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Post by Gary Steuer on Apr 9, 2012 20:33:41 GMT -5
Got something you want to spit out , get off your chest ....Be my guest !
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Post by Gary Steuer on Jun 11, 2012 4:58:32 GMT -5
It is pretty clear to me that working , at learning & perfecting a martial art is very time consuming, and most get more visual gratification by watching MMA on television , while eating potato chips and drinking beer ! Don't get me wrong , there is nothing wrong with that , since you don't leave your premises there is very little chance that you would ever need to defend yourself or a loved one, since there are none around ! I had a school once, that I left to students who thought they were ready to teach ,and there was so much bickering amongst them, that the school eventually fell apart , and everyone thought they were a Master , so I'll leave it at that , and wish you all the best of luck !
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jay
New Member
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Post by jay on Jun 16, 2012 13:11:41 GMT -5
What bickering? There were only 2 troublemakers who thought they were masters who were bickering. ...... Who was left in charge when you moved to Thailand? There was no leadership. Now things are different.
As far as myself, I teach but I've always been a student and always will be. I never claimed to be a master or anything else. Teaching fell into my lap but has made me better because of it. And .... the class is getting better each week. It has not fallen apart, but has gotten stronger.
Now that I got that off my chest.....
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Post by Gary Steuer on Jun 17, 2012 21:01:11 GMT -5
Good , feel better ? when GM Wong sent me to West L.A. to open a school for a rich man who wanted to learn , but didn't want to travel , I was really pissed off. I thought that my training , my learning was now over ! Wrong. Once you start to show other people what you have learned and try to get them to do it correctly , you've gotten a better understanding of what it is you are doing yourself ! At that time before I left for Thailand , everyone counted on me to show them what to do ..... No one had the initiative to jump in and start showing new people anything ... It was a sort of selfishness that is natural ... Most people were looking for new women to join so they could hit on them .. Which is why only the diehard stayed . Now , the past is the past and I really don't care to hear anymore about it . Now is the time for you to take charge and to do what is important , TEACH ! No more talk about the past or pointing fingers , that's over !
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jay
New Member
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Post by jay on Jun 19, 2012 21:04:10 GMT -5
Well said!
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Post by Gary Steuer on Jun 20, 2012 11:05:38 GMT -5
Thanks !
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Post by Gary Steuer on Jun 29, 2012 7:44:22 GMT -5
Show me a person who loses their temper , and I'll show you a loser ! If I get angry over something , I find that if I talk it over , it can get settled. Once you've let anger get in the way, you shut down your system, and then it's only force that is used. Your job is to stay calm and direct the force , which really has no direction , away from you . Use the force, the strength , against itself ! Anger blocks your thoughts. A clear head speeds up your reaction time , and seems to slow down whatever is being done. I felt this in combat in Vietnam , and I feel it when I'm stepping up to protect myself or someone else.....
What have you felt ?
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Post by Gary Steuer on Aug 1, 2012 23:12:46 GMT -5
I guess most people have replaced a exercise routine with the internet ! Good luck !
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Post by jesusmx on Aug 8, 2012 0:25:26 GMT -5
Hello Gary, my name is Jesus and I am from Mexico. I have been following you since you started posting videos on youtube and I think they are great. I'm looking forward to watch a new one soon.
My teacher was a student of Master Wong and graduated with Richard Vera. I've been training the 5 family system since 1996.
I hope you can share more aspects about the training, the regular classes, the fine details about the forms. There is so much I want to learn from you, I hope that you can share a little of your knowledge. Take care.
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Post by Gary Steuer on Aug 12, 2012 19:30:52 GMT -5
Thank you for joining the forum Jesus. I'll try to ramble on and answer some of your questions. GM Ark Y. Wong was a traditional teacher . He pushed you , to test you . If you didn't want to do the work he gave you , he didn't say anything. But that was where your training finished. He would show you ( Ex.) a series of moves, he would watch you , he would correct you , he would watch you again, he would correct you again, he would watch you again. If you continued to do it wrong , that was when he would say "Looks good! " and that was when your instruction finished. The general rule was 3 strikes and you're out !. Older students were expected to teach younger students ( Regardless of age . Younger referred to newer. ) This way GM Wong could see where the older students were making mistakes on movement and application of moves.. GM Wong always said that you could tell how little a person knew about their studies , by the speed they would do their forms. The less they knew or understood , the faster they would do their moves. The slower they moved , the more they understood the movement on the body and the application of the movement ... Hope this helps Jesus ... Where is your home in Mexico ? I lived in Atlixco , Puebla and also Oaxcca, and have taught there in the early 70's
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Post by Gary Steuer on Aug 13, 2012 6:30:32 GMT -5
Sometimes a form takes a lot of space . You have to move from one side of a room to the other. I was going over a Tiger form with a student one time , and they said that there wasn't enough room to do the form . I almost laughed , because I remembered something GM Ark Yuey Wong did with me one time .. He took a piece of chalk and drew a square on the floor about the size of a square horse . Then he told me to do the first 5 forms .....I looked at the square, and he saw I was confused. He stepped inside the drawn square and did the SmallCross. Instead of stepping out he would just shift his stance... .He stopped, stepped out of the square , and smiled at me ... All of a sudden it made perfect sence... You don't always have the room to step out and do technique like you had practiced it in class.... Things change in real life !
