KFF in Healthy for Men Magazine Dec 09

Kung Fu Fitness in Healthy for Men Magazine Dec 09

The inner rewards of martial arts

After three week of regular martial arts training, practitioners will have improvements in blood sugar and pressures, as well as calcium metabolism. These changes translate into better functioning of the body and brain, and overall risk reduction for such diseases as hypertension, diabetes, heart and respiratory diseases, osteoporosis, anxiety, depression and some cancers. Martial arts also bring about remarkable change in brain chemistry. Higher levels of serotonin, endorphins and dopamine have been recorded following training. These will boost moods and increase self-confidence. Those who use the right side of their brain are likely to be better at martial arts as they have superior spatial perception. Aldrich Sawbwa, founder of Kung Fu Fitness, explains: ‘In terms of mental strength, everything we do in life requires self-confidence. By controlling balance and power in martial arts, we learn to control anger. If you can’t focus you can’t see and then you get hit, which is why martial arts are a way of meditation. Even with small amounts of practice you’ll find beneficial effects to mind and body’.

Languages & Martial Arts

Imagine you are learning a new language, where do you start?

Basic
In Languages: Alphabet letters
In Martial Arts: Forms and Stances

How to apply?

In Languages: use alphabet to form a word and apply different words according to situation when you speak or write

You don't speak or write: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K ...

In Martial Arts: use different forms and stances according to attack and defence situation

You don't apply a set form you have learned: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ...

Advance

In Languages: Once you perfect the language, you don't need to think which words to use, you can apply fluently

In Martial Arts: Once you perfect the art, you don't need to think which forms or stances to use, you can apply fluently

Putting the Best with the Best

Imagine that you get a call from a nationally respected headhunter. She represents a company that wants to hire you. In fact, she’s offering a signing bonus and a 20 percent pay increase. Your authority would increase, and you would get an ownership stake in the company. It’s a job you know you could handle, with responsibilities you know you would enjoy.

The drawback? You would work on a team with a reputation for mediocre work. It is known in the industry for doing no more than what it takes to get by, and there’s no indication that the leadership at the company plans to change that. Mediocrity is so much the rule at that company, in fact, that you’re a little concerned that they would want you. Do they really think you’d fit into that culture?

Despite the material benefits, many of us would turn down such an opportunity, rightly recognizing that it fails to satisfy one of our most basic needs—the desire to work with people who share our commitment to excellence.

The best want to work with the best. In fact, just one weak link can dramatically influence an otherwise strong team—ultimately leading to turnover among the best producers. So if we want to recruit and keep the best people for our teams, we have to recognize the importance of a strong weakest link.

We can demonstrate the impact of the weakest link with some basic math. If you have a five-person team and all five people are “10s,” then you might add that up and say your team is a “50.” But what if one of those people goes into a funk and becomes a 5. Now your team is a 45, and its effectiveness drops by 10 percent.

That’s a pretty big impact, but it still falls short of reality. In the real world, synergy exists, so our impact on a team is more like multiplication than addition. One and two doesn’t equal three in teamwork; with synergy, one and two can equal ten.

Consider the previous example but with multiplication. 10 times 10 times 10 times 10 times 10 equal 100,000. But 10 times 10 times 10 times 10 times five equal only 50,000. One weak link reduces the team’s effectiveness by a whopping 50 percent.

Clearly, the way to keep good people is to keep them around other good people. When good people find themselves working with people who are not carrying their share of the load, dissatisfaction creeps in. Pretty soon, the productivity of the really good people begins to fall off too. They lose motivation for excellence or they just get worn out from carrying someone else’s share of the work. Eventually, the best leave for greener pastures.

Everyone on a team needs to add excellence, which means leaders first need to place people in roles that make the most of their gifts and talents. But a person with the right skills and the wrong attitude is still like the proverbial bad apple that spoils the whole batch. So if you want a team that experiences low turnover and high success, fill it with people who are both capable and committed to doing great work.

by Dr. John C. Maxwell

Bando in Russia

Bando Connection with British

Conquered by the British

After repulsing forces from China, the Burmese then pressed West into India, seizing Assam. There, the Burmese encountered an immovable object directly astride their path of conquest: the British Empire. Three bloody Anglo-Burmese Wars resulted: 1824-26, 1852 and 1878. Losing these wars, Burma became a subjugated Asian Colony of Britain, annexed to India.

