THE ARTS OF MARVELOUS FIST, THOUSAND STEPS AND GOLDEN BELL
Using the Art of Thousand Steps, course participants were not tired nor panting for breath running round the training hall about 10 times
Question
I did some one-off running a while back for about 30 minutes. I did no running for many years before that. I didn't get tired at all, I just ran in a bit of a chi flow without regulating breath. I think I only ran 10-20 steps per breath though I didn't count.
All the Questions Here are from Jas, UK
Answer
You were able to run for about 30 minutes without getting tired because you had practiced chi kung with us. You were able to use your chi flow for running. Most other chi kung practitioners from other schools would be unable to do that. They could not even generate a chi flow.
Question
Not regulating breath allowed me to release much volume of energy from the mouth. I tried abdominal breathing for many steps but it didn't feel as good, I couldn't let go as much, generate as much flow and release as much waste. Why abdominal breathing wasn't as effective? How will learning the method properly benefit me?
Answer
Trying abdominal breathing was less effective because you were focusing on performing abdominal breathing, instead of letting your chi flow do the running for you. After learning the method properly, you will be able to run better and do other things more efficiently.
Question
Does the Art of 1000 Steps concern speed of running? How do you increase speed? Usain Bolt ran 100 m in 9.5s. As we hear of masters doing crazy things, is it possible to run it in 7 or maybe 5 seconds? What training and other factors would be necessary to do that?
Answer
The Art of Thousand Steps does not concern speed of running, though with regular practice after you have learned the art properly, your speed will increase.
An effective way to increase speed is to let your chi flow faster.
I don't know whether it is physically possible to run 100 meters in 7 seconds or in 5. But energetically it is possible. If you look at the video of me performing Dragon Strength more than 30 years ago the movements were so fast that it was quite impossible to see them. The video is shown in real time. At a Dragon Strength course in December 2014, some course participants also performed the Dragon Strength patterns very fast.
The training at the Dragon Strength courses was meant to achieve this. Course participants just followed my instructions.
Question
What about running on water? How can you train Art of 1000 Steps for that?
Answer
The Art of Running on Water is called “shui seong tang peng” in Cantonese or “shui shang deng ping” in Mandarin, and it means “from water land on shore”. I don’t know this art.
The Art of thousand Steps is for running on land, not on water. You can’t train the Art of Thousand Steps for that.
Question
Given 3 years after the course, how would one train Golden Bell to withstand punches from a top pro boxer without harm? Is it realistic or even possible?
Answer
If a course participant trains Golden Bell daily for three years according to what will be taught at the Golden Bell course, he will be able to withstand punches from a top professional boxer without harm. It is realistic and possible to do so.
I recall seeing in an old kungfu magazine a Ng Mui kungfu master from Singapore taking punches from Mohamed Ali without harm. I don’t know how long the master trained Golden Bell, but I don’t think he had trained for 30 years. Given our cost effectiveness, where our student can gain in one year what a master might need ten, something that others may laugh at us, the above estimate is reasonable.
Question
If one trains Marvelous Fist intensively after the course for 3 years and throws some punches at an opponent from 5 steps away what would happen to the opponent?
Answer
The opponent would be injured, unless he has high-level Golden bell.
Question
In the use of Golden Bell how much is passive and how much is active energetically and mentally? For example, in my experience if I get hit and I think or feel before that I’ll be unhurt, it doesn't hurt as much. If I think it's going to hurt or am worried, then it hurts a lot. This leads me to believe that the active mental part in that moment is important. What is the reality?
Answer
In Golden Bell, being active energetically and mentally is very important. Knowing that a Golden Bell practitioner can take powerful hits without injury, and if he has trained diligently, he would have an active mind set, and his energy will automatically flow to protect him.
For the sake of theoretical discussion, if he is passive energetically and mentally, or worse he is negative energetically and mentally, he will still be unhurt because that is what Golden Bell is meant for, unless his opponent has high-level Marvelous Fist.
Question
How does Golden Bell compare to other protections like a chi kung shield, or just being in a chi flow in terms of strength, ease of use for physical and energetic purposes?
Answer
It is incomparable. Golden Bell is exceptionally high-level protection. It is also easy to use. Once you have Golden Bell, your protection against being hit is automatic, even when the hits come unexpectedly.
A chi kung shield and chi flow protect a practitioner from negative energy, but not physical hits.
Question
Will practicing these cause over-training or will converting excess internal energy into external skills (using and spreading energy) cause more balance and reduce over-training, or somewhere in between depending on how you train them.
Answer
Over-training can occur irrespective of what art is involved.
When these arts are practiced correctly, including following my advice, over-training will not occur. Even if it occurs, we have remedies to overcome it.
Converting excess internal energy into external skills, like performing kungfu sets at a physical level or playing games, will enable practitioners to have more balance and reduce over-training.
Of course, the training is correct. If the training is wrong, adverse effects may occur. Indeed, from our perspective, many other kungfu and chi kung practitioners train wrongly.
Question
For example I think if you just do 30 minutes of Golden Bridge alone will likely be overtraining. But if we then add 10 minutes of Marvelous Fist and 10 minutes of running and you over-train less even though it is double the time. Is this true or false or something else depending on different types of person?
Answer
What you have said can be true or false, or something else depending on different types of persons.
If you force yourself to perform Golden Bridge for 30 minutes, it is over-training if you do it correctly, or wrong training if you do it wrongly. If you gradually increase you time, and perform Golden Bridge correctly, it is right training.
If you have over-trained, and perform an additional 10 minutes of Marvelous Fist and another 10 minutes of running, both at a physical level, and you perform all the exercises correctly, you will reduce your over-training.
If you increase your internal force while practicing 10 minutes of Marvelous Fist, and tense yourself while running, you increase your over-training.
Hence, different persons doing the same things may have different results because of various different factors. Over-training can also happen at a physical level. Most other people perform Golden Bell, Marvelous Fist and Art of Thousand Steps at a physical level. If they have over-trained, practicing further, even at a physical level, will increase their over-training.
Course participants during the Helsinki course in 2016 testing out Golden Bell
This question and answer are reproduced from the thread 10 Questions on the 72 Shaolin Arts in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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