By Erle on October 5th, 2006

Internal Gung-Fu Volume Two: Chapter Two

Erle Montaigue presents his Internal Gung-fu series. In this chapter he covers the necessary and fun training methods from Internal Gung-fu such as Tai Chi, Bagua and Qigong (Chi Gung, or breathing methods).
Internal Gung-fu covers a range of practices for health, wellbeing and self defence.

It is my belief that as a teacher, I should not only teach
what I know but also how I know. I have seen too many
instructors trying to teach what they know at their
advanced level to beginners and have failed in their
teaching obligation. Obviously, a person who has risen to
a higher level in life has arrived at that point by learning
certain things and it is those things that I must teach my
students. I must teach them HOW I came to this point in
my own training so that they too might benefit from the
wonderful training methods that I have undertaken in my
life.

Many of those training methods go back thirty years and
many I have since forgotten or no longer train in myself.
However, being a stickler for documentation of
everything I have ever learnt, it is all there in the written
word or later in film and video when these documentation
tools became available to me. So I am able to draw upon
many different sources in order now to document
formally all of those training methods that I have found
useful over the years. Areas such as push hands from
Taijiquan will take up a whole volume on its own so I will
not be presenting such areas in this volume. Only those
‘extra’ training methods that might be seen as being off the
beaten track of the mainstream internal Gung-fu will I be
presenting here.

The Way of Internal Gung-Fu Fighting

RULES FOR FIGHTING

The games (training methods) teach us certain rules for
Self-defense. I will document many of them here,
however, it is important that you do not just read about
the se rules and try to intellectualize them, but rather do the
training methods in order to gain the necessary body
mechanics.

1. Never step backwards.

When you are attacked, do not do what most hard style
martial arts teach you to do, to step backwards as you
block! This will invite certain defeat. Any fighters or
brawlers all work on ’switches’. We are born with
switches that tell us to do certain things sub-consciously,
like a male puppy that ,a tacertainage begins to lift his leg,
why? He may not have seen any other dogs doing this but
he does it anyway as if some programmer has
programmed a computer program into his brain. This is
not far from the truth. We are all born with switches, those
that tell us to cry, to begin crawling etc. Then there are
those switches that we learn from experience. It is the
same with the Qi that we are born with (pre-natal Qi) and
that which we gain as we grow, (post-natal Qi).

A fighter learns certain switches as he becomes more and
more experienced at fighting and aggression. However, it
is also these learned switches that can bring him unstuck
in a fighting situation against someone who knows about
switches. The fighter learns these switches but also learns
sub-consciously that his switches will also cause other
switches in those who he is attacking, which will in turn
switch on more switches in himself. This is the way that a
fighter works. He may not know this and indeed it would
be rare that any street fighter would know about such
things. So, when the expected switch does not happen
when he attacks someone, it throws his own switches out
of wack, thus putting his timing and co-ordination off.
This is where internal Gung-Fu gains the upper hand. We
know that the fighter expects us to react in a certain
learned manner when attacked or when faced with
aggression. He expects us to move away from him trying
to lessen his attack. So he is ready for this and knows
exactly what to do when we do this expected movement.
But if we do not, then he is taken by surprise and before he
has time to change his method, we have already finished
it.

Someone who is attacking you expects you to be where
you are when he attacks otherwise he would not have
attacked you where you were. Someone throws a punch
for instance, they do not throw the punch to where they
think you might be, but to where you are at the time of the
attack. Remember though, the attacker is expecting you to
either be there or to move backwards. So even if you do
move back, he is ready for this and will launch another
attack to compensate for this movement. So, if you are not
where he expects you to be, and more importantly, if you
are in his face attacking him, then he is just not ready for
this. He has to re-group and think about what he has to do
next, giving you time to attack with devastating attacks
from the internal Gung-Fu system.

Often when we train in techniques or training methods,
we will be taught to stand still and not move. But this is
only in the beginning to get the movement correct. Once
you have it, then you begin training in a more realistic
manner by moving into the attacker as he attacks.

There is another important reason in self-defense for not
taking a step backward apart from the obvious physical
advantages as I have indicated above. And it is an
‘internal’ reason. The ‘primordial’ instinct for survival is
inside all animals including human beings. Although ours
has been slowly lost over the years of depending upon
others for our defense! It’s still in there, but we just have to
get at it in some way. Dogs for instance have all kinds of
primordial instincts like, at a certain age when a male dog
begins to lift its leg to pee. Why does it do this. Well, we
know why I guess, some chemical changes happen inside
causing the dog to have a need to mark its territory. But
how it happens is a complete source of mystery and
wonderment to me. Never having seen another male dog,
the puppy will always begin to lift his leg at a certain age.
He will also at this age, begin to attack, i.e., move forward
into his ‘opponent’. In order to understand this, we must
also know a little about the ‘triune brain’, or the ‘reptile
brain’.

The theory goes, that when God, (or whoever) was
making we animals, he began with his first creation, the
‘reptile brain’ which is that brain that all reptiles have. It is
a survival brain, totally relying upon instinct and
programming, no thought, only reflex reactions caused by
its particular ‘computer’ programming. A snake does not
‘think’, it does not love, hate or feel resentment etc., it just
lives and survives. This is the kind of brain that the snake
has. We too have this brain! But it is only 5% of our total
brain size.

