ACMAF Newsletter 全 美 中 崋 國 術 總

JULY 2012 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

By Shifu Lee Yokota

There’s a reason that college students from all over the country descend upon the sunny beaches of south Florida every spring. South Florida is a tropical paradise with miles upon miles of beautiful beaches stretching down both sides of the penin-sula. However, you don’t have to be a keg stand champion or know all the rules of beer pong to come visit and appreciate all that South Florida has to offer. On April 18-20th, 2013, Masters, Shifus, and students from around the country will gather to meet, greet, and exchange techniques and martial theories in West Palm Beach, Florida. Get all the benefits of warm, sunny weather and meet and ex-change ideas with people from around the country who share your love and passion for Shyun Eight Step Preying Mantis kung fu and Tai Chi! This year, National testing will be held at the West Palm Beach Expo cen-ter located in the heart of Downtown West Palm Beach. The expo center is a new state of the art facility with all the amenities. We will have a large room that will be separated into two sections. One will have Shifu trainees testing for Shifu ac-creditation . The other will be set up with mats and gear for all day free seminars on kung fu and tai chi! Just five minutes away is City Place, where you can enjoy upscale shopping and restaurants, live entertainment, buzzing nightlife, or catch a movie at the state of the art Muvico theater with chairs that vibrate and move with the latest action mov-ies. Just a short drive from there, is the famous Palm Beach Island home of the Breakers hotel and some of the best beaches in all of Florida! You can go shop on Worth avenue where all the celebrities go when they are in town. If you are bringing your spouse and kids, there are plenty of things to keep them busy while you attend the meetings and seminars. (Continued Nationals page 6)

National Camp Destination: Florida

How Abimoxi Works: Chapter 2 Yin and Yang

Inside this issue:

Martial art to sport 2

Respect 4

Book review 5

Human Anatomy 7

Female Mantises 13

New Shifu Guide 15

Human Engineering 16

Did You know ?

This year’s National testing

will take place in West Palm

Beach, Florida April 20th

2013. Start planning your trip

now!

Several seminars are given

free of charge at each Nation-

al testing meeting that anyone

can join!

Grandmaster has been known

to give impromptu seminars,

lectures, and Q&A sessions at

each national camp. Don’t

miss the next one!

Brush up on your forms and

compete nationally against

other Eight Step schools at

this year’s annual ACMAF

tournament!

By Shifu Nicholas Baker Through this arti-cle series we will be ex-ploring the medical prac-tice of Abimoxi, the un-derlying theories that guide it, and the nuts and bolts of how it works. Abimoxi is the medical practice passed down amongst martial artists for over a thousand years and

only recently opened to the public. YIN AND YANG     Thousands of years ago, Chinese schol-ars observed that change occurred in nature due to the constant interaction of many sets of dual oppos-ing forces. Hot and cold, for example, are one set of

these opposites. They can-not exist without each other; because heat exists, so does cold. They can never be separated, be-cause to have something that is hot means that there is always something cold-er to compare it to. They interchange with each oth-er, meaning that if you (Continued Abimoxi page 10)

ed to understand how the key principles of mantis kung fu could be applied to any com-bat sport. Techniques that are illegal inside a match can be modified to legal techniques without compromising the effectiveness or essence of the technique.

Shyun Eight Step

Praying Mantis kung fu relies heavily on devastating tech-niques that can seriously in-jure, maim, or even kill an opponent. Obviously, using these techniques inside a match would not only be against the rules, but also be unethical and immoral. Using deadly techniques to win a fight for glory misses the point of martial arts competi-tion and the philosophy of martial arts in general. Those techniques should only be used in a self defense situa-tion where life and death are at stake.

Even less serious injuries such as broken bones can be seen unethical inside a tournament if done on pur-pose. For this reason, Chin Na techniques are not allowed in san shou/ san da. In fact,

towards reality based fighting and included joint locks and chokes. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to use my mantis to win fights and prove that I could use it effec-tively.

My first match end-ed in a loss for me. I had been training with open hand-ed “MMA style” type gloves in which I could use grabbing techniques. This tournament did not allow the use of these type of gloves and instead used “boxing style” type gloves. I had failed to properly integrate my kung fu into the rule set for san shou/san da. After this defeat, I went back to the drawing board. I realized that I had to adapt my mantis so that it would work within the rule set for san shou/san da.

One of my key goals

in trying to adapt mantis to san shou/ san da was to keep the essence of mantis so that what I practiced for the ring, would easily transfer to the streets. I used a “trial by fire” approach, often trying to fig-ure things out inside sparring sessions or in fights them-selves. After a while, I start-

By Shifu Lee Yokota

Do you practice your martial art for practical street application or for sport? Can the two be combined and are they truly separate? Tech-niques that are illegal in com-bat sports can be crucial to your survival in a self defense situation. However, the train-ing and conditioning gained in a combat sport is hard to duplicate in self defense sce-narios.

Martial arts intended for life and death scenarios were generally developed centuries ago during times of war where techniques were proven on the battlefield where the only rule was to survive. Combat sports have a more recent history and usually have rules to create a safe environment in which two people can compete. Most combat sports find their lineage from traditional mar-tial arts.

