#teaching challenges

But YOU GUYS…..

易學難掌握/Yixue Nan Zhangwo – Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master

Aphorisms, Truisms, Proverbs, & “Old Chestnuts” are common to the point of being Universal. The title of this post is a fine example. When it comes to proverbs, Xingyiquan is quite rich. Returning to the title of this post, we clearly see an expression, in proverbial form, of the central challenge faced by those studying an Internal Style of Martial Arts. Being based on a combination of Medical…

There's an illness that you can only contract in the World of Martial Arts. It's a terrible malady, full of furious twitching & "waa-tah" noises. Truly horrifying. #KungFu #FoolishnessFriday #Brucism

There is a disease in the World of Martial Arts. It runs rampant among both young & old, completely unchecked, seemingly unstoppable. It infects practitioners subtly, in unexpected ways. It can manifest immediately or lay dormant for years, even decades.

It is always destructive, sometimes fatally so. And there is no known cure.

It is the insidious scourge called “Bruceism.” At least, that’s what

You can only help someone but so many times before it becomes too much. Unfortunately, I've reached that point with a certain student, & it's time for that person to leave. This is the last person I ever expected to have to expel.

As much as it pains me to do this, I have to admit defeat. There’s an insurmountable obstacle in my way, & it’s clearly impossible for me to overcome. One of my attempts to transmit the Way of Kung Fu has failed miserably. To be fair, it was never going to succeed, in the end. There are some people who are essentially “anti-geniuses” in the sense that they have an astonishing lack of athleticism…

Why do clowns brag about being unable to complete sections of training? Why do Eternal Beginners refuse to let ANYONE help improve their practice?

  (video from Monkeysteals Peach Youtube channel) You probably recognize this video. Back in May of this year, an incident took place that reignited the debate between realism & traditionalism in the martial arts. It caused a huge stir in China, but the repercussions echoed everywhere. I wrote a rather (very) angry piece in…