Then ‘God’ tried out a new brain for the more complex
animals such as mammals and we call this brain the ‘old
mammalian’ brain. This is that brain that dogs have for
instance. A little more thinking for itself and some small
amount of emotion even, but still much programming and
relying upon instinct and reflexive actions to stimuli. The
dog however is able to revert back to its ‘reptile brain’ any
time there is an emergency of survival. And it makes
certain body changes to enhance this effect to give it the
greatest chance at surviving. Like arching its back as all
animals do including sharks just before they attack. We in
internal Gung-Fu also make use of this when we are
attacked. The animal also makes use of another area of
helping it to reflexively go into the reptile brain. That of
always rushing forward. You will only notice this
phenomenon in those animals that are closer to the source
of ‘wild’ than many domesticated animals who have also
(as we humans) had this sense bred out! Like the
Australian Blue Heeler dog that is part Dingo. He is one of
the most courageous small dogs on earth. Not because he
is courageous however, but because he is closer to the
source than most dogs. There is in fact an old saying with
regard to this breed of dog here in Australia; “the Blue
Cattle Dog (the breed has several names and also comes in
the red variety), will eat anything it meets unless it is eaten
first”.

The last and most sophisticated brain is of course the
mammalian (human) brain. But this brain did not replace
the old mammalian or the reptile brain, it simply was
placed over the other two. So we as humans still have the
’survival brain’ and are able to access this animal brain
through training. This training is part of the internal
Gung-Fu training.

One way that we have to access this reflexive survival
brain is to simply move forward as we are attacked. It
triggers a switch that causes us to attack and attack again!
Just as an animal never stops its attack, so too should we
Do the same. In my classes when I am teaching the training
methods, I have to begin by teaching them incorrectly!
This is because if I were to teach the correct way, i.e.,
moving in as we are attacked in training, we would have
many more injuries! Moving in seems to build up an
attack energy that is often uncontrollable in the beginner.
Even the blocking type movements have far greater
impact when the reptile brain kicks in. And it is only those
who are trained as advanced instructors that I allow to
train in this manner.

2. Never fight the peripheral attacking weapon, fight the whole body.

This is a big mistake made by many highly ranked martial
artists, they block the attacking arm or leg standing still!
They do not move into the attack as they block, they just
stand there and block the attack. If you can touch his arm,
then you can touch his body and if you can touch his body
then you can strike him. Never wait for the attacking
portion such as a fist to reach you before you do
something about it. See his whole body using ‘eagle
vision’; react to what his body is doing rather than to what
his arm is doing. In order to attack you, the attacker MUST
firstly move his body. Try it now, try punching without
moving any other part of your body other than your arm. If
you are able to do this, you will have no power at all
anyway! So we react to his total body movement not only
his arm or leg etc. The very instant he moves any part of
his body, attack. Do not worry about what he is going to
attack with as his attack will be totally minimized by the
fact that you have moved in on him and have closed him
up before his attack has had time to even gain any power.

3. Never meet force on force, always move at a slight angle to the attacker as you move in.

You must move in a ‘V’ shape to either side of the attacker.
This will give you deflecting power as well as increased
attack power using his power against him. Like a ricochet.
If the projectile has nothing to bounce off of, it will not
have much power, but if it has something solid to bounce
off, then its power will be great. The tenser the attacker is,
the more power you will gain with which to revert back on
him. This movement will also put you in complete control
because you have your ‘distancing’ correct by using this
method. It will place you at exactly the correct place to be
in control of the attacker. He will never expect you to do
this.

4. Never use two steps in fighting.

You must always make your defense your attack. Never
block, then attack, make your block your attack. His
sub-conscious switches tell him that you will attack next
after you have blocked. But if your block becomes your
attack, he has not had time to think about it. You have
attacked him during the time that he is supposed to attack
you! If you block first, then it is his turn to attack because
you have asked him to attack now. This is the logical way
of the fight, he does something, then you do something,
and then he does something. You must change the logical
fight into a totally illogical fight, so that his switches are
all broken down. Make it a fight of; he attacks, then you
attack, then you attack, then you attack! Never give him
that slight break when his brain tells him that it is his turn
to do something, take his time away from him and use it
for yourself. In (Photo No. 1), who is in control of this
situation? This is where I have used a so-called hard style
type of method of two steps. I have blocked his attack and
in (Photo No. 2), I have re-attacked. The attacker is still in
control of this situation However, in(PhotoNo.3), I have
simultaneously blocked and attacked. Now who is in
control? I am. See how the distancing has placed me right
in the attacker’s face in total control of his body. I am now
able to attack at will.

5.Never look at the attacking portion.

Eagle vision is a marvellous way of using the eyes. Human
beings are so used to focusing on things that we see, that
when we do this in fighting we always lose! Why, because
you can see much more by not looking than you can by
focusing. Eagle vision is that vision that birds have.
Human shave a completely different system of vision than
birds and it has to do with the way that we get blood to the
eye. But we can make use of the way that birds see. An
eagle for instance when catching a moving mouse, simply
flies down and catches it It does not focus on the mouse, it
uses a kind of peripheral vision to lock onto the mouse’s
space. Sort of like locking its Qi onto that of the mouse. So
if the mouse moves, so too does the eagle, the mouse
cannot escape unless it goes into a hole. You must see the
whole body of the attacker, and not just look at the
peripheral that is attacking you. In this way it does not
matter what portion he is attacking with, your body will
Reflexively adjust to the attack and always come back with
the correct answer. This is particularly import and when we
are using dim-mak (death point striking) in a fighting
situation. If we were to look for the points, we would
always miss them, as we just do not have time enough to
look. But if we use eagle vision, we see the ’shadows’ of
the body, the little hollows where all dim-mak points
reside. We see shadows reflexively and are then able to
hone in on these shadows to pinpoint the dim-mak point
automatically without thinking.

