Knockout of the century! (Nocaute do seculo!)
Awesome! Though brutal, this is a beautifully executed spinning wheel kick. Watch this again, because it is the Platonic ideal of fighting beautifully in a unrehearsed, unchoreographed fighting competition.
High spinning kicks to the head, common to capoeira, tae kwon do, hapkido and certain northern kung fu systems require great skill.
Evolving Martial Artists appreciate this supreme expression of kicking, yet regard it as a stupid self-defense technique. Why? It is too dangerous for a violent encounter when a mistake can have serious consequences.
In TanDao we learn to distinguish between a high probability and high destruction technique when determining which of the multitude of punches, kicks, throws and fighting movements from different styles are truly practical and efficient for real fighting.
This kick is a high destruction technique as evident from this dramatic knockout. Yet fans of MMA, tae kwon do or kickboxing know how rarely this kick connects in fighting tournaments. A right hook or roundhouse kick to the head is statistically far more common. As such, this type of high kick is regarded as a low probability technique. It should be avoided in any serious violent encounter, no matter how skilled you are. By all means, use them for wowing audiences at demos and for movie fights scenes, but for self defense, a wise martial artist will employ high probability techniques all the time.
Keep it simple.
Our theme at TanDao for Evolving Martial Artists is to bridge the gap between modern martial science and traditional martial arts.
This Year of the Dragon, we will introduce fighting techniques that are both high probability and high destruction that are taken from our TanDao Dragon Form.
Keep exploring and practicing,
Lawrence Tan
Check out our Tiger Combat ebook
And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book
Tags: capoeira, kung fu, lawrence tan, self defense, tae kwon do, tandao
Happy New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choy! Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Tags: chinese new year, dragon, tandao, year of the dragon
For those who appreciate the aesthetics of martial arts within an authentic Chinese cultural context can marvel at Master W. Lee’s inspiring Dragon Form, from http://dragongatesanctuary.com/. Powerful, flowing and effortless. High level kung fu. A bow to Master Lee for revealing the dragon spirit.
Modern martial artists — JKD and MMA — who focus strictly on utilitarian moves and competitive violence for street and ring may miss the deadly techniques and tactics concealed behind these soft Daoist Dragon motions. Without the eyes to see, many modern fighters just don’t get it.
The question remains: does this stuff work?
The challenge for Evolving Martial Artists is to creatively balance the brutal fighting efficacy of modern fight science and the hidden depth and subtleties of the dying traditional art.
Get ready for Dragon 123. The TanDao Dragon merges the ancient art and modern fight science.
Lawrence Tan
Check out our Tiger Combat ebook
And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book
Tags: dao, daoist, dragon, dragongate sanctuary, internal kung fu, lawrence tan, Martial Arts, master w lee, tandao, tao, taoist
We want to send out birthday wishes to Muhammad Ali who is 70 today.
Muhammad Ali used the phrase “float like a butterfly sting like a bee” to describe his boxing style. Although not intended, this street poetry eloquently captures the Chinese philosophical notion of yin and yang, the balancing of opposing yet complementary forces. High level kung fu seeks the skillful merging of hardness and softness for superior power, mobility and stability for footwork and strength and flexibility for technical skills.
Anyway, not to get carried away, but we wanted to give a bow of recognition and respect to a great boxing warrior who had the courage to go the distance after seeming defeat to become three times heavyweight champion of the world. Yet even greater was his courage and integrity of his moral conviction. The old boxing master was a warrior monk indeed. Happy Birthday.
Lawrence Tan
Get ready for the TanDao Dragon….
Check out our Tiger Combat ebook
And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book
Tags: ali 70th birthday, boxing, fight, fighter, muhammad ali
At TanDao we explore the full spectrum of the martial journey to mastery. We aspire to be the awakening master to discover the dimensions of the art that transcends fighting and the martial artist’s popular notion of what the art is.
Along the martial path to mastery, the very meaning of martial arts changes at different stages of our development. Just like the same oak tree appears differently during the four seasons – green buds in spring, lush foliage in summer, colored leaves in autumn, barren branches in winter – our values, what is truly important to us as individuals, changes as we grow and mature. Not just our punches change to animal moves and then to internal palm strikes but our thinking changes.
The young warrior trains the body striving for six pack abs and kick ass prowess. Of course, this is the popular Bruce Lee image of martial art, becoming a total fighter in all fighting ranges: kicking, punching, trapping and grappling. The macho art phase.
But there is more. Chinese Shaolin and Daoist kung fu is mental. The martial scholar delves into the intellectual aspects of fighting history, philosophy and science behind the physical techniques. A this stage, the martial scholar explores theories like yin/yang, five elements, the principle of Dao as well as bio-mechanics, leverage, anatomy that underlies a well executed hip throw techniques and strategy. As the martial warrior strengthens the body, the martial scholar is simultaneously strengthening the intellect.
Yet the rarefied realms of the martial way is that of the martial monk, who seeks the spiritual liberation as Bodhidharma taught. The meaning expands beyond the ring, mat or street to life itself. At this stage, the goal of martial arts is a transformative process for liberation of the self. But it is terrifying to confront our inner demons, few enter this part of the path.
The challenge of Evolving Martial Artists (warrior/scholar/monk) is to bravely shatter through their existing understanding of martial arts and become inner warriors of the mind and spirit. Keep going.
The Dragon is a symbol of the ultimate power of nature. In kung fu, it symbolizes high level martial arts. The TanDao Dragon is coming!
Lawrence Tan
Check out our Tiger Combat ebook
And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book
Tags: daoist, kung fu, lawrence tan, Martial Arts, master lawrence tan, mastery, shaolin, tandao
