About the Ancient Art of Kung Fu
♫ Saturday, June 12th, 2010Kung fu is a martial art that teaches you how to defend yourself, a way to keep fit and a lesson in culture. Also named “gung fu, wu shu and sometimes “kuo shu” the art is very popular in the world. It utilizes the usage of hand and foot techniques and shares some similar characteristics to karate.
They’re are a few different styles and techniques in Kung fu, the most well known being established in the renown Shaolin Temple. Something people don’t know is karate was practiced a long time before the first Shaolin temple was around.
Most people who like martial arts think defending yourself is what it’s all about, and that includes kung fu. Although self defense is incorporated with this martial art, the art involves a lot more then just attacking and defending. It is a real art form that concentrates on uniting the mind body and spirit.
Kung fu teaches students not to focus on dominating others but to look within themselves and to learn to discipline and refine there feelings. This ancient art teaches the student to avoid conflicts and to retain inner tranquility and calm. If the student finds themselves in the position where they are being attacked by someone then they must rise to the situation, go into warrior mode and stop themselves from being harmed.
Kung fu teaches that balance must be kept correctly and balance is very important in utilizing the correct movements and stances. The concept is from the belief in keeping with the balance that lies between heaven and earth. The idea is for the student to completely eradicate any thoughts from there minds and totally concentrate on the task at hand, total concentration is needed to keep balance.
Kung fu doesn’t really have competitions like most other martial arts. Stylists can go into competitions to fight in other styles of martial arts, but there really isn’t any competitions for just this style alone. It is a very old form of martial arts and should be used only when there is no other option but to defend oneself. Confrontation should be avoided at all costs even when under provocation.
Kung fu sets out to teach honor, inner calm, equality, fairness and respect, peace of the spirit and and discipline under all circumstances. These traits can teach a student when combined how to cope with an aggressive society. This Chinese fighting art is about increasing the students sense of balance and well being overall, and to follow a disciplined path to strength of body and mind.
