This book features the teachings and training methods of Granmaster Gin Foon Mark. Grandmaster Mark's legacy is Kwang Sai Jook Lum Southern Praying Mantis. Read about the history of the style, training tips and methods from the master, and anecdotes from his more than 80 years studying Chinese martial arts.

A rare instructional treatise of Chinese boxing from the Kwongsai Dragon-Tiger Mountain, Bamboo Forest Temple, Praying Mantis Clan, as transmitted by the late Grandmaster Lam Sang. Details include stories of Lam Sang's supernatural ability such as Poison Snake Staff, Sun Gazing, and Light Body Skills. Boxing principles elaborated are Body posture, Rooting, Sinking, Center-line, Spiral power, Contact-control-strike, Intercepting and sticky hand, Bridging, Anticipating-telegraphing, Dead and live power, Form and function, 4 word secret, Dim Mak vital points and more. Boxing Fundamentals included are Footwork: Chop, Circle, Advance, Shuffle step, Turnarounds, Side to side; Kicks, Sweeps, Takedowns, Grappling, Chin Na Seizing, Hook hands, Elbow strokes, Dui Jong, Sticky hands, Forms, and Phases of training. Eighteen Buddha Hand techniques, 9 defensive, 9 offensive, are illustrated in color with instruction in attributes, function and vital point targeting. Boxing maxims of strategy and tactics are included.

Hakka Kuen is a generic term for all the martial arts developed by the Chinese Hakka community, mainly in southern China.This book is intended as a general presentation of the Hakka culture and their martial arts. It is the synthesis of our travels, trainings and research on the subject. We have tried to collect and classify the information in order to make it available to martial artists and new generations of Hakka around the world. The richness of the Hakka martial culture is undeniable, and not only many famous Chinese Kung Fu styles are Hakka (such as Pak Mei, Wing Chun, White Crane, Long Yin, Southern Praying Mantis...), but many non-Chinese martial arts happen to have Hakka roots as well.

Among the many groups of Chinese who migrated from their ancestral homeland in the nineteenth century, none found a more favorable situation that those who came to Hawaii. Coming from South China, largely as laborers for sugar plantations and Chinese rice plantations but also as independent merchants and craftsmen, they arrived at a time when the tiny Polynesian kingdom was being drawn into an international economic, political, and cultural world. Sojourners and Settlers traces the waves of Chinese immigration, the plantation experience, and movement into urban occupations. Important for the migrants were their close ties with indigenous Hawaiians, hundreds establishing families with Hawaiian wives. Other migrants brought Chinese wives to the islands. Though many early Chinese families lived in the section of Honolulu called "Chinatown," this was never an exclusively Chinese place of residence, and under Hawaii's relatively open pattern of ethnic relations Chinese families rapidly became dispersed throughout Honolulu. Chinatown was, however, a nucleus for Chinese business, cultural, and organizational activities. More than two hundred organizations were formed by the migrants to provide mutual aid, to respond to discrimination under the monarchy and later under American laws, and to establish their status among other Chinese and Hawaii's multiethnic community. Professor Glick skillfully describes the organizational network in all its subtlety. He also examines the social apparatus of migrant existence: families, celebrations, newspapers, schools--in short, the way of life. Using a sociological framework, the author provides a fascinating account of the migrant settlers' transformation from villagers bound by ancestral clan and tradition into participants in a mobile, largely Westernized social order.

This book begun as a training guide for students of CKFA Kung Fu and Floating Monk Qigong. It also provided training tips about: the best times of day to practice, what direction to face, advice about eating, drinking, clothing, temperature, weather, and much more. The booklet I envisioned became this larger book which provides a history of our Art, Philosophy and the Amazing Masters. The original idea proved very useful, so all of our Workshops and Training Programs now include program specific training guides. We at Floating Monk hope that you will enjoy this book about our System, Floating Monk Qigong, the Amazing Masters, and True Stories from both recent times and long ago - detailing the amazing benefits which some Qigong practitioners have experienced.

Living Beings examines the vital characteristics of social interactions between living beings, including humans, other animals and trees.Many discussions of such relationships highlight the exceptional qualities of the human members of the category, insisting for instance on their religious beliefs or creativity. In contrast, the international case studies in this volume dissect views based on hierarchical oppositions between human and other living beings. Although human practices may sometimes appear to exist in a realm beyond nature, they are nevertheless subject to the pull of natural forces. These forces may be brought into prominence through a consideration of the interactions between human beings and other inhabitants of the natural world.The interplay in this book between social anthropologists, philosophers and artists cuts across species divisions to examine the experiential dimensions of interspecies engagements. In ethnographically and/or historically contextualized chapters, contributors examine the juxtaposition of human and other living beings in the light of themes such as wildlife safaris, violence, difference, mimicry, simulation, spiritual renewal, dress and language.

ANCIENT WISDOM FOR CHANGING TIMES

An advanced training course for developing a strong striking hand to deliver powerful blows using the Iron Palm martial arts technique A comprehensive guide for experienced practitioners of Chinese martial arts—including kung-fu, karate, and taekwondo—with over 200 instructive images Iron Palm is a set of martial art conditioning skills—dating back to the Shaolin Temple of 5th-century China—whose purpose is to strengthen the hand while empowering the fighter to strike with force and precision. Training is focused and incremental, requiring the guidance of an experienced master. Author, instructor, and 5-time US National Chinese martial arts Champion Phillip Starr provides the definitive guide to Iron Palm, meticulously outlining the 3 sequential steps of training: • hardening limbs • developing technique • engaging Qigong for coordinating breath and mind The end result is a more powerful and precise strike that can impact the target’s viscera with no trace on the outer body. Lavishly illustrated with more than 200 images, this book is ideal for experienced martial arts practitioners.

The Power of Shaolin Kung Fu offers readers a comprehensive course in the fundamental movements that have been practiced and perfected by warrior monks for centuries. It includes instruction in the powerful striking techniques that so often lead to decisive victory in today's mixed martial arts bouts. The book includes 300 color photographs along with detailed textual instructions and training tips. Shaolin Kung Fu is an indispensable part of every martial artist's repertoire--a vital means to improve your movement, motion, and balance skills and the best way for a mixed martial arts fighter to improve and perfect striking skills. This informative kung fu book also shares the moral and ethical philosophies that underlie the Jow Ga system. Shaolin Jow Ga Kung Fu is a combination of southern and northern Shaolin techniques--making it by far the most effective in terms of combining blinding speed with devastatingly powerful strikes.