When I entered my first san shou/ san da tourna-ment, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. We didn’t train san shou at the school at the time and our sparring was geared more

From Martial Art to Combat Sport

Page 2 ACMAF NEWSLETTER

Shifu Yokota (Black) and Franco Rivas Plata (black and white square off. Shifu Yokota performs an eye swipe to Rivas Plata’s eyes potentially causing permanent damage to the eyes. While Rivas Plata is distracted, Shifu Yokota perform an axe kick to Rivas platas knee, possibly causing irreversible damage to it.

Original man-tis technique

ACMAF NEWSLETTER Page 3

Did you know?

All acmaf

national

seminars are

given free of

charge!

san shou (meaning free hands) has been changed to san da (meaning free hit-ting) because these Chin Na techniques are not included. Chin Na techniques include not only joint locks, but also strikes to cavi-ties or pressure points. I had to come up with ways to perform throws with Chin Na techniques without actually breaking any bones.

As I became better at both kung fu and san shou/san da, I also became better at adapting the techniques for competition. I realized that techniques had to be “alive” meaning that I had to be able to apply them to a resisting partner or opponent in order for them to be effective. Aliveness is the true secret to becoming proficient at any combat sport or even self defense. If your partner allows you to perform a technique on him, it will not simulate actual combat.

My shifu always told me to “practice honestly.” To me, this meant try-ing to simulate actual conditions as closely as possible to what I was training for. While sparring at full force and full speed even

with techniques that have been modified for safety, it is still very possible to injure your training partner. Your partner should be able to give you resistance without going “all out” and vice versa.

This can be a bit of a paradox, be-cause whether you are practicing for a com-bat sport or for self defense, you want to practice as “real” as possible while also not hurting your partner. The time to go “all out” will either be in a ring, cage, lei tai, or on the streets (for self defense).

Keeping your sparring sessions as

real as possible and as close to the art you practice is very difficult to do. We usually default to what we know and end up swing-ing our fists blindly at our opponent’s head with little or no technique. Using actual mantis techniques in your sparring sessions is ultimately the key to success whether you want to be able to protect yourself on the streets or gain victory in the ring. (Cont’d Combat Sport page 9)

Modified combat sport technique Shifu yokota (white shorts) and rivas plata (gray shorts) square off. Shifu yokota dis-tracts rivas plata’s eyes by swiping at them with his glove, thus causing no damage to them. Rivas plata still being distracted by the eye swipe, shifu yokota turn his hips and strikes rivas plata’s outer thigh with a mantis kick. This causes significant pain to rivas plata, but his knee re-mains in tact and relatively unharmed.

considered to be respect, but are really one of two things: a symptom of respect or a hol-low gesture. The student who bows only because they are told to and thinks nothing of it is the same as the person who says the prayer in church but is thinking about the foot-ball game as they do so. A gesture only has meaning when it is felt from the heart. The bow should be inspired by a genuine feeling of thanks or appreciation, a feeling of wanting to express that re-spect one holds. I bowed at the end of class for years, first on two knees, and then on one knee as an in-structor trainee. The day came when I was finally a sifu, and I was able to stand on the other side, standing in front of the class, just behind and to the side of Master Alan. Class after class before this I had bowed down and said “Thank you, sifu,” and had meant it, but I had always assumed the sifu just stood there while everybody bowed to them. Instead, as the students low-ered their heads, the sifu bowed as well. I think I really understood then that the bow is not only a gesture of re-spect but of thanks, from the students to the teacher for (Continued Respect page 14)

gained through force or threat. The martial arts teach-er who beats his students and threatens them as a constant reminder to respect him does not have true respect, but fear. The students did give a cou-ple of good explanations:

respect is admiration or ap-preciation; respect is treating another how you would like to be treated. It is to look up to someone and understand that they have certain charac-teristics that you admire, or wish to emulate, or knowledge you wish to learn. It is to acknowledge that someone holds value that you are thankful for. Some people don’t know how to show respect. In our schools we tell people to bow when entering and leaving, to bow to our training partners, and to bow to the Sifu at the end of class. In some schools, the students sound out a pledge every class, salute the flag, bow to an altar, and many other things. All of these things are generally

By Shifu Nicholas Baker Respect is a strange word. It invokes all kinds of reactions from people in its various forms, from respect, to disre-spect, to self-respect, and more. It is a sort of hot word in the martial arts world. Walk into any martial arts school in the world and you will see respect being shown in some way, sometimes cor-rectly, sometimes in a ques-tionable way, sometimes just shown without understanding, and sometimes not displayed openly through conventional means but genuinely dis-played through actions. So what is it? The first thing to understand is that respect should not be confused with fear. This is the most common misconception, and it leads to many unfortu-nate situations. I asked my students what they respect in the world, and one used the example of showing respect for a rattlesnake by keeping his distance. He did not truly respect the snake; he was afraid of being bitten. Certain dictatorships require each household in their country to hang pictures of their leader inside their house and praise his name. These things are meant to show respect, but in reality this is not respect but fear. If they do not do these things then they or their fami-lies may suffer consequences. True respect can never be