6. Never use a lock or hold as your main fighting method.

Locks and holds do not work in a realistic fighting
situation. I have discovered this aspect of fighting through
my own experiences and from that of others who have
survived street attacks. It Is all right to use a lock to control
an attacker once he has been disabled by using a point
strike or some other striking disabling method. However,
if you try to use a lock or hold against someone who is
trying to harm you, then you will lose the confrontation.
This is especially important in the street when it is not
usual for only one attacker to be attacking you! In these
cases, you would never even attempt to use a lock or hold
as his friends would have a chance to attack you at this
time. Stun the attacker with a strike to the temple (GB 3)
or another vital point, then you are able to take a lock or
hold. This is greatly important when fighting against an
armed attacker. Most schools will teach that you should
grab the hand that is holding the knife or other edged
weapon for instance. These methods work fine in the dojo
but in reality, you are inviting defeat and or even death to
use such methods. You must remember that an attacker,
especially one who is holding a knife, must be pumped up
in order to have the aggression necessary for such a deadly
attack. So grabbing his arm is not going to stop him. In the
dojo, you might be able to use a technique such as in
(Photo No. 4). But if the attacker is serious about doing
you harm, and he knows what he is doing, he will
probably make use of his yang energy to rip your hands
and arms to shreds before bringing the knife back to kill
you. (Photo No. 5). & (Photo No. 6).

In the case of an edged weapon remember the three words;
evade, bump and attack. Without writing a whole book on
knife defense it goes something like this.

Evade: He perhaps attacks using a lunge. (The same
methods work for any type of weapon attack from
anywhere). Using a ‘hinge’ type of weapon, you move
your body out of the way by slightly turning to the side as
you slam his arm so hard that it damages his arm bumping
his weapon arm out of the way for that split second.
(Photo No. 7). Notice that my right palm is already up
ready to strike to deadly vital points. In doing this you
have done the first two of the words, ‘evade’ and ‘bump’.
You have also stuck to the above rules of never backing
off and never using a one/two type of method. Your
defense has become your attack. Now I am able to strike
using deadly methods to points that will either kill or drop
him. (Photo No. 8). Then, and only then, when he is down
and out should you
take the knife. The
‘hinge’ type of attack
is also one of those
that will bring up the
reptile brain causing
your energy to build
up to a high level for
the final attacks.
Using the reptile
brain, every time you
touch the attacker,
your own energy will
grow causing you to
want to continue. Your
own energy system
will be enhanced by the fact that you are borrowing his
energy and sending it back to him. You are using only one
bit of energy and recycling it. In this way you do not feel
tired having to block, then build up more energy for the
next attack etc. Your first lot of energy (Qi) is re-used
through the attacker’s body draining him of energy and
building yours up.

7. Never use pushes or pulls in self-defense.

This may seem contradictory as most people view
Taijiquan for instance as having many such techniques.
Bagwazhang and Xingyiquan (H’sing-I) do not have this
idea though. I think that the idea that Taijiquan has many
pushes and pulls comes from the incorrect idea that the
training method of ‘push hands’ is in itself a martial art or
self-defense art. Or in some way a fighting technique.
However, push hands should never be thought of as a
fighting art by itself. It is only a training method that
teaches us timing, balance and how to move the body
when attacked. The attacking methods in basic push
hands are only there to take the place of the more realistic
types of attack and defense so that the practitioners do not
harm each other. So if pushes and pulls do not harm
people, why use them for self-defense? The only time you
could use a push or a pull is to put the attacker into the line
of an oncoming car. The pushes are only there in order to
teach the very dangerous dim-mak point strikes inherent
in all Taijiquan forms. However, you will still see articles
in prominent magazines on so-called Taijiquan
self-defense methods where the practitioner will use a
pull or a push to defend against attack! It is my advice to
leave a class immediately the teacher begins to teach you
to do this is a realistic fighting situation. He is being
fraudulent in teaching self-defense that isn’t. And it is
dangerous for students to have a false sense of security
instilled in them by using these inane fighting methods in
the class. Sure, they might even work to some small
degree in the class but it’s a completely different matter in
the street when the attacker is really trying to get you! I
have seen teachers teaching small framed women to use
techniques such as ‘Lu’ (roll back) in defense against an
attacker. He attacks with a punch so the attacker defends
using P’eng, (Photo No. 9). Then she takes the attacker’s
arm and uses ‘roll back’ (Photo No. 10) to put him face
down in the dirt! Anyone who would use this type of
defense for real is inviting disaster. But this all comes
about from teachers not knowing the advanced methods
of Taijiquan like the ’small frame’. Moves such as ‘Lu’
(roll back) take on a completely different meaning when
used in the small frame mode. If we again take the above
scenario when we are attacked by someone with a right
straight punch, we might again use P’eng. However, this
time we do not move backwards, but rather move our
weight forward as we do this thus putting his timing off.
(Photo No. 11). Now, in small frame mode we use ‘Lu’
but very quickly to deflect his power and again as we are
still moving forward. We do not use it to pull him forward,
only do deflect his energy for a split second, thus causing
him to have to try to move back to regain his balance.
(Photo No. 12). In this window of opportunity, we should
attack with devastating point strikes to vital points on his
head and neck, like ST 9 (stomach point No. 9) using the
right palm, and next to GB 3 (gallbladder point No. 3,
temple) using the right elbow. (Photo No. 13)&(Photo No.14).
We could finish this if he is alone by now, and
only now, taking him down using our left leg while
thrusting the left arm across his neck. (Photo No. 15).
Following this with fingers to the eyes while on the
ground to completely control him. (Photo No. 16). This
last method would of course only be used if you were only
being attacked by the one person.

8. Never go to the ground.

I have always said to my students that if someone is a bleto
take you to the ground then either get a new teacher or
learn better and train harder! Many people nowadays have
the wrong idea that
fights usually end up
on the ground. Well,
yes, but only if you do
not know how to fight!
Grappling is great, but
not if the attacker has
friends! And this is
usually the case in
most street attacks that
I have been involved
in.
You
have
everything there in
your internal Gung-Fu
style to defend against
grappling type attacks,
Training Methods
learn to use your art correctly.

