Hundred Schools of Thought, Martial Arts

With the updated name change, the new school blog can be found at http://Blog.SpringAndAutumn.com. This will be the new updated one, although this blog will remain active as a reference tool for students, until it is reposted in the other blog eventually.

Blog.SpringAndAutumn.com

As I prepare to return to Wudang for the month of July, I wanted to let everyone know about a big change coming to HSOT-MA. Starting in August, HSOT-MA will be teaming up with Integrity Martial Arts for classes in Orange City at their 2700 Enterprise Road, Orange City, FL location! Classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:00PM for Wudang Gongfu and 7:30PM for Wudang Taijiquan. Qigong and Health classes will be added based on student response. Each class will be an hour long, and the first few students enrolling in each section will have a significant discount to encourage early enrollment while I'm gone.

For the month of June, before departing for my return to the Wudang Mountains with my teacher, I was asked to hold a few seminars at Integrity Martial Arts, in Orange City. We will be holding two seminars, two weekends in a row, and will focus on two different aspects of the Wudang Martial Culture.

Students have asked many questions regarding my uniform policy. I tend to be lax on this subject mainly because of the financial investment of ordering a uniform. But for myself, there is nothing more important than having a good set of training clothes and shoes to depend on. With this in mind, I want to make available to all students uniforms for class. These uniforms are hand-made at Wudang, and fit the appropriate attire for both martial arts classes, and events involving martial arts training.

Although uniforms are generally optional, most students enjoy uniforms and having school related apparel. But with summer being so warm, here's an option for those students requesting school T-Shirts.

For class, please only order Blue, White, or Black.

Online Store: http://www.zazzle.com/includingthestars

I recently took a week away to Boston to train and participate with my instructor in shooting his third feature DVD with YMAA, "Wudang Sword" where I got to be an attack partner, and a bumbling student throughout the features. Here are a few stills from the trip in the application section of the disc.

I am grateful to stay with my teacher and his wife & daughter, and I had an amazing trip with lots of great training and q&a time. I will be seeing them again for the upcoming Daoist Pilgrimage this summer.

Here's a sampler video of Sifu Charles Rivera's Chinese New Years celebration. I performed Fuhuquan (Tiger Taming Fist), and a sample of the form can be seen at 2:24 in this video. I'll share more once the full video is released.

Here is a video I made of my teacher, Zhou Xuan Yun, performing an advanced Wudang Gongfu Form.

A few weeks back, I had a seminar with F.I.S.T. Martial Arts MeetUp. For this seminar, I had an "Introduction to Taijiquan" class, covering a variety of principles and techniques that represent the combative aspects of Taijiquan.

Wudang Taijiquan Workshop/Seminar by Instructor Michael A. Vollero
http://Events.HundredSchools.org

March 14th, 2010 @ 5:00PM
$5.00 participation fee.

Located at Martial Arts World
6606 Old Winter Garden Rd
(Corner of Hiawassee & Wntr. Grdn. Rd)
Orlando, FL 32835

My Zhengjia Taijiquan instructor, Amalia Shaltiel, trained under Wolfe Lowenthal, student of Zheng Manqing. Here in this video, he speaks briefly on balance in both life, and Pushing Hands.

Class covered:
~Dog Dips Down Qigong/Stretch
~Inside Pushing Strike Stationary Drilling Method
~Inside Pushing Strike One-Step Drilling Method
~Inside Pushing Strike Two-Step Drilling Method
~Inside Pushing Strike + Double Pushing Strike Application Training

~Stretching
~Loosening
~Taiji Walking
~Finding Full & Empty
~"Beginning" Posture

The new Karate Kid movie w/ Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith involves them traveling to train at Wudangshan. There are a few clips of the mountains (and the Dragon Incense Burner) in the new trailer, below.

New Material:
1. Single Step Drilling Method
2. SSDM (above) Straight Pushing Strike
3. SSDM Double Pushing Strike (separating)
4. SSDM Double Pushing Strike (Rotating outward)
5. Walking in a circle (arms open)
6. Power from root
7. Rooting in Turning Method.

My instructor, Zhou Xuan Yun, recently posted a sword form video from a Chinese New Years event. I wanted to pass it on, showing the beauty of Wudang Sword Style.

Today's orientation class covered a great deal of materials. Make sure to practice at least the form aspect, and try to incorporate the breathing methods discussed whenever it comes to mind. Everything will be reviewed at our next class meeting.

Representative Strengthening Posture -- Remember this posture should have the arms in front of the shoulders, and the back should be rounded while the chest is concaved. The posture twists, but the knees stay wide, and both feet have pressure. The side you're turning towards should have the majority of your weight, and that hand is on the inside during application.

(...continued from part 1)

Image by toehk via Flickr

Here's are two 360 degree camera images of the Wudang Mountains from near the top. The first is just after the main journey up the mountain, then the second is from the peak. Beautiful and everyone who wishes to have a new way of reflecting on life should try to take the time to visit and hike to this beautiful place.

http://www.world-heritage-tour.org/asia/china/wudangshan/tianzhu-feng-up/sphere-quicktime.html

This was posted by DaoistGate.com (Zhou Xuan Yun's school in Boston), and I wanted to share it w/ all of my readers. This video, "Wudang Mountain, Climbing the Dao" is a mix of photography and video clips of the beautiful mountains.