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Page 4 ACMAF NEWSLETTER

“...respect

should never be

confused with

fear. “

Page 5 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

Book Review: The Talent Code

By Master Peter Ray If you have chosen the life of a Shifu in the Shyun Style Eight Step Preying Man-tis System, you have chosen to set yourself apart for all of history. Part of making good on this dedication of self is continuing to develop your-self and how you teach the next generation. Daniel Coyle’s book “The Talent Code” is simply indispensa-ble if you want to maximize the potential of your stu-dents’ ability to do kung fu. Mr. Coyle begins his book telling the story of Clarissa, who at 13 years of age intui-tively demonstrates how to compress a month’s worth of practice into six minutes of focused effort. For any-one who has spent hours performing thousands of repetitions or re-written their notes hundreds of times (look in the mirror) this book is a must. Three elements com-prise the talent code: 1.) Deep practice, 2.) Ignition, and 3.) Master coaching. In deeper detail, Mr. Coyle explains the three rules of deep practice as

follows. The first rule is that information needs to be grouped into what psycholo-gists call “chunking” which refers to a minor pattern recog-nition which repeats itself and

is accessed when needed. The minor patterns are practiced long enough to make the chunks blend into a single cir-cuit in the brain and body. These circuits are physically

insulated with a material called myelin that allows signals to jump along the pathway much smoother and faster. Rule two of deep practice is to “repeat it”. If you stop someone from

firing a pattern for thirty days, the circuit will begin to erode because it is part of a dynamic balance of building and rebuilding the whole network of the nervous sys-tem. Another key point is that more is not necessarily better – the human being can only perform four hours of actual deep practice per day. In truth, just one or two hours of deep practice will leave most people exhausted. This is the reason it is so difficult to retain all of the kung fu you learned in grad-uate school or why doing something for 10 hours straight is not as effective as doing it three hours a day for three days. To go on would be to re-write his book. Buy it.

Download it. Read it. Contem-plate the implications. You and your students will benefit. I give it four out of four mantis-es.

“The Talent Code: Greatness isn’t born. It’s Grown. Here’s How.” By Dan-iel Coyle can be purchased for $25 on Amazon or at your local book store

ACMAF Newsletter 全 美 中 崋 國 術 總

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

The beaches are just one of the popular attractions in the area. Singer Island and Juno beach have excel-lent public beaches and offer free parking. Palm Beach Island has an excellent beach as well if you don’t mind feeding a parking meter. The Rapids waterpark is a favorite destination for kids and par-ents alike. It has over 30 different water slides, a mile long lazy river, a huge artificial wave pool and 18 holes of mini golf. I have already mentioned the great shopping at City Place, but West Palm Beach has three other major shopping centers just 15 minutes from each other including the Mall at Wel-lington Green, Gardens Mall, and Downtown at the Gardens. So if your significant other loves to shop, West Palm Beach can scratch that itch. Let’s not forget about food. West Palm Beach is home to several excellent seafood restau-rants where you can get fresh seafood made to or-der. Our large population of Cuban Americans makes West Palm Beach a great place to get your favorite authentic Cuban cuisines. With over 300

restaurants and bars within minutes of each other, you are sure not to go hungry while you stay here. As you now know, West Palm Beach with all the charm and lifestyle of South Beach without the heavy traffic and wallet busting prices (average cost of a cocktail in South Beach $14 vs. $6 in West Palm Beach). If your heart aches to see the famous bikini beaches of South Beach, they are only a short hour’s drive away. The best reason to come to this year’s Na-tionals camp? The meeting Grandmaster Shyun, the Disciples, Shifus, and students from around the na-tion and world! Grandmaster will be offering a free review camp of 1A if you have already attended that camp and is known to give on the spot seminars, lectures on Abimoxi, and Q&A sessions! These camps are always full of great surprises so do NOT miss your chance!

Nationals

ACMAF Newsletter 全 美 中 崋 國 術 總

PAGE 7

Anatomy: Human Head Part 1, The Large Bones

By Master Peter Ray and Shifu Clint Spain Regardless of style, level of training, or technique being used all martial artists must obtain a clear understanding of human anatomy. Proper understanding of both strong points and weak areas are the responsibility of all who choose to teach martial arts – both to ensure effectiveness and to maintain safe practice and avoid unintentional injury. This is the first in a series of articles focused on Anatomy for Martial Artists and is titled Head Anatomy: Part 1 The large bones. The large bones of the human head include the frontal bone, the parietal bone, the occipital bone, the zygoma, the maxilla, and the mandible. Each is discussed be-low. The frontal bone The frontal bone extends from the area between the eyes where the nose begins and extends to a point approximately two palm widths (one on the skin of the forehead and the other into the hairline) high and one and one-half palm widths wide just past the rim of

the orbit – the bone which pro-tects the eye. The frontal bone is very strong just above the nose as well as around the orbital rims. In the center, three fingers above the eyebrows and to either side of the midline – the frontal bone is much weaker due to the hollow-ing out effect of the frontal sinus. Just behind the rim of the eye socket is a particularly weak area with an artery that runs just be-neath it – a fracture here can re-sult in life threatening arterial bleeding inside the skull. The parietal bone The parietal bone (deriving its name from the Latin word for ” wall” Pariet ) forms the two walls of the head, one on either side above the ears. It is quite strong, both because it is thick and has no sinus, but also because structural-ly it is shaped like the broad side of an egg or a dome and is able to distribute force evenly prior to breaking. Only a very forceful blow, delivered behind a very small and hard surface area can cause this bone to break. The occipital bone The occipital bone, which covers

