Ashe Higgs's blog

I was fortunate enough to have Willie come to Tempe recently to get some extra training in with me and he had a question about Zen and how it applies to our training in the Martial Art Of Awareness.

"What is Zen?" is one of the most common questions posed by beginners to I Liq Chuan and how that actually applies to training martial arts.  In this quick video I attempt to address that issue as simply as possible.

Sunday's class ended up being a private lesson with Moose, and since he's working on his student level two, we spent a long time talking about the hip roll, finding the limits within the hip roll and triangle energy and m

The real trick of pursuing a martial art like I Liq Chuan over the long term is recognizing the end of the duality of "on the mat" and "off the mat", so that one is always training.

The I Liq Chuan system guide opens with the following;

The breath is used as an indicator for when you are going beyond the limit of strength. Part of tai chi is to recognize things as they are, or as such (Dao 道, or the nature of things).

I have strength, why can't I use it? We all have a certain amount of strength, this is our nature. The thing is when I try to go BEYOND the limit of my strength that my action turns into struggling, and I will lose the tai chi balance in my body, because everything has it's limits.

Ever notice the gentle smile on the face of most Buddha and Bodhisatva statues?

I Liq Chuan is called "The Martial Art of Awareness" for good reason. Zen philosophy is inextricably interwoven into it's training approach. It's simultaneously the most difficult and most rewarding part of practice.

Falling Leaves Kung Fu has been ranked #1 in the Phoenix Metro area for Chinese martial arts. (although the ranking of the top three seemed to fluctuate depending on the link you clicked).

Just a little taste of some what you can expect during the April 2011 martial art of Awareness workshop with Master Sam FS Chin in Tempe Arizona.

As part of our ongoing training, both mental 意 and physical 力, in the martial art of awareness, students are encouraged to seek out meditation opportunities with those more enlightened than ourselves.

Tui Shou (push hands) or Chi Sao (sticky hands) are common practices in Chinese martial arts, meant to develop both structure, sensitivity, power, offense and defense. All too often though they become overly formalized practices that leave the original intent far behind, and as a result practitioners fail to develop any real, usable martial arts skill.

A quick clip from our martial arts classes in Tempe Arizona discussing our Tai Chi - Kung Fu principles of absorb and project and how they might apply to a clinch.

Students of Falling Leaves Kung Fu in Tempe, Arizona gathered early this morning, some as early as 7am, to participate in my Sifu's only regular class taught in New York, the monthly "Master's Class" for I Liq Chuan, The Martial Art of Awareness.

New students who register for classes with Falling Leaves Kung Fu before the end of August will receive Two Weeks at no cost and no obligation to continue.

Offer Valid Through 08/31/2010

On Sunday July 17th, 2010, Arizona students from all over the state gathered at the Kung Fu Studio in Tucson to test for their next student level. We had 10 successful tests for student level one, and one successful test for student level 2. Many congratulations to all the students of our style of Tai Chi - Kung Fu for your hard work and determination to pursue our wonderful martial art!

More Sunday goodness...

Falling Leaves Kung Fu students of I Liq Chuan, Ashe (Cheif Instructor at FLKF), and Glenn work on some basic partner drills that incorporate our spinning and sticky hands training.

In these clips we work on I Liq Chuan principles like "guard center/ use center" "no landing" as well as "circle to center, center to center, center with cross" and the "five qualities of unification", "bridging" and more.

Falling Leaves Kung Fu students Will and Jonathan train some "sticky leg" during our martial arts classes from this Sunday at our Tempe, Arizona facility. Sticky leg drills are used to develop both offense and defense within the "shuai" 摔 section of training. Shuai is often tranlated as "wrestling" and can include trips, sweeps, throws and various take downs, similar to Judo or Jiu-Jitsu.

Is it a mystical ancient art?  Is it a health panacea?  Is it a black and white circular symbol?  How about an ultimate fighting system?  What about a philosophy or conceptual framework?  Depending on who you ask, tai chi could be any one of the above mentioned possibilities.  There is a joke that goes “How many tai chi practitioners does it take to screw in a light bulb?  100.  One to screw it in, and 99 to say ‘that’s not how I was taught to do that.’”  Similarly, if you ask 100 different people what tai chi is, you’re liable to get nearly as many different answers.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Special Offer

When we discovered the Nicolodean animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender" in my house, it was a real treat! The whole fmaily loved watching each new episode (we watched them on DVD). Since that time my kids *cough*and me*cough* have enjoyed watching them again and again.

Growing up during the 80's, the movie The Karate Kid certainly helped influence my desire to learn martial arts. I always dreamed of finding a master as wise and kind as Mr. Miyagi. I was lucky enough to find my Mr. Miyagi, so in honor of the new Karate Kid movie we're offering one free week of lessons to anyone who brings in their ticket stub from the new movie!

Some photos from last weekends workshop in Arizona.

Are you uncomfortable with the idea of just jumping right in to a trial class?

Not sure if our program is right for you? Let's talk about it over coffee.

Kelley came up from Tucson the other day to drop his family off at the Science Museum in Downtown Phoenix so we decided to meet up and take the opportunity to get some training in for our next cert (student level six).

Caught this simple kicking drill on youtube. I like a lot of the stuff from sunlivero. They make a lot of drills into games which is important. Everyone goes home feeling like they had fun!