9. The legs are for standing, the hands are for fighting.

It is a big temptation for the
beginning martial arts
student to learn fancy kicks
in order to show his friends
that he is doing a martial
art. But in reality, kicks of
any kind will put you at a
disadvantage. Leave the
fancy kicks for the films
and use your hands for
self-defense. Once you
even lift your leg to kick at
a low target, you are at a disadvantage and most students
just have not done the time training to be able to allow the
legs to take care of themselves while the hands do their
work. And if you must kick, only kick from the knee
downward. Use short chopping type kicks, those that do
not require great balance. And if you must kick, always
kick from the front leg! This is contrary to most hard style
martial arts as they always kick from the rear leg in order
to get the power. However, internal Gung-Fu has ways to
gain power using correct body structure even kicking
from the front leg. The attacker, if he is used to fighting
will expect you to kick from the rear leg and will see it
coming. But he is not used to being kicked from the front
leg and cannot see it coming. Bagwa has a wonderful
training method called the ‘8 kicking method’.
I will be giving more ‘rules’ as the book progresses but
these will be specific to certain training methods.

Training Methods

I begin with what will seem like a simple training method
for teaching self-defense. However, this initial training
method, like all of my training methods teaches much
more than just self-defense methods. Internal Gung-Fu
teaches us internal methods as well as external methods.
These few training methods I teach first off to my
self-defense students as I was also taught when I first
began. They can be used as straight out techniques as they
adhere to the basic principles of internal Gung-Fu
fighting, however it is the ‘way’ that this method teaches
you how to fight that is the important thing. You will
‘learn without learning’, timing, distancing and balance.
These three areas are the most important aspect of
anyone’s self-defense training. If you cannot control the
attacker, then he is in control of you! And we gain this
control by being perfectly in balance both externally and
internally.

Keep in mind that these training methods do not take the
place of your forms and push hands practice. Without
form and push hands, your training methods would still
give you something, but not as much as having learnt the
forms etc.

This first training method is a universal method that can
be used by any martial arts system and will enhance your
training greatly.

As with any of the internal Gung-Fu training methods,
this one is a ‘close in’ method teaching you how to deal
with attackers when they are close to you. But isn’t that
the way of fighting, there is no such thing as a ‘long
distance’ fighting method, it happens in the street at close
quarters.

This method will teach you about circular movement.
However, at times the movements may not seem to be
circular because they are so small. It also teaches the body
to accept power coming in to you from outside, i.e., from
the attacker, rather than just using your own power.

We are beginning from the beginning here so often you
will just be standing in front of your partner with he or she
simply holding a fist there for you to work with. Later you
will be attacked by your partner in a more realistic
method.

To begin, your partner holds his fist in front of you. Have
one of your feet forward of the other as if you were
standing in the street. You bring your right arm up in a
‘P’eng’ type of position to touch the outside of his right
wrist area. This will happen in an arc out to your left and
then to your right to make contact. Notice that your right
wrist is ‘yin’ shaped i.e., it is full of ‘yang’ Qi. Your left
palm is ‘yang’ shaped and also makes that same arc
making contact with his forearm near his elbow at a point
called CO 10 (Colon Point No. 10). (See Figure No. 1).
(Photo No. 17). You have also moved a little weight
forward onto your front foot thus moving your center
away from his fist. Your partner should have a little
tension in his arm to give you a more realistic feeling. This
will also cause you to have to move your body in a certain
way conducive to self-defense. Notice also that I have not
allowed my wrist to move away from my center, I have
turned my waist slightly to my right in order to keep the
wrist in my center. At no time does the wrist leave your
center.

Now you will do that exact same movement on the inside
of his arm. So the left palm is yin and makes contact with
the inside of his right wrist at a point called ‘PC 6′ or
‘Neigwan’
while your right palm is yang and makes
contact with the inside of his upper forearm at a point
called LU 5 (Lung Point No. 5) just on the crease of the
elbow. (See Figure No. 2) for LU 5 and (Figure No. 3) for
‘Neigwan’. (Photo No. 18).

Now you have to do exactly the same movements again,
on the inside of his arm and the outside of his arm only
with the opposite hands forward. So you would end up as
in(PhotoNo.19)with the right hand on his upper forearm
yin, and the left palm on his wrist yang. On the inside,
your right palm would be yang shaped touching
‘Neigwan’ while your left is yin shaped and touching the
inside of his elbow. (Photo No. 20).

So far you have had your left foot forward, so also do this
whole routine with your right foot forward. You also do it
while he holds up his left arm so the whole thing is
reversed.

The next step is to begin moving. You must think about a
‘V’ shape to either side of the opponent. If you have your
left foot forward, you will take a step to your left and
forward as you perform the first method. (Photo No. 21).
You must take this step so that when you look at your
partner, you are looking at him at an angle of 45 degrees
across his head. Now, touch the side of your partner’s
head at a point called ‘GB 3′, (Gallbladder point No. 3, or
the temple), with your fingers. (Photo No. 22). The rule
for your step is that if you can touch his GB 3 point
without having to extend your right arm, but only turning
your body in order reach him then you have stepped
correctly. Make sure that when your partner puts his fist
forward, that he is able to touch you in order to get the
correct distancing and timing from the very beginning. I
have seen so many people training and their partners have
thrown a punch that would not even reach them.
Eventually, your sub-conscious mind will cause you to
step correctly in order to get the correct distancing for the
maximum amount of power and speed. You will not have
to think about where to step.

