Today, in fact, it is enjoying a revitalization not only in China but the world over. Many people have taken notice of kung-fu and have proved by their interest and participation that it most assuredly has a place in the modern world.
Kung-fu is thousands of years old and is a highly developed system of martial art. The student who locates a good kung-fu school will find the training thorough and challenging. Kung-fu skills, which have been refined over centuries, are not learned easily or quickly. The sincere student, however, through hard work and dedication, will not be disappointed with the results.
Although people no longer need to learn kung-fu for survival, those who do study for the purpose of martial art will realize that it remains an excellent system of self-defense.
Although hand-to-hand combat has become less a factor in warfare, the ancient art of kung-fu has endured.
Today, it is common knowledge that daily exercise benefits one’s health, appearance, and mental state. Kung-fu uses the whole body in a way that exercises and strengthens all the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Unlike most Western exercise, sports, and recreational activities, which focus primarily on external training, kung-fu works on harmonizing the external and the internal.
Some training routines have been developed exclusively for their specialized health benefits. The unique coiling and uncoiling movements of kung-fu can massage the body’s inner organs and lymphatic system. A particular exercise, for example, may correspond to the area and functioning of a single organ. I am of the opinion that kung-fu is unsurpassed as a system for all-around conditioning.
If you are not prepared to invest years of practice, don’t expect to advance far in the art.
The mental benefits of kung-fu are not as easily measured as the physical ones. You can’t just look in a mirror and see the changes and improvements kung-fu training has made on your perceptions, attitudes, and feelings, but often it is these inner changes that are the most profound.
“Kung-fu” literally means time and hard work. I can say unequivocally that there are no shortcuts. The impatient student finds only frustration. If you are not prepared to invest years of practice, then don’t expect to advance far in the art. Those who make the investment, on the other hand, certainly will benefit mentally and physically. Discipline, confidence, understanding one’s limitations, and belief in one’s abilities are all gained from the practice of kung-fu.
Another key element that attracts people to kung-fu is its undeniable beauty. Kung-fu combines power, grace, and agility. Some kung-fu styles emphasize the dance-like and acrobatic qualities of kung-fu. For the performance-oriented student, kung-fu can be a majestic and flamboyant means of self-expression. Forms competitions can provide a platform for displaying one’s abilities and a springboard for recognition.
Each morning at sunrise, hundreds of people gather in China’s parks to begin the day with healthy exercise.
I have tried to reveal that kung-fu has not just one purpose. We see how it can improve our health, that it can be treated as an art form and studied for its beauty, or studied for its original intent, martial art. Kung-fu can develop one’s strength and flexibility, and nourish qualities such as patience, discipline, and confidence.
Like everything that lives, kung-fu is ceaselessly changing. It has proven valuable and resilient enough to endure the sweeping changes of centuries, and to arrive here in the present like an ancient treasure forever being rediscovered.
Traditional Kung-fu: the Complete Exercise
The number and variety of exercise activities available to us today is staggering. You can choose from among baseball, football, soccer, track and field, water sports, winter sports, aerobics, weight training, and cross training to name a few. Why would we ever need kung-fu as an exercise?
Kung-fu training addresses the needs of the inside as well as the outside.
In my opinion, it’s difficult to find any sport or activity that can top kung-fu as an overall form of exercise. For all traditional kung-fu practitioners, even those whose main purpose is self-defense, daily martial arts practice can prevent illness, create a better life, and reach for longevity. In other words, martial arts is a form of exercise that is wholesome, unique, and complete.
What makes kung-fu such great exercise? In reality, exercise doesn’t adequately describe the overall quality of kung-fu. In Chinese, the term yun dong is used to define this activity. Chinese-English and English-Chinese dictionaries typically translate yun dong as exercise, sports, recreation, or athletics. However, these English words somehow translate only dong, not yun.
A better translation for dong is movement, action, and mobility. Motions like waving the arms, kicking the legs, twisting the body, and shaking the head are all visible, whether executed alone or with a team, or with a ball, a stick, or a racquet. All are dong.
I agree that all these types of exercise are valuable and good for the health, but yun is missing. In China yun and dong are never separated. Yun means “internal,” including breath, circulation, mind control, and focus.
Internal and external must be balanced and the exercise must be complete, if we are to really benefit ourselves and others.
Generally, dong deals more with muscle, tendon, bone, and skeletal structure. Yun is more associated with the organs, nervous system, brain, and feeling. A young tennis player, for example, would usually play with lots of dong, relying mostly on external strength. Overdoing dong can potentially lead to health problems because the yun is neglected. Internal and external must be balanced and the exercise must be complete, if we are to really benefit ourselves and others. Good exercise should always be safe, and we should enjoy a sweet aftertaste that lasts several hours, several days, or even weeks.
When we are young, we can enjoy lots of external movement. When we get older, we become less active and can’t as easily enjoy large movements, speed, high impact, and quick twisting of the muscles. Unfortunately, this is exactly the time our bodies really begin to need good exercise to maintain youthful energy and health. Most of the exercise systems available in our society can’t satisfy this need.
I don’t agree with so-called low impact, low-key approach where the contents of the exercise are the same but the dosage less. We need a better prescription to exercise the body inside and out. The kung-fu way is the better way.
There are approximately 250 kung-fu styles-northern, southern, external, internal, long-range, short-range-and numerous weapons. They all have something in common.
Please don’t mistakenly believe mainland China’s government-sanctioned wushu (lit., “martial art”) is traditional Chinese kung-fu. Modern wushu has more in common with Western exercise than traditional Chinese kung-fu. From Western exercise, wushu practitioners learn to keep moving (running, jumping, and tumbling) and to discard internal training. They skip the yun. Some call it Chinese ballet. Can we call it Chinese aerobics? For kung-fu to be a complete exercise, it must be practiced correctly in the kung-fu way.
Our everyday common sense tells us that no movement equals no exercise, and therefore no health benefits should result. I think everyone, even those who’ve never done any kung-fu, can try a simple, scientific experiment. Pick one posture and hold it for awhile. I believe that before three minutes is up your body will experience the same symptoms as if you were exercising. After five minutes, your body’s responses will be quite strong.
