The Art of Lightness

[Ericryu]

David Belle if anything is hard, completely yang. If you watch Ilabaca you can see the greater fluidity and yin aspect of his movement.

There was recently a show on MTV called MTV's ultimate parkour challenge, which Daniel Ilabaca won, and you can directly compare him to the other participants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUxugCUWsMw - Utimate parkour challenge

Generally competitions are frowned upon in the parkour community, but several of the participants (including Ilabaca) joined this competition with the intention to downplay the competitive aspect of the show.

[MaxP]

Dear All,

After dreaming of the possibility of a Special Arts of Lightness course in the 'What Course Would You Like To See' thread, I stumbled upon this excellent discussion.

Many thanks to all the contributors in this thread, in particular to my seniors. It made me realize once again how lucky we are.

With gratitude,

Max

[David Langford]

That would be a cool course, however from what I read it seems like this skill would be something that would have to be constantly observed by a master while one is training. Actually a lot of Kung fu seems to be that way. It is truly amazing that shaolin wahnam can just do week long courses and breed masters provided people practice. Unless I am wrong there.

It would be a dream come true to do a year long tutelage (or more) under a Wahnam master.

[SeanC]

This has been a fun thread to read, even though it spans a few years. I've read the accounts, and Sigung's QA section, but I still had a quick question.

Does anyone know if we definitely at one time did have this art in our school (perhaps going back to our lineage at the Shaolin temple)?

I would be interested to know.

Thanks in advance,
SeanC

[MaxP]

Hi Sean,

This is great thread, isn't it?

I guess the answer to your question depends on how you define 'our school'. If we take that term to mean our entire lineage back to Shaolin Temple, then yes, one of our SiTaiGung Ho Fatt Nam's Sifus demonstrated this skill to him personally. Sigung trained the methodology for some time during his younger days but decided to spend the training time on other arts instead. And I'm sure that there were some others who may have practiced or been exposed to this art in our lineage.

If you mean in our Shaolin Wahnam school as founded by Sigung, then I don't know. But I have noticed my ability to jump, like when we perform 'cheen pow' or arrow steps, increase somewhat during the short time I've been training.

Best regards,

Max

Namo Da Bei Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa

[Omar]

Greetings all,

Although no extensive jumping took place, this previous forum thread might be interesting to some of you:

http://wongkiewkit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9455

The art of lightness is still in our school, as Max said Sifu practiced it in the past but quit after he fell to spend his time on other things.

I do not know about anyone practicing for the art of lightness specifically at this time, maybe someone does?

I don't remember how high Sifu was able to jump but it was above normal. The details should be in his Q&A.

[Daoist]

The art of lightness still exists in some schools of kungfu. Certain sects of baguazhang practice it and I myself learned it from my sifu. It is a very time consuming exercise and must be practiced diligently for some time before high level results are achieved. I practiced it several years ago, but stopped to focus on another style of martial art that I thought was more important. Many kungfu people make a mistake and think it is not a practical art, but it will dramatically increase your speed and footwork, not just jumping height. But, like other special kungfu skills, unless you learn from a traditional real-life sifu, you could end up hurting your organs from the continuous jumps or simply waste your time. It is a difficult skill to master to be sure...

[Phoenix]

Dragon Gate Masters can walk on air like if it were some invicible steps in the air; I had hear

[Irina]

'What Course Would You Like To See'

Dear All,

After dreaming of the possibility of a Special Arts of Lightness course in the 'What Course Would You Like To See' thread, I stumbled upon this excellent discussion.

Max

I believe, that this would be an excellent course.

Once I saw in Blue Mountain in Costa Rica, how Sifu literallily jumped on the balustrade without effort. He looked like a butterfly rather than a human. Afterwards I tried to do the same with some of the guys from the course but none of us managed. This wall was just too high even if it did not look high.

Afterwards I tried, after having googled and after having consulted some of Sifu's books, to learn this skill myself. I tried for few months and I have achieved a little progress. In my view, it is a matter of using chi rather than muscles. It is like in stance trainining, the more you relax the longer and easier the stance becomes. But I am just a beginner. But I hope to improve.

[MaxP]

Dear Irina,

Good to hear from you! Wow, you got to see Sigung flying? Cool.