You also have to do this on the other side, i.e., on his
‘open’ side. However, you do not change the way you
step, you still step to your left with your left foot. (Photo
No.
23
).
The only difference is that the right palm now
attacks to GB 3 using the outer edge of the palm as in the
photo. This is not dangerous stepping this way as you
must remember that these moves when performed for real
only take a split second. In the realistic sense, I would
have slammed his Qi drainage point at ‘Neigwan’, with
my left palm, I would have slammed his other major Qi
drain age point at LU5 at his elbow with my right palm and
I would also have attacked to his TW 12 (Triple warmer
point No. 12), thus breaking or dislocating his elbow.
(PhotoNo.24).Then I would attack to his temple with my
left palm. So even if I were a little slow, there is no way
that he can attack using his other hand as I am attacking his
elbow first. This is the difference between the
self-defense applications and the training methods. The
training methods give you the ability to use the
self-defense applications sub-consciously.

The initial strike to Neigwan and to LU5 will be enough to
knock the attacker out as this is an excellent dim-mak
point strike with the set-up point being Neigwan. LU 5
drains so much Qi from the body that the recipient goes
into KO. You must be moving as you slam these points
though, as this is one of the golden rules of self-defense.
Your movement will increase your power and put his
timing right off.

Now you will take this exercise a step further by having
your partner to move away from you by two steps. You
will now work with a moving attack a sit would be in a real
situation. You could begin with the attacker (your partner)
only moving in from one step away from you and work up
to the two steps.

RULE: You must begin to move into the attack as the
attacker begins to take his last (in this case his 2 ) step. At
nd
first you will have to look carefully at his steps and
because of this, your own timing will be off. However,
later, you will begin to judge this step sub-consciously.
You must begin your inward movement when his last step
is just passing his other foot. (Photo No. 25). This is to
ensure that the attacker has committed himself to the
attack. Moving sooner than this would alert him to the fact
that you are about to move in and moving too late would
put your own timing off.

You must make contact with your ‘P’eng’ arm(in this case
your right forearm) as your left foot touches the ground
for the step into the attack. Make sure that you are using
your peripheral vision when you move in, do not focus on
any part of the attacker’s body. This will be difficult as old
habits die hard, but eventually you will find that you speed
and accuracy will increase dramatically using this
method. I will at this time, introduce another training
method to increase your peripheral vision ability, i.e.,
seeing without seeing. I am giving this training method
here because it is pertinent to the above training method
and all of the training methods in this book.

Peripheral Vision Training Method

Stand in front of your partner, face to face about one step
away from he or she so that you could easily touch his or
her face with one hand. Now, turn your body so that your
center is pointing 45 degrees to your left. (Photo No. 26).
Choose some object in your line-of-sight and focus on it.
If there is no object there, get one and place it there or
change both of your positions so that there is. Now, move
your eyes, not your body or head, and focus on your
partner’s face. This is focus vision, that vision we use in
everyday life to look at things in detail. In fighting we do
not need detail as our sub-conscious brain ’sees’ for us. It
is your conscious brain that blocks out all but only that
which is focused upon although we actually can see much
more than we think we see.

Now, look back at the object. I want you look at your
partner’s body shape without moving your eyes or head.
Your ‘attention’ will be shifted to your partner and not the
object. You will see your partner’s whole body shape and
not see the object on the wall. You are capable of still
seeing the object, but you do not. You can see where his
hands are, where his feet are, where his head is and if he
moves, you will notice it instantly, even if he only moves
one toe you will register it. His body will be a blur and if it
was a stranger, you would not be able actually to see his
facial features. Notice now how quickly you are able to
pick up any movement in his body. The registration of this
movement will be instantaneous, you will not have that
split second when your eyes have to focus in order to see.

Now, switch your attention back to the object without
moving any part of your body. Do this many times and
soon you will be doing this without thinking. Things that
you do not need to focus upon, you will use peripheral
vision. Next time you are driving, notice that you will turn
your head when turning a slight bend. Why? There is no
reason to do this. Now please do not go out and drive your
car using peripheral vision unless you have been
practicing for a long time! And never use peripheral
vision when you have been driving for long periods (you
should not have been doing this dangerous thing
anyway!) Focus vision will help to keep you awake when
you are tired. But for fighting, peripheral vision is what
we want to use.

I will also introduce another training method here in the
middle of this first training method as it is pertinent to
what I have just been talking about. Do not worry if you
think that you are going all over the place as this is how I
teach my own students, totally illogically as that is how a
fight happens. You do not know what is going to happen
next! 90% of my students end up in mental institutions!
Just kidding.

Eagle Vision Training Method

This training method will take the peripheral training
method a step further into what I call ‘eagle vision’. All
birds see differently to humans. Their peripheral vision
has been developed to an acute sense and they are able to
switch it on and off instantly and sub-consciously as the
need arises. Like catching a moving mouse. The bird does
not focus onto the object (the mouse) until the very last
instant of attack, to do so earlier would cause the bird to
miss to weaving mouse. The bird locks onto the space that
the mouse takes up. The bird’s Qi is locked onto the Qi of
the mouse and any movement of the mouse causes an
appropriate movement instantly in the bird, hence it is
able to catch the mouse seemingly easily. Moving your
attention without moving your eyes or head teaches us to
rely more upon peripheral vision. We can see almost at a
180-degree angle, but our brain only sees that which we
focus our mind upon. So the brain can see objects in
peripheral without our having to move our eyes.
However, in order to take it one step further into ‘eagle
vision’ we must also move to attack something in just the
same way that the eagle attacks the mouse.

The method is as follows. Again, stand in front of your
training partner at the length of one hand so that you are
able to touch each other on the face. Again, turn your body
at a 45-degree angle to your partner. Without focusing on
your partner, gently move your right index finger straight
up to try and touch him on the tip of the nose. Do not look!
Try to see his nose using your brain and not your eyes!
(Photo No. 27).