the posterior or back of the skull protects the areas of the brain that control eyesight. It is quite strong as well, for similar reasons as the parietal bone. Given its location, it is not uncommonly subjected to blunt force – either directly or when it strikes the ground as an opponent falls. Injury related to impact in this area is almost never due to bone fracture but rather to the concussive effects to the un-derlying brain. The zygoma The zygoma, contrary to the other large bones of the skull is one of the most frequently broken. Named after the greek word for Bolt (zugoma) the cheek bone connects the middle face to the skull. It is quite prominent on the anterior face and is the usual de-fault target to hook punches or roundhouse strikes. Its breaking strength is estimated to be half that of the lower forehead and less than a quarter of the outer orbital rim. An untrained fighter, if he strikes with a hard edge at the right angle, could easily break a zygoma. The most likely result is deformity and pain, but depend-ing on the break the injured fight-er could experience either vision

全 美 中 崋 國 術 總

ACMAF Newsletter VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

problems or breathing problems as the muscles attached to the zygoma tend to spasm in response to injury. The maxilla The maxilla or upper jaw holds the upper teeth. The teeth are common-ly injured in sports with hard objects which travel at moderate to high speeds and when the play-ers do not wear mouth guard protec-tion. The bone in which the teeth have their roots is some-what soft – which is why orthodontists can use wires and braces to move the teeth through the bone to give you a better smile! The upper part of the maxilla, which is next to the bottom of the nose, is very strong and takes a large amount of force to break. It can be exquisitely painful to get hit there,

however, particularly with a sharp object. The mandible The mandible is the lower jaw and is by far the most commonly broken or

dislocated large bone of the human head. A complete description of all the mandible fractures that can occur is beyond the scope of this article but they include fractures of the condyle, the neck, the angle, the body, and the symphysis. The mandible often breaks in two places and needs to be

surgically repaired if the fractures result in mis-alignment. The mandi-ble is almost as strong as the frontal bone, but its location and the angle at which it is often struck make it more likely to be broken. Summary

The large bones of the human head (frontal, parietal, occipital, zygoma, maxilla, and mandible) have unique characteris-tics with both strong areas and weak areas. Proper pre-cautions should be taken when practicing martial arts to ensure that there

are not accidental injuries. All teach-ers of martial arts should have a clear idea of human anatomy in this area if they are to be effective instructors of the art and science of kung fu, partic-ularly Shyun Style Eight Step Prey-ing Mantis.

ACMAF Newsletter 全 美 中 崋 國 術 總

PAGE 9

Original mantis technique Left to right: shifu Yokota (black) performs inside man-tis grab on Rivas Plata,s (black and white) punch. Shifu yokota uppercuts ri-vas plata’s right elbow po-tentially dislocating it. Shifu yokota continues to sweep rivas plata causing further damage to the ten-dons of rivas plata’s elbow. Shifu yokota finishes rivas plata with a right hook fist.

Modified combat sport technique Left to right: shifu yokota (white shorts) clinches with rivas plata (gray shorts). Shifu yokota uppercuts ri-vas plata’s right armpit while supporting rivas plata’s right elbow with his left glove. This eliminates any damage to rivas plata’s elbow. Shifu yokota pull his right elbow up and twists his body clockwise while sweep-ing rivas plata. Shifu yokota does not finish rivas plata with a hook because of the rule set of san da.

apply cold to heat, it will lessen the heat. They naturally strive to find a perfect balance; placing an ice cube in a cup of hot water heats the ice cube and cools the water until they are the same temperature. This interaction between hot and cold affects many elements in nature, at any scale, from supernovae in the depths of interstellar space, to the high and low pressure fronts that drive our weather, to the way we cook food, and into the inner workings of our body. Hot and cold are merely one example of the nearly infinite sets of forc-es that oppose each other to drive change, and through this revela-tion, the theory of Yin and Yang was created as a basic set of ob-served rules that govern these interactions. The Six Principles of Yin and Yang     All these observations into how Yin and Yang interact were distilled into six tidy princi-ples: Yin and yang apply to all ma-terials. All materials have an inherent lean towards yin or yang and can be identified as such. For example, fire is identified as yang and water is identified as yin due to their inherent proper-ties. These materials can change based on their relationship to other materials because of the nature of those materials. Water is a great example: in ice form it is considered very yin due to the cold temperature and stable state, and as steam it becomes more yang because it is hotter. When

up in the sky as clouds, however, water is still considered yang despite it being cold. The sky is considered yang due to its own properties, and influences water as such. As soon as those clouds fall to the ground (which is yin) as rain, it is considered yin again. These elements are changing based on how they relate to the other elements. Yin and yang are everywhere. These dual opposing forces can be seen all the way to the roots of the universe. All activities and changes, life and death, all are related or due to yin and yang. Yin and yang can be seen at any scale, as large as the universe or down to the DNA level. The universe can be described basi-cally as one yin plus one yang. Yin and yang are opposites, like two sides of the same coin. Each side defines the other. A few examples of this are: activity and stationary, clear and cloudy, cold and hot, thick and thin, in-ternal and external, or fast and slow. Because one exists we have a frame of reference to de-fine the opposite. Yin and yang cannot be sepa-rated. If you take away the yin you also take away the yang, and vice-versa. In the human body this is demonstrated in chi and blood, or primary organs and digestive organs, which are two examples of yin and yang oppo-sites. If you remove the blood, the chi goes away as well, and if you stop the functioning of the primary organs then the digestive organs cease to function as well.

