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Posts Tagged ‘Kung Fu’

About the Ancient Art of Kung Fu

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Kung 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.

Kung Fu Up Close

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

The martial art of Kung Fu is an exchange of culture, a type of exercise, and also a way of defending yourself. The art is very popular throughout the world, also being known as Gung Fu, Wu Shu, and even Kuo Shu. It shares some common traits with Karate, such as using both hand and foot techniques. Kung Fu is one of the most popular forms of martial arts – and also one of the oldest.

Kung Fu is a martial art that can be learned by anyone. It does take a strong desire, just like any other martial art. It has a rich heritage, and a proud legacy. Kung Fu is indeed a deadly martial art, if used in the wrong ways. There are variations of Kung Fu as well, which include the infamous five animals – Tiger, Dragon, Eagle Claw, Crane, and the Snake.

A Little History on Kung Fu

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Kung Fu a generic label used to describe the martial arts that come from China. Chinese kung fu is not only about fighting but about self discipline, self respect, humbleness and patience. What makes the Chinese martial arts unique is the use of meditation as part of their art. Also the many weapons they have to master is another unique benefit of kung fu. Kung fu really took off in China when they added mind training to their workouts. They were the first to combine mental exercises with physical. The results were the most effective martial arts system around. When the figured out how to train the mind correctly they were able to push the body way beyond its normal limits. One form of meditation they used was Chan meditation.

Kung fu has more variety of movements, systems, weapons and traditions compared to most of the other martial arts. There are soft and hard types of martial arts in china. Both styles include the use of weapons. Some of the weapons include the broadsword, staff, kwan do, butterfly knives and three section staff. It’s estimated that there are over 200 styles of kung fu. Compare that to Karate or Judo. However, this isn’t always a good thing. It causes much argument and confusion in the kung fu community. You see everyone studying a system believes their system is the best and was the original style. The good thing about this is that there should be a style to suit every body type out there.