You must not make it easy for yourself by making an arc
with your hand as you go to touch the nose. You must
bring your finger straight up in a straight line onto the
nose. Here is a tip. If you do not have fa-jing behind the
touch, you will probably miss the tip of his nose. Not
having fa-jing is the same as saying to yourself, “I cannot
do this”. When I say ‘fa-jing’, I do not mean that you poke
him on the nose with force! I mean that you have ‘intent’
behind the ‘attack’. Breathe out and put Qi into your
finger and you will touch his nose every time. I used to do
the same training exercise using alight switch. Every time
I turned on the light, I would use the above method.
Trouble was that eventually, the light switches in my
House broke! You could do this using an object ,however it
is not the same as a human target as you are also training
your Qi to respond to something live.

Back to the original training method.

For the next part of this training method we are still
standing in front of our training partner and seeing the
‘V’.

Remember, that when you step, you must end up in the
Same stance that you began in, only to his side on that ‘V’.

This exercise teaches us about yin and yang. If you have
too much of either yin or yang, then your body will not be
balanced and you will also become tense of stiff. Once
you have the idea of yin and yang and that you must never
have two yin or two yang hands or feet, then you will be
getting somewhere with your martial art.
If you can get your wrists doing yin and yang, then
eventually your whole body will understand yin and yang.
And this exercise works firstly upon the wrists which are
very important areas of the body in acupuncture.

Have your partner hold up his hands in front of you as if he
is coming at you like a grappler would with two hands.
(Photo No. 28). Hold your own palms on the inside of his,
in a neuter aspect, neither yin nor yang. (Also Photo No.
28). Now, without moving your arms, turn your waist so
That your left palm will make contact with his right wrist in
a yin aspect while your right palm makes contact with his
right inside elbow in a yang aspect. (Photo No. 29). Turn
your waist to your right now, to cause your palms to do the
exact opposite to his left arm. The important thing here is
that your hands are changing from yin to yang with each
change of your waist.

This exercise is teaching you to use waist rather than arm
power. The power of the waist is great and so many
martial artists leave out this great resource.

This next section is still to do with yin and yang and
represents the movement of ‘double P’eng’ from the basic
Taijiquan form. (Photo No. 30).

You stand in a normal stance with one foot in front of the
other. Most of our training methods are done in normal
stances rather than big open stances as this is the stance
you will be in if ever attacked.

Your partner stands holding his right hand toward you.
This represents a strike. Turning your waist to your left,
Strike his right arm at a point called “Neigwan” .This is not
necessary in the beginning, however, I always like to have
my students thinking about and learning about dim-mak
points right from the beginning. Neigwan or PC 6
(Pericardium Point No. 6) is one hand’s width back from
the wrist band right in the middle of the inside of your
forearm. In a realistic situation and not of course in
training, this point when struck in this manner will drain
Qi from the attacker’s body, thus causing him to become
weak.

Your left hand is yin. Your right palm (yang) will also
strike a split second later (almost negligible), to the left
side of his neck. (Photo No. 31). Notice that your right
palm is held so that the fingers are relaxed but not apart.
This is a ‘percussive’ palm and it sends adverse Qi into the
whole neck area thus causing death or knock out
depending upon how hard you struck. You will be striking
to points like ST 9 And 10 which are very dangerous
dim-mak points. See (Figure 4) for ST 9 and ST 10,
(Stomach Points).

The next is to reverse this exercise using his left arm. So
your partner could hold up both arms from the beginning
so that you can change from side to side without stopping.
So you will not change your stance as these exercise have
to be performed on right and left with either foot forward.
Your right palm (yin) will attack to his left ‘Neigwan’
while your left palm (yang) will attack to the right side of
his neck. Remember Hough at it MUST be the waist that
causes the hands to move
and not just the fact that you
are moving your arms from
side to side. Also remember
for
safety,
when
you
increase your speed, not to
strike your partner as there
could be dire consequences!

Notice that because of the
body
movement,
the
direction of the Neigwan
strike is down the inside of
his inner arm towards his
fingers. This is the correct
direction for this ’set up’
strike as you wish to drain Qi. Later you will also be
striking to Neigwan in the opposite direction because
there will be a different final strike that requires Qi to be
added to the point! So you can see that there is not only
one direction for the dim-mak strikes as many will tell you
but there can be up to four different strike directions
depending upon what the attacker is doing to you. Notice
that I did not say “depending upon what YOU wish to do
to him”. This would indicate that you are not doing the
very important Internal Gung-Fu classic saying of
‘change yourself to what is happening to you’. You must
always allow what is happening to you to dictate what you
do to him automatically. Only in this way will your
technique turn into reflex action.

Once you have this down, you can change your step. So if
your right foot was forward to begin, you will take it back,
then bring your left foot forward. This is a ‘change step’.
Do not jump to change both feet at the same time! This
Will be come very fast as you progress. However ,you must
change step independently of what your hands are doing.
So if you find that you are stopping your hand frequency
as you step, or that you are slowing down your hands etc.,
this is incorrect. You must be able to change your stepping
at any time at any pace without it affecting what your
palms are doing.

When you are confident that you can change sides
automatically without thinking, and that you are using the
correct yin and yang palms because of what you are doing
to him and not just because you learnt it that way, you can
go on to the next section of this exercise.

The next part of this exercise carries on from the first part
and will happen on both sides after each side has finished.
So from the end of for instance the left side
of this exercise when your right palm is yang and has struck the
left side of his neck, bring your right palm past his neck as
this is what would normally happen if you were actually
striking him. So your both hands are now on his right side
of his neck. Now, turning your waist to your right, change
the state of each palm making your right palm yin shaped
while the left palm is now yang shaped. The back of your
right palm has struck into the right side of his neck while
your left palm has now violently slid down the inside of
his right forearm to set up the neck strike. You have now
added Qi to his ST9point, which is what you want to do in
order to enhance the strike to ST 9. (Photo No. 32). Now
you must repeat the exact same method on the other side
by attacking to his left arm with your right palm (yin) and
to the right side of his neck with your left palm (yang).
Then bring your left palm back (yin) to attack to his ST 9
point on the left side of his neck while your right palm
(yang) slides down the inside of his left forearm.

