welcome

[white...@taomartialarts.com]

Welcome everyone to my white crane discussion forum. Drop a note and
share your thoughts. Hope to see you here often.
Best wishes to you all,
Helen Shen
黃 漢 婷 武 館

[white...@taomartialarts.com]

Hello everyone,

Just let you know that some conversation we had earlier in
http://www.taomartialarts.com/crn/discuss001.html. Hope it will provide
some background.

Regards,

[None]

Hi, I once did a style of hung kuen that incorporated the five animals
of shaolin - dragon, tiger, leopard, snake and crane! Each had its own
individual form and I know them all. The crane form is somewhat
northern in composition with two spinning hook kicks, a sidekick and
the use of the classical one legged 'crane stance'. My teacher was Ang
Kee Kong of Manchester, England.
I'm enjoying learning your crane system, and am doing so in the order
you have given it with 'sleeping crane' first. Are there are any
separate qigong exercises that are meant to be practised at the same
time as each form? Do you practise any special drills or combinations
in your art? In hung kuen we had twelve combinations called tam tui,
which I believe means spring leg.
Good luck with this discussion site, I hope it attracts some lively
debate and interesting revelations.

Neil Davies.

[white...@taomartialarts.com]

Hello Neil,

We don't have separate Qi exercise for each form, but we do the 12 Qi
practice as mentioned in
http://www.taomartialarts.com/crn/crn_qi_practice.html before doing the
forms. It can take 10-30 minutes.

Usually, we do 1) some warm-up and 12 Qi practice, 2)some basic
footwork as in http://www.taomartialarts.com/crn/crn_foot_kick.html,
3)the forms (one person or two persons) as in
http://www.taomartialarts.com/crn/crn_forms.html, 4) two-person push
hands as in http://www.taomartialarts.com/crn/crn_two_person.html, and
5)some weapons as in http://www.taomartialarts.com/crn/crn_tools.html.
It can take a whole day to do most stuff, so we do this and that
accordingly. [I will gradually add the descriptions and clips for those
pages.]

We may not do the above in the exact sequence. I like to do the 12 Qi
practice before the form, and the form itself is like a dynamic qigong
exercise. (If you don't hear the sound from the video, download the
current Media Player from the Microsoft site.) I don't do much
footwork and kicking exercise much now as I am saving my knees for
skiing and kendo, getting old? ;(.

Best regards,
Helen

[None]

Dear Helen
You don't look old to me at all, but I take your meaning about
protecting ones knee and hip joints. This is why I gave up karate,
which uses a lot of fierce snap kicks into thin air. One way of
destroying your joints very quickly. These days when I kick I usually
prefer an air shield or a medium sized bag. I'm in my 40s and so tailor
my training to that fact, as you must if you want to still be training
in your 60s, 70s and beyond.
I see you do tai chi. I do as well, mostly the yang 24 step, what is
your system, is it similiar? I also know the 8 silk brocade and a wild
goose qigong form which is pretty good.
How is the skiing going, do you ski every day? Are there some good runs
at lake tahoe or do you go to aspen?
Best wishes to you
Neil