If the two were somehow sepa-rated then there would be no life in the body at all; if the body had no yang, then there would be no nutrients to support the yin or-gans, and if there were no yin, then there would be no body materials to support yang organ functions. Yin and yang need balance. If there is harmony and balance between all the yin and yang forces in the body, then the body will stay healthy. If the balance is disrupted enough then the body will stop functioning.   Yin and yang are interchange-able. Cold can turn into heat. Heat can turn into cold. Yin symptoms can change into yang symptoms and the other way around. There is an old saying, “The four seasons change. Too much yin turns to yang. Too much yang turns to yin.” This can be seen in the changing of the seasons in nature, and demonstrates the principle of yin and yang excess and deficiency. When the weather gets too hot, or yang, in the summer, the yang begins to change into yin and fall comes with cooler weather. This weather continues to get more yin into winter, and when there is too much it begins to change back into yang and spring comes. This can be distilled into: severe cold turns into heat and severe heat turns into cold.   Yin and yang can be infinitely divided into more yin and yang. It does not matter how it is divided, in the end it always comes back to the duality of yin and yang.  These continuous yin and yang activities keep the body  

Abimoxi

ACMAF NEWSLETTER Page 10

body in balance. If there is an excess or deficiency somewhere in there beyond the natural bal-ance, then that balance is thrown off. The balance creates the natu-ral environment. This infinite divisibility is because inside any yang component there is a yin component, and vice-versa. An example would be a single twen-ty-four hour day: Day is yang. Before noon is the yang part of the yang. After noon is the yin part of the yang. Night is yin. Before mid-night is the yin part of the yin. After midnight is the yang part of the yin It is the same for anything. Men are yang, and women are yin, but the bodies of each are divided into many yin and yang organs and processes. As a reference: Human Body Outside is yang. The back is yang. The abdominal area is yin. Inside is yin. Diges-tion organs are yang. Pri-mary organs are yin. Spleen is severe yin. Kidney is yin of yin. Lung is yang of yin. Liver is yin of yang. Heart is yang of yang. For medical purposes, this theory of yin and yang is

applied within the human body. Each component is a tiny micro-cosm of interactions between opposing forces, as is the whole, and one of the most basic ways to describe a healthy system is to see a perfect balance between these forces. Yin and yang are de-fined within the body largely based upon their functions. Yang components have evaporating functions and have visible func-tions (such as breaking down food and absorbing nutrients, or purifying the water that is ingest-ed into the body), and yin is more material or structure, and creates jing, blood, and organ material (any of the primary or-gan functions). Chi is yang and blood is yin, quiet is yin and ac-tivity is yang. This can be seen at different levels, whether it be the digestive organs being yang be-cause they are activated, or in the demeanor of a person who is very talkative is yang and a quiet individual is more yin. Even in sexual anatomy the male is yang and external and the female is yin and internal. Yin and yang and diag-nosis There is another old saying: “Look for facials, check pulse. First define yin and yang.” The nature of the condition can be identified as yin or yang based on looking at the face and feeling the pulse. A red face, for in-stance, would indicate yang, and a pale face would be yin. For pulses, a rapid and superficial pulse is more yang and a sinking or slow pulse would be more yin. Beyond the face and pulse, symptoms can give the nature of yin and yang as well. Exterior, heat, or excess symptoms are yang, and internal, deficiency, or

cold symptoms are yin. Excess yang in the body can cause yin symptoms so in the case of yin symptoms excess yang is treated. The same goes the other way, excess yin causes yang symptoms so excess yin is treated. If the illness is all on the left side, the right side of the body would be treated, and the other way around. An upper jiao illness is treated through the low-er jiao. There are regular and reverse treatments based on yin and yang theory. Abimoxi treatments are based on body balance even when herbals are used. Spicy, sweet, and neutral herbals are considered yang, and sour, bitter, or salty herbals are considered yin. When nourishing the body the seasons are taken into ac-count. In the spring and summer the yang is nourished, and in the fall and winter the yin is nour-ished. Yin and yang theory is used to explain practical treat-ment and medical questions. The medical terminology used to ex-plain conditions will include yin and yang, such as “yin deficien-cy” or “yang excess.” Yin and yang theory is also used to iden-tify what can help or inhibit the conditions that are being treated. Yin and yang is the most fundamental theory to ex-plain human body physiology and pathology changes. The body is constantly trying to seek bal-ance between different opposing forces, and if it is out of balance, illness occurs. Abimoxi uses the natural changes that have been observed within the human body for thousands of years to explain physiological and pathological changes, and treatment methods have been developed from these explanations.