You must also perform this whole exercise while
changing steps automatically independently of what your
palms are doing.

Bagwazhang ‘L’ Stepping

Bagwazhang is regarded by many, including me to have
The fastest foot work of any martial art. We get this not only
from the “Bagwa Walking” but also from some peculiar
Bagwa training methods involving the feet. I have many
self teaching video titles on Bagwazhang and will
eventually get around to publishing my Bagwazhang
book. So here I present one of these wonderful
footwork-training methods from Bagwazhang.

You must walk, making an ‘L’ with your feet. You must
place your steps down, heel to toe each time in any
combinations, there is no set pattern just as long as you get
an equal amount of ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ steps. An outer step
is when you have for instance your left heel at a 90 degree
angle with your right toes and pointing to your left.
(Photo No. 33). An inner step is when, from the last step,
you could place your right foot down, heel to toe at 90
degrees also pointing to your left. (Photo No. 34). If you
keep going like this, you would walk in a
counter clockwise circle, so at some time you would make
an inner turn with your left foot to get you going in the
opposite direction. Get this walking moving quite quickly
until you are able to step automatically in any direction
using the inner and outer ‘L’ steps.

Ypour feet are there to hold you up, so it is important to
have excellent footwork to maintain the advantageous
position at all times in self-defense.

Small San-Sau

Small San-Sau is one of the tests that one must take in the
Erle Montaigue system as opposed to the WTBA’s
grading system. I regard this exercise as one of the most
important training methods as it teaches, timing, balance
and co-ordination, where to strike, how to strike, the
direction of dim-mak strikes and the power to use. It must
be stressed however, that although each technique could
be used as a self-defense method, you must only ever treat
the small San-Sau as a training method, never taking away
or adding to it. It was designed by persons of martial
genius to teach u something and to change it in any way is
to take away from what it has to teach you. Later, in the
fighting section, I will present for the first time ever, the
very deadly applications that come from this training
method, called “the Mother Applications”.

There are a number of areas that people, especially from
the karate area get wrong, so these must be looked at. For
to get only on earea in correct is to get the whole in correct.

Firstly, most people cannot understand the “swivel,
change step”. I can remember having to perform this
particular step hundreds of times before I was allowed to
go on. Firstly though you must learn how to do the “swivel
step”.

The Swivel Step

Stand with both feet parallel about shoulder’s width apart.
Turn your upper body so that you will swivel on your
HEELStoyourleftsothatyourtoesare45degreestoyour
left and the weight is placed upon your right heel. (Photo
No.
35). The important thing here is to make your feet
swivel by moving your body, not your feet. Move your
body centrifugally and your feet will move by themselves
to the left. The heels must NOT move. Most people will
swivel on the toes rather than on the heels, this is incorrect
as we are looking for power and not for evasion.
Now, swivel again, this time to your right on your heels
Changing your weight to your left heel.(PhotoNo.36).

The Swivel Change Step

From the position as in photo 36, without moving any
weight off the left foot, take a step forward with your left
foot! Yes, you can do this easily as there is some power left
in your right leg, it is not fully straightened to begin with.
You sort of bounce forward powering off with your right
leg. In doing it this way rather than changing weight to the
other leg, your whole body must perform a fa-jing
movement. Fa-jing is the ‘motor’ of dim-mak. Your waist
must turn firstly left, then right then back to the left to
central again. This will happen in a split second though.
(Photo No. 37). Notice the distance between the feet has
not changed as you have stepped straight forward, rather
than to the left or right.

Now, you must do the swivel change step to get to do it
with the right foot forward. In Small San-Sau, you are
always doing the ’swivel step’ regardless of whether you
are stepping or not. There are only two times in the whole
set when you take a normal ‘change step’ where we
simply take the front foot back equal to the rear foot and
then take the other foot forward. So as you bring your left
foot back equal to the right foot, you must still swivel on
your right heel only to your left. The swivel must be
happening as your left foot is moving back, in the air.
(PhotoNo.37)into (PhotoNo.38).Notice also that your
left foot only comes back so that the heel does not move
any further back than your right heel. Now you can
bounce step your right foot forward just as you did with
your left foot. You keep repeating this method of stepping
swivelling each time on each heel alternately. This is the
’swivelling change step’.

The Sound Of One Hand Clapping

In the ‘Erle Montaigue System’, the very first prerequisite
to be graded is to be able to do four attacking methods.
When you perform these fa-jing movements, there must
be heard a cracking sound as the fist or palm whips
forward. This is true fa-jing or what I call ‘the sound of
one hand’. Punching is obviously an important part of
one’s martial arts training. However, I have had very
highly ranked people come to Australia to train with me
and none have been able to punch! Sure they can generate
power by pulling their fist or palm right back, but when
asked to strike for instance the hard hand held mitt from a
distance of only one inch or with their fingers already
touching the mitt, they cannot do this. The reason is that
they do not have fa-jing.

