What Shaolin Means to Me

A lot of people ask me about the meaning behind shaolin. It has a great history but personally it is more about what it means to me and what discoveries I have made as an individual. 

Importance of Footwork

One of the most fundamental lessons you can learn in any martial arts is how to stand. As easy as the it sounds, every practitioner needs to be aware many different aspects occuring in their body from something as simple as staying upright.

Try standing as a quick exercise now. How are your feet positioned? Do you feel the weight evenly distributed between the feet? Is your back straight? Are your core torso muscles engaged to help maintain your balance and posture? These are just some of the few things you need to be simultaneously aware in your body.

Now comes movement. Can you feel your weight easily transition between one foot to another as you move in any direction?

Sifu Hill recently started several advanced discussions about the importance of footwork, and how to move swiftly and effectively in a combat situation

Losing to win

(Dictated by Sifu Lawrence Hill)

"A lot of people will feel really bad when they perform poorly, especially if in a fighting situation. They will get frustrated or upset if they get beat and bloodied up.  But I've taken a different view: you have to lose to actually win.  In order to improve you need experience and there is no experience like losing.

How Sifu got started in Kung Fu

[Dictated by Sifu Lawrence Hill]

“Well, my whole journey into the martial arts began with a bet.

Benefits of Breathing

Pop Quiz! (You will not be judged or laughed at if you screw up.)

Fill in the blank: One of the hardest aspects of your martial arts practice is_______:

A)     Muscle conditioning

B)      Flexibility

C)      Breathing

The acceptable answer I am looking for is: C) Breathing

What’s so hard about breathing?! It’s something all living things instinctively know how to do, from the moment we are born to the last thing we do before we die. Think of it this way: you can gradually build up your muscle development and flexibility through the proper exercises and your formwork, but nothing feels worse than losing your breath while working out.

It's all Shaolin

Dear Systems within Systems students (and fellow blog readers who are interested in knowing what forms we teach at the Systems within System school),

Please take a few minutes to look at the three videos below, and tell me if any of them look familiar. Go ahead, I'll meet you towards the end :)

I LIVE!!!!

.....I know, right??

First off, BIIIIIG thank you to those who are still in touch with the Systems within Systems blog. I'm so honored that you all still check every so often to see if there are new updates, and I openly apologize for not being more regular with blog articles.

The problem with taking a break as a blogger is that if you are gone for longer than you need to, people think that you're:

1) Dead
2) Lazy and pretended you were dead
3) [insert a fantastic epic story of survival and courage, like being kidnapped by ninja/pirates and fighting your way back to freedom]

But the truth is, I took a break so that I can really focus on what the blog should express, gather ideas on how to make it better, and yes, took a few self-paced courses on HTML so I can make the blog look better.

And then I realized it was January 2012. Oops.

There are big plans for this blog. Lots of really great blog ideas, an attempt to improve the user layout, and a few more surprises if the stars will technically align themselves.

If you have any suggestions/comments, feel free to email them to SouthernToph@gmail.com. I look forward to feedback!


Grow, learn, teach,
Toph