Transformative Martial Arts

Luo laoshi teaching the form fan

Luo laoshi’s paris seminars were a big success. Martial artists from within the school came from around France, along with people discovering Luo teaching for the first time. I take my hat off to all of you who travelled some way to train with us, Adrian driving from Romania, Olaf from Germany, Paulina from Finland and the laughing Swiss Contingent.

Luo laoshi was on good form, sharing his considerable knowledge with clarity and humour. Very few people are as convincing as him when it comes to martial arts in general, and internal martial arts in particular. He tosses people around like children, sets up situations and angles so that even when you know something is coming you cannot get away. Then he explains how he does it and helps the students along the way to be able to do it themselves. He does nothing magical, just clear principles skillfully applied, and the results are impressive enough.

One aspect of the seminar that I especially appreciated was his overview of training and development in Bagua. I have always admired Luo for his capacity to explain in simple terms what most teachers turn into esoteric concepts. This year he seemed to get even simpler, without losing any the core of the subject.

One of my students e-mailed me at the last minute asking if he could join the final part of the seminar, but worried that his skill would not be enough to learn anything. In my reply I told him to come along and ignored his comment about ‘not skilled enough to learn.’  Fifteen minutes into the session after he arrived I went up to my student and teased ‘So are you learning anything…?’ his wide shining eyes and broad smile were all the answer I needed.

If you are considering going to Luo’s seminars in Manchester, London, Israel or the united states, stop hesitating and get yourself along. You will thank me afterwards. I’ll be going to London so join in and thank me in person!

For the London seminars go to Palmchange or download a booking form directly here, and Dave Bolton can set you for Manchester.

Enjoy the photos, taken by Huguette Simjee, and I’ll post some video of Luo here soon.

application from the form 'ting'

hands on teaching

Try translating and being hit simultaneously...