Starting this thread as a fun way to chat about what skills & techniques our sifu/elders know, but not neccessarily teach or pass on.
I know as a fact, that my Sifu knows weapons and forms that are not taught to the standard student, nor are part of our styles.Some were learned solely for demo sake, while other seem to be more of a personal Interest.
So does your Sifu at times suprise you with showing skills/forsm/training methods/etc that are not part of your styles or known to be possessed by him/her??
ALWAYS…I don’t know how he does…one day there was a guy who came to study bagua with him (long xing bagua and jiang rong qiao) and had studied some bagua already…he was asked to demonstrate what he knew, and then after the first moves, my teacher told him “hmmm…this bagua comes from x, I guess you learnt from y”…the guy did the most puzzled face I ever saw and told him “exactly…how can you tell?”.
Same thing with a friend of mine who had spent several years in China and came across a rare shaolin tiger style…he came to see us work, and started talking with my teacher…he then mentionned this style/form and my teacher said, “oohhhh yes, that” while doing two or three techniques…I saw the guy’s jaw drop and his eyes get all round heheheheh
That’s priceless…
Also, the form of sword I’m practicing…he never would tell me where it comes from…I questionned him many times, he would never tell me…he said it was called “lian jian quan” something like “sword exercises”…I knew that it was not it’s real name, and that he had made it up on the spot to counter my questions…it was fishy…well I stopped trying to know, and went on…and not sooner than last week, he winked at me and said “so, you’re still training your Emei sword”…I was “yes I am…uuhhhh…wait a sec…Emei? That’s what you said? It’s Emei sword?? I’m training Emei sword??”…he smiled at me with that typical smile of his that means “you found out huh?”.
I am even more motivated now, it was really a great surprise he did to me…
And the list goes on…
Which makes me think that these guys, back in the days in China, spent litterally their days and weeks training…they were in contacts with people of great knowledge, and a great number of heavy players…not a real surprise that they know so much after all, but everytime you realize it it’s still very impressive…
This is not so much about my Sifu, but more my Sigong… I’ve seen some pics of him doing a few different htings, but am still unsure whether they were poses or not. Things like Drunken, Wudang Sword etc. Hopefully i will find out one day
Also when my Sigong does a demo of say a sword form… it’s usually introduced as ‘a rare chinese sword form’ - it’s real rare, as he makes it up as he goes along
Also there have been a few cases when we’ve been talking about different styles and my Sigong has mentioned a few things about them, their characteristics etc. Pretty cool
theres the typical jongs - that you learn for your grading, that you practice like ****, that concentrate on a particular area.
then theres the jongs that are ‘non-grading’ that your sifu teaches you for a few weeks then doesnt bring up for a few months, that if you can master them, teach you how to win a fight without bothering to fight. for instance - (btw im at orange belt, pretty low, maybe thats why he hasnt told me this much) a jong where you ‘dart’ forward, and gain contact with his wrists, and keep close contact with him. i cant be bothered going into detail with this jong (possibly because i cant remember) but ive done this against a big guy who knows how to fight on my first time, and he was helpless against my ‘moves’ (i sound like karate kid i know) while i could have slapped his groin and moved up into his face any second. anyway. anyone remotely idenfity ? or feel like flaming?