ACMAF NEWSLETTER Page 11

ACMAF NEWSLETTER Page 12

New Kicking Book Coming Out Soon!

Master Thanh Van and Shifu Lee Yokota are currently finishing the final touches on a brand new book on the kicking methods of Shyun Eight Step Preying Mantis Kung Fu. Master Van has masterfully written an in depth look at the kicking principles and practices including history, yin and yang theory, techniques, kicking targets, creating power in kicks, how the kicks effect organs and channels, and applications of the eight knees, high kicks, low kicks, and kicking blocks. Whether you are a beginner or seasoned practitioner, this book is sure to enlighten and sharpen your kicking skills! Look for it to come out very soon in 2013!

By Shifu Jenny Hsiao It is interesting that in

the mantis world, females are the larger, stronger, and more aggres-sive half of the species. In the human world, this is generally the opposite. Out of the 64 Shifus of our federation that have passed the national test, 5 so far are fe-male. Is this a reflection of a long history of strict gender roles that are only in the last few decades being broken? Or is it just repre-sentative of a limited interest fe-males have in martial arts? Hav-ing taught at a school that has been operated almost in half by female teachers for a couple of years now, it is my opinion that both forces are at work: seeing other females do martial arts en-courages more females to join, but also it is more likely to have a male walk in the door interested in classes. To understand better how the five of us became Shifus, and our motivations for doing so, I asked all of us to answer some questions about our experiences. Here are our responses.

To start, I want to begin with something Shifu Cassie Myrvik said, “As a female martial artist I do not feel I am truly dif-ferent from a male martial artist. I really feel you are what you work to be, no matter your gender.” This was echoed by Shifu Kathy Goodwin, “I always felt wel-comed and encouraged by fellow students and especially by my

Shifu, Master Mike Cimino. I think every serious student just worked hard to do their best, whether beginner or more ad-vanced, younger or older (like me), and that gender never really was a consideration.” I believe that this sentiment is felt by all of us. However, since this article is about the differences in our expe-riences, I will be focusing mainly on differences in the following paragraphs.

When asked what were challenges we faced as a Shifu trainee or Shifu, as expected, nearly all of us mentioned the physical requirements were a challenge. However, they were not necessarily the most challeng-ing aspect. Shifu Cassie found that confidence in her knowledge and skills was the major challenge in the face of other teenagers her age, who did not understand the system and would treat it with derision. Shifu Kirsten Hunter has worried about being taken seri-ously as a female Shifu by pro-spective students. Shifu Christina Windholz found that dealing with the differences between male and female body parts while in close quarters was a challenge. I per-sonally found throwing to be very challenging and not wanting to hurt others held me back from progressing as quickly as I could have.

On the flip side, when asked what advantages we had as women, two of us cited the fact

that we are not as strong as being an advantage in our training: since we cannot force our way, we have to learn the correct tech-nique. In general, we have to use better technique and more speed to win over larger, stronger oppo-nents. Shifu Christina also talked about the surprise element: people on the street don’t usually expect a girl to possess martial skills, nor do they expect her to be strong.

When asked what advice we would give to other female Shifu trainees or sash students, nearly all of us stated that we should refrain from comparing ourselves to others. Shifu Cassie wrote, “You should go your own pace, only you know how hard you can push your body. Your Shifu will push you to your limits but we are not perfect, so never be afraid to speak up.” Shifu Kirsten wrote, “A little competition with your fellow students is healthy, but too much comparison can be misleading and possibly discour-aging. Focus on yourself and what you need to do to get better. As Shifu Ross Thomas reminded me many times during my train-ing, don't worry about anybody else.” Shifu Christina mentioned something that is important to note: “this advice is good for both males and females.”

When asked if we felt respected as female Shifus, the answer was a resounding yes. We are all very grateful that we are respected by the federation, other

全 美 中 崋 國 術 總

ACMAF Newsletter VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

Female Mantises

ACMAF NEWSLETTER Page 14

Shifus, as well as by sash students. Shifu Cassie feels “if someone cannot respect someone due to their gender, they could never respect our system no matter who taught them.” However, as much respect as we get from people within the federation, at least a couple of us feel that it takes longer to earn re-spect from people outside our feder-ation. I have noticed that students have to stay for more than just one class to truly respect us (the female Shifus at the San Francisco school). In addition, for a short period of time when there were only female Shifus teaching the sash level adult classes at our school, we had significantly fewer male students stay after their first or second class. At the same time, more female students ended up staying. However, once male stu-dents did decide to stay, there was never an issue of respect.