Yes, I, like many others I'm sure would love to learn The Art of Lightness. But if not the specific jumping skill, we already do have many elements of it in our school! My Siheng Nick Jones recently taught us a moving in stances drill that focuses on hopping from one leg to the other, in the Monkey style...

It's really demanding training, I can't at present do more than about 50 hops without having to break for a while, but the benefits for mental clarity, internal force, balance and agility are immeasurable. So I can imagine that the jumping training would also be quite demanding. And also very difficult and possibly dangerous without a Master's supervision.

Are you coming to the small universe course?

Best wishes,

Max

[Irina]

Our school is excellent :-)

Dear Max

Yes, I am going to the small unversrse course and the wedding, are you?

I look very much forward to it.

In terms of the art of lightness, we are just so lucky that our Sifu is, to use Andrew Siheng words, a Kung Fu Genious.

After this discussion I received a detailed account and instructions from Sifu of how to continue with my studies of the art of lightness alone.

Thank you Sifu! I am once again impressed by the profound and detailed explanations which I quote below.

"Here are some important tips about the Art of Lightness. You are right to say that it is chi and not muscles that are crucial. When you jump up, breathe into your chest so that chi rises from your dan tian to your chest in co-ordination with your jump. When you land, gently - repeat, gently - breathe out so that chi settles down into the dan tian and your feet."


However, as in many other advanced arts, it is very crucial that those who do not know how to generate chi flow, like those who have not learnt from us, should not attempt this practice as they are likely to make mistakes and harm themselves. This is a sincere warning, not something cooked up to prevent non-Shaolin Wahnam members from learning the art.

On the other hand, we as Shaolin Wahnam students are safe! Even if we make mistakes. As long as we practice our chi kung regularly and experience chi flow, the chi flow will wash out the harm that the unwitting mistakes may cause.

Once again, it reminds us how fortunate we are to know chi flow.

I for my self am very inspired, because this art is beautiful. So I will continue to improve :-)

[Guest]

Dear Sije, thank you for sharing this! Very interesting.

Yes, Sifu is a Kung Fu Genius, and much more. Writing Shaolin History!

Looking forward meeting you, Siheng Max and everyone else at the wedding celebrations!

Best regards,
Tim

[Matt F.]

I have never trained in the Art of Lightness, but upon reading Irina's last post, I think I have experienced it to a very small degree.

While recently practicing the Dragon Form Set, I noticed how effortless Move Body Little Jump has become. I can feel my internal force flowing enough by that time in the set that all I really do is breath in with the intent of jumping back, and am amazed at how high/far I jump and how softly I land with so little effort. Now, I'm certainly not jumping over buildings or anything, but the movement to effort ratio is much higher than when I used to lift weights and train for jumping.

-Matt

[Irina]

Matt Siheng, thank you for sharing this. Congratulations for your achievements :-)

I believe that there are not many people who actually can fly, but by paraphrasing words of Mahatma Gandhi we could say “There is no path to lightness, lightness is the path.

In fact, I have experienced this too. The ratio of effort/performance increases when I perform my Taijiquan sets in chi flow that I feel “the lightness”. However, I realize that the more I practice this art consciously the more advanced I become, even if my progress moves in steps rather than gradually.

In my studies about the art of lightness I use it, for instance, when running up the stairs, or when hiking in the mountains, when I use Qi instead of pure force of muscles which is in chi kung terms “the form”-level, i.e. the basic level. I realize that when being on “energy” level I get less tired and that I am rarely short of breath, even after long distances up the hill. Maybe the last level will be the “mind” level, where you can really overcome gravity
It is good to talk and share experiences.


I look forward to seeing the Shaolin Wahnam family in Malaysia.

[MaxP]

Dear Irina,

Thank you for posting your accounts of your training, it is certainly very interesting and inspiring! And also to Drop360 for your stories, they are very encouraging for our training.

To answer your question, Irina, yes I will be at the Small Universe Course and at the Wedding, I feel really lucky to be able to take part, and am also looking forward to it very much. Not long to go now, eh?

It is amazing that Sigung has given you those directions for training in this rare and advanced art. I assume that you might ask Sigung for some comment on your art of lightness training whilst in Malaysia .. if so please let me know before you do. I would love to be around for this, and perhaps request some advice on my own training in the monkey hopping skill. (Of course if it is just for you I also understand )

Looking forward to meeting with you all very much,

Max

Namo Bhaisajyaguru Buddha