Every generation believes themselves to know more than the preceding, yet be wiser than the following. This series of articles by Sifu. Ringer gathers together some of the most profound and life-changing wisdom from, not only the far east but also from, many other cultures. This represents all the wisdom of Kung Fu.
1. Five Reasons to train with Kung Fu Living
Focus & Self MasteryThe best Kung Fu training will have a primary emphasis on developing focus & mastering…
2. Introduction to martial arts
A passion pursued with discipline and a discipline pursued with passion; both an art and a science. It…
3. Sport or Tournament Styles
Historically, many martial arts have tried to ensure their continuation by becoming a sport once the conflict or…
4. Our philosophy
Truth is like a jewel you find in the mud, you might not be looking for it, you…
5. The Kung Fu Living Approach to Learning
When I learned to type I practiced the sentence “the quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown…
6. Rhino or Unicorn
When the rhinoceros was first described to Europeans it was almost certainly from the accounts of sailors who…
7. Effortless skill takes a lot of effort
I was talking the other day to someone who said that they practiced Chi Kung, but they didn’t…
8. Ethics of Violence
There are generally two elements to consider. What is the right thing to do and how do you…
9. The greatest danger to you
Protection from the greatest threat to your life. People often ask about self-defence in terms of being physically…
10. Creating Yourself
Stop trying to find yourself. Create yourself. Stop burying your head in distractions because life seems to lack…
11. Who Do You Think You Are? Part 1
I have to let go of what I am, if I am ever to become what I choose…
12. Who Do You Think You Are? Part 2
Someone recently commented that in their heads they were still about 25. The person in question is in…
13. Who do you think you are? Part 3
In this article I hope to offer you some ideas of how your training with us can develop…
14. Who’s Reality
Enlightenment through Koans, just join the dots and a picture emerges. A Koan is a story or a…
15. If things Don’t change
It is so often the case that the most profoundly useful lessons appear the simplest, while actually being…
16. How we learn
With Kung Fu Living you will be benefitting from the most modern teaching concepts. This means you will…
17. Another way to understand the learning process
There are times when people tend to give up on their training. One occasion is when they think…
18. The key to motivation and self-discipline
I wish I had a pound for every time I’ve been told that someone’s problem was self-discipline, either…
19. The unconscious process of creating our world
We learn to create the world we live in. The unconscious brain receives and processes billions of bits…
20. How we learn our emotional response to confrontation.
In the last blog I was talking about how we appear to attract into our lives whatever we…
21. How to reprogram your unconscious mind. Or, creating yourself as you choose.
I’m going to explain briefly how to reframe memories to adjust how your past affects you, but mainly…
22. Freedom from your past
A theme that has cropped up many times, in relation to learning to live in the moment, is…
23. Live Now
One root of both depression and anxiety is where you live… Anything that requires your total focus on…
24. Perspective
Seen from high enough all of life’s problems are small. A famous economist, when asked why he had…
25. Inertia
It is so often the case that the most useful lessons (and, it appears, the hardest to apply)…
26. Fluidity
Some fighting styles would encourage you to train so that you become harder, stronger and more able to…
27. Momentum
There are laws of motion in every area of life. Inertia and momentum are fundamental. It takes a…
28. Practicality
One of the fundamental principles behind Tao Te Kung Fu is that every technique we teach must be…
29. Structure
During a Kung Fu lesson you will be told to relax your shoulders, keep your spine straight, have…
30. Economy of Motion
Most people will be aware that economy of motion implies, in most cases finding the shortest line between…
31. Attitude
Attitude is the key to understanding so much of what we do. When we enter the training studio,…
32. Personal Development?
It is only that which has never known the actions of energy that is still and unchanging (e.g….
33. Feel the Fear and see the Beauty
I grew up during a time of international anxiety. When I left school in 1979 the principal topic…
34. Balance and Freedom
It is typical to understand many Zen masters as teaching that we should aim to be above such…
35. Unconscious messaging
There is a certain conversation that I have often had with people after they have been training for…
36. Stress. What is it and how to reduce it
We hear so much talk about stress that you’d think we all knew what it was. The reality…
37. Understanding Stress Better
Previously I mentioned that what we think of as our stress reaction is principally our whole system moving…
38. Meditation & The Brain
In the last article I talked about stress. Stress, you may recall, is the result of prolonged activity…
39. Ancient advice
Original Jing or telomeres It is very easy to ignore ancient wisdom when it is presented dressed in…
40 The Elements
As students progress through the Masters’ Course at our Norwich Academy, they develop their understanding of the Elements…
41. Water
Think of Water in its many various contexts: the bubbling brook, the steady flowing river, the lake, the…
42 Wood
Think of the wind bending a bamboo. Start with being fully rigid, then relax just enough to allow…
43. Fire
Picture the leaping bush fire or the roaring furnace. Now think of the full flowering of crops in…
44 Stone
Think mountains, rock, crystal, granite and diamonds. When a muscle is tensed it is harder than bone, harder…
45. Metal
The traditional role of Metal involves cutting and adornment. Both weapons and agricultural implements are generally used to…
46. Tao
Lao Tzu defined contentment as the only measure by which we should gauge both personal success and the…
47. Te
You may have heard of the Tao Te Ching; a classic text written by Lao Tzu. The style…
48. Yin Yang and the symbolism
Many people ask about the Yin Yang symbol that the academy uses; wondering about any religious significance. Although…
49. Wu Wie
Wu Wei has often been translated to mean something like Not Doing, or Doing By Not Doing. It…
50. Li
Li describes the grain in wood or jade. Li is the reason why a willow leaning over a…
51. Chi Kung
Chi Kung or working with energy. I’ve recently had one or two people ask about the Chi Kung…