Finally, when asked what the federation could do to make the Shifu training levels or sash levels more welcoming to female students, all of us thought that it is very wel-coming as it is. As Shifu Kirsten

states, “The focus on real life appli-cations rather than sparring or strength training is something I find especially compelling about our school. Emphasis on personal ac-complishment over direct competi-tion lets women let go of any pre-conceptions they may have about what a martial artist should be. The most important things people learn at our school are control, discipline, and awareness. If a woman under-stands that these are actually the values of an exceptional martial art-ist, I think she can more easily envi-sion being one.” Personally, the things that made our school a great place to learn were that my Shifu, Master Alan Nakamoto, as well as the other Shifus at our school, made it a safe place to be, both physically and emotionally. Master Alan knew how to make techniques work for a smaller/lighter person – he never let us use that as an excuse for poor performance. He also taught us alter-nates to certain hand positions that are awkward on a female opponent (such as not grabbing the chest, but the shoulders). This was especially

important for throwing and certain joint locks. When I struggled with the physical requirements for pushups, frog jumps, etc., he did not relax the requirements, but he made it clear that it was ok to take more time to work up to the requirements. He also always emphasized that our safety (not injuring ourselves due to over-working our joints) was more important than trying to accomplish any one physical requirement quick-ly. Due to his teachings, all three of the female Shifu trainees in our class eventually passed the national test. In closing, it is very clear from the responses I received that all of us are completely grateful and honored to be part of this system. We were all treated with care and respect, which has made us want to pass the teach-ings of the system along to future generations of students. We all hope to contribute to the federation, per-haps in slightly different ways as individuals and as females, but defi-nitely to represent our Shifus and our schools proudly.

The acmaf is proud to have a growing number of female shifus joining its ranks! From left to right: Shifu cassie myrvik, shifu jenny Hsiao, shifu Kirsten hunter, shifu Kathy Goodwin, and shifu Christina windholz

ACMAF NEWSLETTER Page 15

New Shifu Handbook

by Shifu Dave Hughes For several years it has been the vi-sion of the American Chinese Mar-tial Arts Federation to provide its newest shifus with a practical guide-book to help with their acclimation as ACMAF instructors. With that goal in mind, the first edition of the “New Shifu Handbook” has been finalized under the supervision of Grandmaster Shyun. The handbook is divided into two main parts: 1) Instructor Develop-ment & Requirements and 2) Busi-ness Development – Owning & Op-erating a School. The first part fo-cuses on a shifu’s personal training and development within the Federa-tion. Topics include, but are not lim-ited to: teaching requirements, physi-cal camps & promotion, the national meeting/medical camp, the business group/disciples group, etc. The second part of the handbook focuses on the key aspects of how to start and successfully operate a school as part of the Federation. Topics include, but are not limited to: developing a business plan, form-ing a business, start-up costs, estab-lishing a budget, revenue generation, etc. The following is a brief sample, from the Business Development section

entitled “Establishing a budget”: [“Preparing a budget is a useful man-agement tool for any business as it helps to project a company’s path to financial success. At the most basic level, a budget should indicate the amount of revenue the business needs to generate to pay for all of its expenses. Example: How much does the school need to collect in student dues and product sales (revenue) to pay for rent, electric, phone, advertis-ing, and product purchases in any given month? One recommendation is to prepare an annual budget before the start of a new tax year and then break it down into a monthly budget. Preparing an annual budget allows you to track annual expenses such as, insurance premiums, corporate filing fees, and income tax payments. Preparing a monthly budget allows for the track-ing of more common business ex-penses, paid monthly, (e.g. rent, elec-tric, phone) while also inserting typi-cal annual expenses, discussed above, into the appropriate months where they are expected to be in-curred. This will help ensure you have enough cash available to cover all expenses in a particular month (and if you don’t, you will at least be prepared for the bad news ahead of time). Example: If your school’s annual insurance premium is due on

April 1, it’s a nasty surprise to realize on March 31st that you have an addi-tional $600 due the next day. A budget helps to track and identify these items ahead of time. Begin your budget preparation by determining the school’s expenses. Using the expenses, you can calcu-late the breakeven point for any giv-en period. The breakeven is reached at the point when revenues equal expenses (i.e. the point where there is no net operating gain or loss). If revenues exceed the breakeven point, the school is expected to turn a profit during the budgeting period. Thought of another way, the school doesn’t expect to lose money during the period.….”] It is my hope that all of the new AC-MAF shifus will find the New Shifu Handbook helpful in answering many of the questions that will no doubt spring up during their first few years as instructors. Copies of the handbook will be distributed to all shifu trainees who pass National Testing in West Palm Beach, Florida in April 2013. In addition, access will soon be made available to all shifus through the 8step.com web-site. As a final note, I would appre-ciate any recommendations that AC-MAF shifus may have for revisions/improvements to the hand-book as we go forward.

ACMAF Newsletter 全 美 中 崋 國 術 總

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

Human Engineering and Martial Arts

By Shifu Steven Garelik As some of you might know already, I’m a graduate student in a human factors psychology program. Since the discipline advocates human-centered design, I’ve been looking for ways to apply what I know from martial arts to the field (and see if I can improve my own understanding of Mantis and Tai Chi). One of the classes I took this semester was hu-man engineering. As we went through the material, I was surprised to see how relevant it is to what we do in martial arts and it made me more fully appreciate how well de-veloped our system truly is. As I studied the material, I made note of what was relevant to what I teach and eventually wrote a research proposal for designing a martial arts curricu-lum that could be used specifically as a work hardening (injury prevention) program in an industrial setting. Most of what I read deals with things like proper body mechanics and pos-ture and as a result is most useful in preventative measures and the treat-ment of chronic conditions. That sounds a lot like the some of the fo-cus of Abimoxi doesn’t it? Many of the basic principles we teach, such as Tian, Ren, Di (Heaven, Man, Earth), waist movement, relaxing the body, etc. are consistent with studies that find that these things increase tension

