prominent largely through the teacher or an excellent student, and their own influences in life and martial arts colours their version of their style too.
Despite this 'watering down' or 'loss of originality', one must remember that a teacher or master who has used and proven their style has tested their theories and practice, and one can never dismiss the changes made, for they were probably made for a reason.
Back to the point of mixing styles though, I personally think it makes one a more rounded martial artist, because when you have the experience of differing styles, and you have the intuition to examine yourself and your technique thoroughly, you can apply the parts of each style you've experienced and adapt it to your own particular physicality, mentality and spiritual attitudes etc blah blah.
A martial artist is a martial artist no matter the style.
J
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Also one can change his/her styles of martial arts depending on the changes in the body. I use to be able to do high solid kicks. After aging a bit and after two knee operations, my straight hard style kicks are just not as nice anymore. But that's okay as I have adapted my own personal martial art style to have more hands and stronger stances in my forms.
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