Hi Inner_acievement (jon?)
This is lianhuan (John Spak.) Someone told me I should check out what's going on at rsf so I did and found this thread.
Honestly, I'm getting kind of used to Meeks making stuff up about me - for some reason he seems to need that to ensure his personal growth I guess. For the most part I could give a "rats ass" about it, but when it's this close to slander I have to check in and say at least something. BTW, glad you found our rant entertaining. At least the entertainment value is a positive thing.
Whether you or not you take sides in the matter is not really my purpose in writing this. I am self-admittedly a really poor keyboard warrior. And then what are the odds of getting a fair hearing if a forum administrator (as Meeks is) starts slandering you anyway.
But for the record:
It is shocking news to me that there was ever any drama between me and any of Yang's students except for Meeks (and now Heel No Up I guess.) Everyone I knew was always very polite and friendly and I've never exchanged a single unpleasantry (ever) with any of Yang's students either face to face or otherwise - except for the afore mentioned. In fact a number of Yang's students have since become my students - and that has to say something in and of itself. But in terms of drama? Again, nothing that I'm aware of. I guess if someone says otherwise it was done behind my back and I never heard about it. That would speak volumes for the individuals involved if in fact that is even the case.
Does heel_no_up's comment sound like a polite correction to you? It doesn't to me. It's edited, but you should have read the original. Not to mention the fact that I trained seriously with Yang for about 4 years before heel_no_up even met him. Anyway, I don't want to argue about this - it's pointless.
Actually what I would like to say, is simply that if you are in the Vancouver area, you are more than welcome come and meet me in person. Who knows? You might find the martial art you are looking for, or maybe not. Judge for yourself.
You can check out what we do at:
http://www.fistsofmysteryandtruth.com/content/blogcategory/23/48/You can check out my bio at:
http://www.fistsofmysteryandtruth.com/content/view/58/44/We have a free public meetup where everyone is welcome almost every Sunday. Check it out at:
http://www.meetup.com/Applications-focused-Martial-Arts/ Last week I had someone drop in that had been studying martial arts earnestly for about ten years - the last few in mma. Before he left he very politely said, "thank so much for restoring my faith in Gong Fu." Honestly, that felt great. Those are the moments I teach for. I hope I can make everyone feel that way.
But there are a few things about my teaching style that some people have problems with too I guess:
1. I only teach people how to use punches (for example) after they are actually able to do a punch. Some people want to do advanced practice without being able to do the foundation practices first. I would find it unconscionable to teach that way - couldn't do it.
2. When people have the basics to start sparring - I sometimes get a little over-encouraged by it and give them too much pressure too soon. But I have so far, in almost 40 years of training, never caused serious harm to anyone (while training.) Fear maybe yes. And well, we had a hypochondriac train with us for a while once. None the less, I work constantly on trying to curb my enthusiasm for my students progress.
3. My focus is on unarmed, hand-to-hand self-defence. I call self-defence anything you would do to save your life. It's mostly pre-emptive mode at our school. The majority of people (as I have learned) really only want exercise, qi-gong, and forms instead of "self-defence." And even more really just want to show up and talk about training and "self-defence." I'm really not that good at the only talking thing or the non-combat thing.
So that's it. That's who I am. I have fans that follow my blogs, teaching, and video's from around the world including many from China. And I also have people like Meeks that hate everything I do as well. How could it be otherwise.
I'll stop here. Hope to meet some day. Actually, I'd like to extend that to everyone on RSF. Feel free to let me know if you're in Vancouver and you'd like to meet, talk, spar, or whatever - all in a friendly kind of way of course.
Cheers,
Lianhuan