and over time can lead to injury. Every shifu has the knowledge that would be necessary to carry out a program like this and I believe there is some real potential with it. For space reasons, I can’t go over everything I talked about in the re-search proposal. But here is an ex-cerpt from it that should summarize what I am getting at (with a couple edits to apply it to us specifically): “The human engineering literature indicates that there are a few im-portant principles for an effective work hardening program. To adhere to these guidelines, the proposed martial arts program should address the following areas: proper body me-chanics and posture focusing on the back, legs, and shoulders, relaxation, body awareness, lifting technique, and strenuous exercise. Specific modifications can be made to focus on these topics in martial arts includ-ing power generation, balance and throwing, footwork, physical fitness, and testing with at least some spar-ring. An important consideration about a work hardening program is that its purpose is to prevent injury, which is not necessarily the same as a tradi-tional martial arts student. One of the goals of a good fighting system is to give the practitioner a technique to

apply in every situation. For exam-ple, we teach dozens of throws so that at least one throw can be applied from nearly any body position. This level of comprehensiveness is not necessary in a work hardening pro-gram though. Based on the previous review, the techniques and practices that give the most benefit for this type of program should be used. For example, only certain throws would be necessary (at least one that uses tripping and one that uses lifting). It would fall on us to select the most representative techniques and con-cepts from each major category that would cover all the important ideas relevant for an injury prevention pro-gram. However, some general guidelines can be given for what this program should include. The physical fitness regimen should have a diverse selec-tion of exercises that target all major muscle groups, as well as tendons and ligaments. The exercises should be incremental and adjusted to the ability of the students. Long forms should be used as a basic drill to pro-mote good body mechanics and pos-ture. As stated earlier, a few repre-sentative throws should be chosen with at least one that includes trip-ping and one that requires lifting. Finally, pad work or hitting a bag should be incorporated so that partici-pants can witness gains in power

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ACMAF Newsletter PAGE 17

generation.” We would be able to teach all the same material, drills, workout, etc. that we already teach now, but it

should be possible to expand our stu-dent base with a program like this with some modifications in our teach-ing methods. I’d be interested in developing this idea some more if

anyone is else interested. If so, let me know I’d be happy to correspond.

instructing them well and safely, and from the teacher to the stu-dents for learning, practicing diligently, and showing such passion for the art. I took on a deeper appreciation for the traditions that we some-times don’t put a ton of active thought into. The bow between two students before engaging in an activity during class is not just a thing we do, but is the expres-sion of gratitude for another like-minded martial artist to train with; it is the acknowledgement that the other person has value; it is the appreciation for the oppor-tunity to increase one’s skill through entering the personal space of another human being

and the luxury of doing it as safe-ly as possible. The bow when entering and exiting the school is a thanks for having a place to practice and learn, forge friend-ships and feel at home, and a thanks for the generations of martial artists that have put in countless hours and effort into creating the art we practice. Other actions show respect as well such as helping to keep the school clean and safe, wanting to help keep the school alive through spreading the word, or helping out whenever you can. Support the Sifu to show respect and appreciation for the time and effort taken to teach and impart his or her knowledge. In the end,

the school is not just some cold and calculating place of business but a community. It is something that needs to be cultivated, and the more you nurture it, the more it gives back to you. This does not stop at the sash students of course. By the nature of our system, in which all the Sifus are also students (except Grandmaster Shyun) of their Sifu, respect also applies to Sifus.

In the end, that is what respect is- a true appreciation for some-thing. When you have it inside, it can be expressed in all of these different ways.

ACMAF Newsletter Committee:

Lee Yokota– Editor/Writer

Peter Ray– Staff Writer

Nick Baker– Staff Writer

Steven Garelik– Staff Writer Clint Spain– Staff Write

Jenny Hsiao– Staff Writer

David Hughes– Staff Writer

ACMAF NEWSLETTER Page 18

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Visit 8step.com

The federation would like to thank grandmaster shyun for all of his knowledge and pa-tience in teaching us shyun preying mantis and tai chi chuan

Promoting traditional chinese martial arts

ACMAF Newsletter 全 美 中 崋 國 術 總

Why should You go to acmaf nationals this year?

Meet Grandmaster! Grandmaster will be giving a review of 1a camp for

free! (you must have already completed this camp to attend)

Grandmaster will be giving a lecture on treating mar-tial arts injuries using Abimoxi!

Free seminars are given after the tournament while National testing is being conducted!

Compete against students from all over the country in our annual tournament!

Meet Masters, Shifus, and students from all over the nation!

Spend some time with your family or friends in beauti-ful South Florida!

Don’t be the one who misses this year’s

Nationals!

Like The American Chinese Martial Arts Federation on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/8Step

Can’t wait to get your hands on the next ACMAF Newsletter? Sign up for our mailing list by emailing Shifu Lee Yokota at leeyokota@yahoo.com to get every issue sent directly to your email ad-dress in PDF Format!