the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Had some exposure to CLF in HI long ago.

I stumbled into a teacher CheukTiang-Tse’s, gym in Hawaii while looking for some inner answers; which he called Cheuk’s Kung Fu Academy.http://hopgarkungfuacademy.com/aboutus/lineage.html

He would teach White Crane, Choy Li Fut, and Lama Hop Gar. All tied together by the distinctive use of what is called long arm, although the CLF style seemed to use it in a very different way than The White Crane or Lama style.

I preferred the hop gar/white crane styles over it.
Mike my first teacher mentioned some long arm styles using liner foot work and other
long arm styles use circular foot work...I prefer the circular.

CLF interesting style, not my cup of tea.

@ Formosa Neijia,

wish you luck, considering your work and back ground going back to your roots might be a better fit.
liked reading about your endeavors in Taiwan....

Ever since my exposure to various branches of Fujian White Crane, I've been saying that good southern styles are actually arguably "more internal" than the Taiji/Bagua/Xingi, especially in the early stages. In FWC, I was taught very specifically how to breathe and use intent to coordinate breathing with movements from day one; whereas in the 3 internals, most teachers simply tell beginners to breathe naturally or don't think about breathing at all.

Formosa Neijia wrote:

Great to see you Dave! Thanks for the interesting post, and for the clip that was outstanding.

道法自然
Dao reflects and follows the ways of nature
it is not incorrect to tell a beginner to be natural breathing and movement.

to my understand, the intent of ima should not interfere with what is natural.
the intent is projected external and the physical and bodily functions are guided, push, lured to a stronger level.
e.g. imagining or visualising pushing a heavy object when practicing hu pu.

however it is not to say that ima does not have inward projected intent, imagination or visualization.
this becomes a matter of level of training, understanding, or proficiency.

this is the way i was taught and the way i understand.
it does not mean, i am saying other methods are inferior
there can be many ways, and also a mixture of the many ways