Secrets of Drunken Boxing Volume Three: Internal Alchemy Chinese martial arts have always been filled with secrets. Secret forms, secret weapons, and most importantly secret training methods and potions (Dit Da Jow). This volume focuses on the secret training methods for cultivating qi, hard skills like Iron Body and Iron Broom, soft skills like Drunken Cotton Belly and Heavy Hands aka Cotton Palm, and internal work (Nei Gong) involving meditation and cultivating Dantian as a source for internal power. The Ma Family where this Northern Drunken style originates also has its own secret qigong practices which are included in this text as well. The methods within are the power source for a Drunken Boxers gongfu skills. Once the shape is built, the power must be cultivated to flow through the shape of the art ? this is the text outlining how.
My book contains grammatical mistakes, and for that I am deeply sorry. This is the first book in a series, which is intented to examine the links between Shotokan Karate and the three teachings - Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. The book deals with Heian Shodan (aka Pinan Shodan) and the rest of Heian katas. We can learn a lot from the Chinese origins of Karate. Daoism (Taoism) in particular has been forgotten in modern times, as a tool for understanding Karate and improving it. There are very practical conclusions that we can come to, using Daoism. In order to achieve that, we must develop a deep understanding of the Heian katas using Chinese philosophy. The book explains how Yin and Yang and the Five Elements (Wuxing) theories are connected to the Heians. We especially concentrate on the Wood Element, which is the element of Heian Shodan, and has profound implications on the kata. Topics from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are brought up, including the relations between the basic katas and the organs and meridians. Then we turn to Emotional Karate, and observe the psychological benefit, that one could derive from Karate. Karate can contribute to our mental well-being. And our state of mind, as proven, effects our body - including chronic pains. After understanding the distinguishing qualities of Heian Shodan, we can understand why it is a particularly good kata for releasing a repressed anger. As for other issues: Some techniques are presented, in order to improve the kata and our benefit from it. We also learn how other katas may recuperate Heian Shodan. A mathematical formula of the five Heians is suggested, with an application to Heian Shodan's movements. Other Shotokan katas are also mentioned - as well as specific Karate moves and stances. Finally, we warn about excessiveness, and explain how to prevent it. By the way, several interesting topics are discussed: the far and the relatively modern history of Karate and of other martial arts, our Karate ancestors and even Chinese and Japanese characters and words. In conclusion, although the book deals with Chines philosophy, it has many very applicable sides.
The Ba Xian or Eight Immortals are famous throughout Taoist legend and Chinese mythology. Each of the immortals is important in the Ma style of Drunken fist as archetypal templates for the practitioner. In this book, each of the eight are revealed not as legendary figures but as useful tools for the Drunken practitioner to improve their understanding of the style and reach its highest level. Not only learning the movements of the art but the internal change represented by each.
Within the context of a larger discussion of Dao Yin, Damo Mitchell teaches and explains the Dragon Dao Yin exercises, a set of four short sequences designed to work with the subtle energies of the spine and lead pathogenic energies out of the body. More 'Yang' in nature than Qi Gong, Dao Yin focuses on outwards movements and strong internal cleansing. The book highlights this important distinction and covers the theory, history and development of Dao Yin exercises, as well as the relationship between Chinese medical theory and Dao Yin training. One chapter is devoted to problems related to stagnation and the flow of Qi, and explains the different causes and forms of stagnation. Later chapters look at breathing patterns and the extension of Yi, opening the joints, and rotating the bones and spine. Damo Mitchell also discusses stillness as the source of movement, the philosophical significance of the Dragon and the pearl, and the means of hardwiring Dao Yin exercises into the energetic body. Central to the discussion is the concept of the spine, and how to wake it up. For the first time in the English language, the Dragon exercises – Awakening, Swimming, Soaring and Drunken – are described in detail, with photographs and step-by-step instructions on each of the exercises as individual therapeutic exercises and as a form.
When we think of martial arts, we think of self defense, but for the true practitioner it is so much more than that. It is a mindset, a form of mental discipline that enables the warrior to face any challenge with grace and strength. In The Warrior Mind, Jim Pritchard, a disciple of legendary Ninjitsu and Taijitsu masters, reveals how we can adopt this mindset whether or not we practice the physical components of the martial arts. Pritchard describes six mental principles: * Attentive curiosity: slow down, observe calmly * Undulation: move side-to-side to build strength * Clear intent: know when and how to act * Grappling: engage the issue or opponent with confidence * Rolling waves: demonstrate persistence and the will to triumph * Whirlwind: when necessary, unleash an all-out onslaught Using colorful anecdotes, insightful examples, and inspiring stories, Pritchard shows how these six principles will help readers maintain focus and balance -- no matter what obstacles await them.
Gregory Bateson was a philosopher, anthropologist, photographer, naturalist, and poet, as well as the husband and collaborator of Margaret Mead. This classic anthology of his major work includes a new Foreword by his daughter, Mary Katherine Bateson. 5 line drawings.
The invisible man is the unnamed narrator of this impassioned novel of black lives in 1940s America. Embittered by a country which treats him as a non-being he retreats to an underground cell.
Throughout history, potters, sculptors, painters, poets, novelists, cartoonists, song-writers, photographers, and filmmakers have recorded and tried to make sense of boxing. From Daniel Mendoza to Mike Tyson, boxers have embodied and enacted our anxieties about race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. In her encyclopedic investigation of the shifting social, political, and cultural resonances of this most visceral of sports, Kasia Boddy throws new light on an elemental struggle for dominance whose weapons are nothing more than fists. Looking afresh at everything from neoclassical sculpture to hip-hop lyrics, Boddy explores the ways in which the history of boxing has intersected with the history of mass media. Boddy pulls no punches, looking to the work of such diverse figures as Henry Fielding and Spike Lee, Charlie Chaplin and Philip Roth, James Joyce and Mae West, Bertolt Brecht and Charles Dickens in an all-encompassing study that tells us just how and why boxing has mattered so much to so many.
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • "A love story of astonishing power" (Newsweek), the acclaimed modern literary classic by the beloved Nobel Prize-winning author. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