The newest piece of media designed for Hundred Schools of Thought Martial Arts is a course and school brochure. These are created for print format, but offer a handful of basic information about the arts offered and the school.

Feel free to send the link to any friends, or print them out for people who might be interested in joining classes, or yourself!

Link @ Google Docs:
http://goo.gl/XFmf

One of the most important aspects of health and longevity of your body is regular activity. Through daily stretching, you can not only keep your body healthy, but also protect yourself from injuries in the future. But the internal method of stretching differs greatly from the aggressive and westernized stretching methods. Of course, there are the horror stories of gongfu students and sumo wrestlers in forced stretches, but to do natural and healthy stretching, there is no fast track.

The first point I want to cover with everyone attending classes, is the idea that all stretches should be done while standing. This includes crouching, leaning, and even hanging. But it is important to keep in mind that stretches done while sitting on the ground or laying down may not be as practical as their standing counterparts. Of course you cannot expect to get as deep or "extreme" of a stretch. But what this means is that the applicable connecting ligaments, muscles, and joints aren't getting the appropriate stretch while sitting. This is how extremely flexible people can still suffer injuries of pulled muscles. Finding standing versions of all your stretches will help make sure the flexibility is translatable to your art.

Because stretching is a long process, you have to constantly remember to repeat. Mix up the method each time you stretch. You may have your leg up on a bar, and lean into it, but there are hundreds of angles and tweaks you can do to this to ensure complete flexibility. The direction of your supporting foot, the bend in your supporting knee, the direction and balance in your hips, the part of your back which pulls towards the leg, the direction of the knee on the raised leg, reach with the same side arm, reach with the cross body arm, etc. etc. etc.

Some arts say to constantly bounce while stretching. Other say hold the stretch. I believe that mixing the two is the most promising. By bouncing, you build a comfort in the rubbery and springiness of the muscles, while holding creates an overall increased range. Switch back and forth. If something feels tight and uncomfortable, bounce a small bit--increasingly--before doing a deep stretch. After the deep stretch, bounce a bit to get a little comfort right past your limit. These will help protect the body, and increase it's comfort under the stresses of training.

Core training while stretching is also an excellent tool. As a warning, the idea behind the internal method of strengthening and conditioning is to only hold the posture or stress the body for as long as the muscles necessary can stay relaxed. If you find yourself tensing and holding in the hips, shoulders, thighs, back, arms, neck, etc. then it is time to relax, breathe, and recover. Find your stretch, put yourself into it, then find a way to relax every part of your body while you're there. Since stretches are done standing or upright, relax into this and hold it as a standing meditation. Maintain this until you find the holding or shakes come on, then relax again.

Stretching, just as your drilling and training, is limited and expanded only by the amount of effort one puts in. There is not right quantity or wrong quantity of stretches, time spent stretching, or depth to stretches. Just feel it through, and decide when enough is enough. The more often and the more effort is the gongfu for more return. But it is up to each person to decide how much effort and time they wish to put into stretching, strengthening, conditioning, drilling, and training. It is an individual path and journey. There is not place along it which can be compared to the people around you.

On a personal note, I feel I neglect my own stretching, and I regret it every time I train. I look back at my youth training, and frown upon the lack of time I spent working towards healthy and extreme flexibility when it came so easy to me. And now, the older I get, the harder it gets to gain back what I had missed out on in my youth. Every kick I throw, and every twist I turn: I remember the lack of discipline and patience I had in my division of training time. Please, consider giving ample and generous amounts of your personal training time towards stretching.

I know in class I tend to cut stretching short at 10-15 minutes (hiding under the excuse that if you want a good stretch, show up early), but in truth, is is not enough time to truly stretch all the muscles and angles you will be using them in. I never will hold it against a student who wishes to keep stretching when class moves on. But do consider showing up early for serious stretching time.

Overall, the idea behind this article is that you should stretch in the way you train. You should stretch while practicing relaxation of the external muscles. You should stretch in the positions you will be utilizing. If you find a position or a reach, or a body configuration limiting, that's a new way to stretch. Just keep in mind proper joint alignment, and if you feel any pains outside of your stretch, avoid that specific stretch until your next class.

Best of Wishes in all your ventures & training!
~Instructor Michael A. Vollero (夏逍鵬)

Here is a list of useful links, blog entries, and contact numbers for students and potential students to reference. This will be updated whenever necessary, so be sure to check back when necessary.


Enrolling in Classes

Current Courses
-Wudang Taijiquan [Core Material]
-Wudang Gongfu [Core Material]
-Tai Chi For Health
-Private & Small Group Materials

This is a pre-class introduction to this section of the blog. Generally, this tag will be reserved specifically for records of what materials were covered in class. This way, anyone who missed this class can simply reference this page for details. Also, any events, or happenings will be here to help trigger the memory of those who were...
This is a pre-class introduction to this section of the blog. Generally, this tag will be reserved specifically for records of what materials were covered in class. This way, anyone who missed this class can simply reference this page for details. Also, any events, or happenings will be here to help trigger the memory of those who were in attendance.

The link below can also be found in the Wudang Taijiquan section on the HundredSchools.org website. But here's a direct link for anyone looking for it here on the Blog:

The link below is to a PDF of the Hundred Schools of Thought, Martial Arts student agreement & Release Waiver.

Once arriving in Florida, this will be the location for class blog and resources for the students of the Hundred Schools of Thought Martial Arts group.