There are only three punches and one palm technique that
must be learnt before one can go on in my system and they
are all inherent in small San-Sau. A sound must be heard
when the hand or fist whips forward by the action of the
body and not by the action of the arm only. They are:
Penetration Palm, Taiji Snap Punch, Taiji Back Fist and
Taiji Penetration Fist. On each of these, the movement
that causes the fist or palm to be thrust forward must be so
violent or ‘fa-jing’ that a sound is heard just like the
cracking of a whip. Within each fist or palm, there are a
number of other attacking methods but these are only
off-spring of the main four. So to learn the main four, you
learn about every kind of attacking method. It is beyond
the scope of this book to teach how to gain the sound of
one hand as it really needs to be taught personally or in the
least by video as you must see the total body movement
and photos just cannot show this. However, I can show
you the finished movements in photo form. At the end of
each movement, the hand or fist whips together or the
wrist cracks upward causing the sound. The fist in never
held as a fist! The palm is always open to begin and end,
the fist is only a fist upon impact. The thumb is always
held in the peculiar Taiji fist configuration. (Photo No.
39). This is said to bring yin and yang right into the fist as
the thumb is held tightly (yang) while the lower fingers
are held loosely, (yin). Once you can punch in this manner
(it does take some time especially if you are used to the
more normal hard style fist where the thumb is wrapped
tightly around the fingers), you will notice an increase in
your punching power.

The Taiji Snap Punch. (Photo No. 40). The Taiji Back
Fist. (Photo No. 41). The Taiji Penetration Punch. (Photo
No.42).

The Penetration palm is the first attacking movement we
make in Small San-Sau, so I will show that when I begin
showing the form. I have taught all four of the above
attacking methods on my tape, MTG 172,
Internal Gung-Fu, Volume Six.

The Small San-Sau Form

This form follows the movements of the Taijiquan form
up to the posture known as ‘Single Whip’.

I will show the exercise in its two-person manner as you
will understand how to do the solo exercise by doing it in
this way. However, I will show the first few movements
both in solo and in partner form to get you started. It is an
easy task to simply remove your partner from the exercise
in order to learn it solo.

‘Arn’ Left, Right & Left.

Stand with both feet parallel, shoulders relaxed at your
sides. Swivel on both heels to your left moving the weight
onto your right foot. As you do this, your left arm will
move with a centrifugal motion, swinging out to your left
in a ‘yinshape’. Your right palm will also move .However,
the motion for this movement is not centrifugal, but rather
it is pushed outward. Both of the movements for the two
arms is correct for the type of body movement and side of
the body that is moving. Notice the position of both palms
at this point. Remember that this is not the finished
movement. It is an interim photo of the movement half
way there. (Photo No. 43).

See how the left wrist is in my center line while my right
palm is pumped outward to where my center was
pointing. The right palm now makes the sound of one
hand as it snaps over to strike with its knife-edge as your
weight and movement finishes. Notice the position of my
right palm. It is slanted upward slightly. The left palm also
snaps into position by snapping outward upon impact.
(Photo No. 44).

The eyes also play an important role in Gung-fu. Arule is,
that the nose follows where the coccyx points. However,
the eyes do the looking for you. As your ‘attacker’ is in
front of you, your eyes therefore should also be looking
slightly to the front out of the corner of the eyes.

I will now show you what you are doing with your partner.
Your partner is only a punching bag in small San-Sau bar
one time when he does something other than just throw
punches. We begin with the most common type of street
attack, the hook or round punch. Your partner stands
opposite you. He must be able to reach you with his palm
to the side of your face. This gives you the correct timing.
He swings his right palm or fist, hook in get towards the left
side of your face. You swivel exactly the same way that
you have just done in the solo method to slam his left inner
forearm at ‘Neigwan’ while your left palm is pushed
outward to slam into ST 9 on the right side of his neck.
(Photo No. 45). This is a ‘death point strike’! It is very
dangerous, so do not strike your partner at any time
anywhere even close to this point. Pull your strike just
short of the target. Never for instance, strike to the chest
for realism of the strike because what you learn in small
San-Sau will stay with you sub-consciously forever. If
you are ever attacked, where you strike to in small
San-Sau is where you will strike to in reality. The
difference in reality, is that your Qi (energy) Adrenaline
and yang Qi will be so high that the strike that you are used
to pulling just short will now go right through the
attacker’s neck! Remember, the more yang Qi, the more
the movement also increases. Physical and energy are
linked and what your Qi does, so too does your
movement. As soon as you have completed your’defense’
against his hook punch, drop both arms to your sides. This
is so that you are in a more normal standing position when
attacked and are able to use greater centrifugal force
against his attacks. This only happens with the first three
defenses though.

Your partner now throws a left hook to the right side of
your face. You again swivel, this time 90 degrees on your
heels to your right slamming his left ‘Neigwan’ with your
right palm while striking into his left ST 9 point with your
left knife edge. No need for a photo here as is it the exact
opposite of what you have just done.

He again throws a right hook and you respond in exactly
the same way by swivelling to your left on your heels
slamming his right ‘Neigwan’ with your left palm and his
right ST 9 with your left palm.

‘Block To The Right’

Your partner now throws a low hook punch aimed at your
right lower rib area. You have not lowered your hands to
your side as you did for the upper hook punch. In defense,
you swivel to your right on both heels just as before. Your
left arm does a downward arc moving with the centrifugal
force of the swivel movement to your right. Your left
forearm slams his left forearm while your right hammer
palm drops straight down with great force onto the top of
his left forearm. You must be sure that you do not attempt
to go out and get his arm though as you will allow his
attack through. All you do is to strike your own right palm
down on top of your own left forearm at around CO 10.
(Figure No. 1). (Photo No. 46) & (Photo No. 47).46
shows how the palm touches your own arm while 47
shows the application. Notice again that the eyes are
looking out of the left corners while the head is pointing to
the NE.

‘P’eng’

This is one of the ‘one hand clapping’ movements. You
must perform this application so explosively that the
sound of your left palm closing must be heard. There is a
‘left, right, left shake of your waist and you will make
contact on the turn to the right.
Taking his left wrist with
your right palm, bounce
forward with your left foot
turning
your
waist
violently to your left
which will cause your left
back-fist to be thrown out
into the left side of his face
to the mind point just near
the jaw or to ST 5 point
which is an equally good
knock out point. (Figure
No.
5).
Your right palm,
using the same fa-jing
generated

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