Sifu Mike Martello Special

Long Fist by a student

For me, this is the best performed Long Fist video on Youtube by a student. (name of the form: Yi Lu Mai Fu / 一路埋伏) Long Fist is a Chinese Muslim fighting art and has influenced a large part of various Chinese Kung Fu styles. Shaolin, Praying Mantis, Choi Lee Fut... just to name a few.

Long Fist is also a great style to train as a basic foundation. As a preparation for getting your body ready for another style. It teaches you to use elongated power, correct body alignment and body mechanics.

For fighting, it teaches you the principle of "crash and bang", which is the first simple approach of fighting, this means hitting and kicking in a direct fashion. After that grappling can be applied: jointlocks combined with punches and kicks, then more focused on joinlocks and Shuai Jiao (Mongolian wrestling, predecessor of Judo - but with more emphasis on take downs). All this can be found in Long Fist. Of course, like all great fighting arts, you need to get it unlocked by following a good master.

Xingyi Sword by Master Sun Ruxian

Sun Laoshi is one of the best Martial Artist I have encountered, he is also a gentleman with a big heart. Forever humble, yet he is powerful and skillful. He is a great swordsman, and have taught in Japan amongst several countries, in that sense he shares the same generosity as teacher Mike. He is also very talented as a musician in traditional Chinese music, he loves his tea (he has a beautiful tea set) and fishing. The few times I was learning Kung Fu from him or have dinner together, he was a very caring person. In training he calls the students: Mr. ... because he sees them as friends having fun and sharing the art together. (even though he is truly a skilled master in front of novices)

His Xingyi is beautifully rounded, with a deep rooted power. Like a wave coming from the deep sea and wash you away. He can learn a form of over 100 movement within 2 days. Yet he is very very humble.

This sword form he taught us in 2008 during a Belgium camp in 2008.

The Himalayan Project

http://www.himalayanproject.org/Legacy.htm
The Himalayan Project is helping to raise critical support for the expansion of one of only two schools in the Everest region that go through grade 10. The school, founded by Sir Edmund Hillary, is attended by hundreds of Sherpa children - some of whom trek up to three hours a day to attend classes. The Himalayan Project has raised funds to construct an enclosure that will shelter the entire school during the many months of the year when inclement weather reigns: monsoons in the summer and snow in the winter.

Other major goals have been to fund a school library with Nepali, Tibetan and English books and to initiate a scholarship fund for village children whose families cannot afford the $10-$20 per month that it costs to send a child to school. At the Chaurikharka School, students learn everything from reading, writing and arithmetic to science and geography. The mission of the school is to nurture self-motivated students - and teachers - who yearn for knowledge and share a common desire to preserve their ancient culture. The curriculum prepares students for the challenges of both traditional village life and the fast-changing world that surrounds Chaurikharka.

http://www.himalayanproject.org/Legacy.htm

Tip: Why not ask a donation for a charity of your choice as your birthday present? It is free for you and you still make a difference!

Don't give up

Teacher Mike once told me, (and he used a word I forgot) that the mental ingredient to progress in training is to channel the stubbornness of human nature into one of productivity. To "not give up" even when you have a bad time. To "prove" to yourself that you can do it, even if it takes a life time to succeed.

We are all stubborn, it is just human nature. But the key is not to get stuck by it. Instead let it be a drive for moving forward. This counts as much in Kung Fu training as in life.

Remember that life always comes in good times and bad times, it is a matter of how to go through it with calmness and acceptance as part of the enrichment of your life.

So don't get stuck, instead, move and progress. As teacher Mike would say: Be all you can be.