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Post by jesusmx on Aug 13, 2012 23:52:52 GMT -5
That is so true! my teacher showed us the same shifting stance move whenever we reached the end of the training area to continue the movement witouth stopping. I love listening to anecdotes of Master Wong like that.
As about me, I live in Mexico City. I am 31 and been training since I was 16. There are a lot of stuff that I think I am still missing, like the breathing exercises, tai chi forms from the 5 family. I know some basics of breathing and meditation but I think that my teacher did not teach us everything, so I would love to get deeper into that.
How was a regular class?, I mean, our regular class here in Mexico ussually starts with basics, punches, blocks, pushes, horse stances, cross and cat stances, etc. Then kicking, front, roundhouse, circular, back kicks, etc. We do kicking combinations and slides. Then a small break and then the forms (salute and 5 family) and 5 animals. Then we work as a group with drills, combat applications, combinations, and finally conditioning.
Is that the way Master Wong used to teach? what do you think about it? any advice?
I don't know if this section of the forum is the right one to post these questions or even the answers, I just continue with the conversation. If you want me to move to other topic please let me know. Take care.
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Post by Gary Steuer on Aug 14, 2012 4:41:37 GMT -5
Don't worry, it's ok... Others can find this if they look. Now, if you go to YouTube and check the videos , you'll see a actual class . One of my friends video taped a typical workout . There is more to the workout , but I didn't post it yet . I have it on videotape, and couldn't find anybody to convert it to DVD, so I set up a tripod and filmed it off of my TV. This was pretty much how the classes went , both at my school , and the same as when GM Wong taught us. Whenever I mention GM Wong , I am referring to GM Ark Yuey Wong . Those were some fantastic times . I never realized that I was taking part in some sort of kungfu history at the time . I never took my training for granted but I never realized that I would get older and things would change as much as they did .... A few of my teenage students at the time made a video around our , my old school , and you could check that out on YouTube also. " Enter IHOP. " .. Our old school later became a restaurant called iHOP .... International House of Pancakes ..... Very creative ! Anyway, GM Wong sent me to Mexico to run a errand for him, and I stayed for a little while. He had a friend who settled in Atlixco , after leaving China , and I brought him some things from GM Wong. I ended up staying for a while and taught a class there ... I love Mexico ! One of the students I had actually made it to Santa Monica , California a few years later . I was in Oaxacca, when the Korean TaeKwonDo team came to town to test the local students . Introductions were made and I was invited to a hacienda for a fiesta with the team, and before the day was over , I was teaching them , including the coaches the Salute !
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Post by jesusmx on Aug 15, 2012 23:47:22 GMT -5
Thanks for your answers Gary.
Here is something that I have on mind since I've seen those videos in youTube of other guys doing forms. What happened? why their moves are different? (so different in some cases) I'm not saying that my own forms are correct, but really, I think I am more related to the moves you show.
Also, In 2008 I went to LA to visit a friend and I attended to a seminar with Master Seming, he taught the Furius Tiger form, and that rised more questions about how long the system really was. Did GM Wong teach 5 more animal forms as part of the system or these were like private teaching?
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Post by Gary Steuer on Aug 18, 2012 1:54:16 GMT -5
Many years ago GM Wong would take us to tournaments , not to fight , but to demonstrate for the audience. We would do forms and then some techniques, and then he would do a form . After the demonstration we would watch everyone else do their form or fight , whatever style they were doing . One person was doing some sort of kungfu form from a different school , and GM Wong asked me if I thought it was good . I told him it looked ok, but it seemed like there was something missing. He laughed and said " It was nothing ". When you see a form done fast , usually the person is looking down at their feet . Because they are not that sure of where they are . I was taught that when you do a form , you must feel the moves . You must look inside yourself and move, & feel what and where your body is ... The key to watching a person do a form........ Don't watch them ! In your mind you want to create the other side , and try to visualize what made them do the move they just did. Imagine the negative side ! Usually there isn't one ... If the form is real it is not done especially fast , or wild... It is at a speed that would be done in real life and you would see what the person is striking ! I hope that when you watch my videos you can visualize the side that is making me do my moves , even when there is nothing there .
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