With this accomplished, the British set about ruthlessly suppressing indigenous Burmese combative systems, both empty-hand and weapon-oriented. This action was calculated to inhibit rebellion, but it also nearly destroyed the precious cultural artifact of indigenous and highly-developed Burmese combative systems. This process is not unlike the suppression of indigenous martial arts on Okinawa.

Burmese Martial Arts Go "Underground"

Prior to World War II, Burmese combative systems had been generally termed "Thaing," with at least nine major systems, each linked to the primary Burmese racial/ethnic groups: Burmese, Chin, Chinese, Indian, Kachin, Karen, Mon, Shan and Talaing, each with a different manifestation of the art. Nonetheless, these systems had been driven "underground" for nearly a century as World War II approached.

Only a select few were taught the arts in secret by the Masters, so the young could carry on the knowledge of the past. In the land where Bando Boxing had been the "Sport of Kings", it had now become a criminal act. Under Sections 109 and 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, imposed by the British, Burmese "Lethwei" boxers and Thaing/Bando practitioners were classed as "vagrants" and "habitual criminal offenders."

Rescued from Oblivion: The Military Athletic Club

As the clouds of what would become World War II hung over Asia, the British authorities in Burma permitted small scale martial arts training under government sponsorship and rigid controls (in order to prevent the spread of these disciplines into the populace as a whole). This was accomplished through the establishment, in 1933, of the famous "Military Athletic Club."

The Club was first formed by nine Gurkha officers (including Dr. Gyi's father, U Ba Than Gyi). These nine men were determined to restore full vigor to the ancient fighting arts of India, Tibet, Burma, and China. The group also was intent upon integrating some aspects of Japanese arts. As of 1966, information on the Founders of the Military Athletic Club was as follows (ages as of 1966):

Yogi Abehanada Indian, 76 years old, retired near Darjeeling, India

C. C. Chu Chinese, 80 years old, returned to mainland China

A. K. Khan Pakistani, 69 years old, retired in Karachi, East Pakistan

U Zaw Min Burmese, 70 years old, retired in Tongoo, Burma

G. Bahadur Gurkha, 79 years old, retired in Darjeeling, India

Saw Ba U Karen, 66 years old, retired in Insein, Burma

Dowa Naung Kachin, 71 years old, retired in Mogong, Burma

Boji Mein Sa Arakanese, 63 years old, retired in Rangoon, Burma

U Ba Than (Gyi) Burmese, 81 years old, retired in Twante, Burma

Guruji Gonju Bahadur was the first Chairman of the Club. Initially, beyond the Founders, there were some 90 members. In 1936, selected non-military men were allowed to participate due to their high level of martial / combative knowledge and skill. In 1939, total membership was increased to 300.

The training in the Military Athletic Club was extremely stark, rugged, brutal and realistic. From the perspective of today’s legal environment in the United States, such training is inconceivable. For example, it is reported that 15 members collapsed and died during a series of incredibly rigorous training drills. Some 33 members are said to have died of injuries during the group's annually staged private combat bouts.

Lord Mountbatten (then High Commissioner of His Majesty's Imperial and Colonial Forces in Asia) reportedly attended one of these tournaments in 1937. After viewing these life and death contests, he is said to have made his historic remark: "Beautifully brutal art . . . I'm happy they're on our side." General Orde Wingate is said to have called the members of this private military club "Bando Bastards."

* Dr. Gyi (USA Bando founder)
Source: American Bando Association

Tree and Martial Arts

As a martial artist's, we see our self as a tree. Why?
In order for a tree to withstand any challenges, it needs strong roots. So does martial artists, we needs to have a strong stance. Tree roots are like our stances, Tree trunk are like our body, branches and leaves are like our limbs.

A tree without roots is very weak, no matter how good are the branches and leaves, only standing with tree trunk, will not last long. Same for martial artists’ without a good stance, just using body no matter how good is your forms and techniques. Soon or later you will fall.

So, I hope you guys can understand why stances are the most important in any martial arts.

Most popular stances in Kung Fu are...

• Horse stance (aka squat stance)
• Bow stance (aka fighting stance)
• Resting stance (aka cross stance)
• Taming stance (aka low stance)
• Cat stance (aka loose stance)

Lingnan Hung Ga Taiwan