Infinite Way

Nanpai Kung Fu

Chinese Kung Fu has a long and rich history of over 4000 years and covers every aspect of martial art training. The term "Kung Fu" has many meanings but it is generally translated as "hard work" or "skill developed through practise". A more common term used in China is "Wu Shu" meaning martial art or "Chuan Fa" meaning fist fighting. Kung Fu has many styles and methods and can be considered to be one of the most sophisticated and effective systems of self-defence.

Kung Fu is commonly divided into Northern and Southern schools, which are usually characterised by the type of forms and techniques that they train. The Northern schools generally put more emphasis on mobility and dynamic longer range techniques such as kicking, spinning and leaping. The Southern schools tend to put the emphasis onto developing strong rooted stances, explosive rapid hand techniques and short range close in fighting skills. This division though is not strict, as some systems of have a mixture of both long and short techniques to draw from. In Chinese Kung Fu it is often said that the most complete fighter has "Southern arms and Northen legs", meaning that you need to develop all ranges of techniques, long, short, high and low, to cover for every eventuality.

Even though Kung Fu can be separated into Northern and Southern Schools, no two styles can be said to be the same, as size and flexibility varies from person to person, each style developing and evolving according to the needs of the practitioner. From this perspective it can be said that there are as many styles as their are people. In this section I will give a brief outline of my ideas and the type of Kung Fu that we train in the Nanpai system.

Nanpai means Southern School and is a martial art system that has it's roots in Southern Shaolin, Southern Praying Mantis boxing and Tai Chi Chuan. It has developed out of my interest and practise of Chinese martial and healing arts that began in 1986. After visiting and training in lots of different martial schools, I must say that I don't really believe very much in fixed systems, every half decent martial artist that I have ever met has trained in more than one type of art. I think a good system has to be flexible enough to adapt to any particular situation, not rigidly impose a set of rules or techniques. This means that the player has to be intelligent enough to "read" what is going on, quick enough to react to the situation, and powerful enough to be able to do something about it. The Taiji philosophy of yin and yang for me has to be the basis of any martial system. Soft and hard are mutually dependant, movement is balanced by stillness, fullness balances emptiness and one movement follows another. When we fight we make contact, that contact involves an exchange of energy which can either be joined with or opposed. If opposed, generally the strongest person wins, like two animals butting each other, the one with the thicker skull generally has more chance.

In contrast to this, by joining, sensing and flowing with the persons movements, it is possible to feel where the gaps and weaknesses are, this information can then be used to your advantage, and your responses then become natural, spontaneous and appropriate. This approach for me involves a much higher level of skill and understanding.

Sticking/sensing hands, two person exercises and power/technique partner drills are central to the training of Nanpai Kung Fu. They are needed to develop correct timing and balance in relation to something unpredictable, like another person. Forms and patterns are important, as they develop stamina, internal power and knowledge of techniques, but contact has to be made in order to find out whether it works or not. For the beginner, punching and kicking air can be a useful exercise and way of understanding the mechanics of particular techniques, but it can give you a false sense of security if that is all you train. In my opinion, only contact can give you the feedback that you need to develop into a good martial artist.

In order to be stable one must develop a root. When one has a root the body and mind can relax. Stillness and mental clarity come from releasing what you do not need. When you let go, space naturally appears and everything finds it's natural order.

When practising martial arts it is necessary to have a strong foundation.
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