To listen to the News For the Soul interview, click here.

“In one hundred battles, if I know myself and I know my opponent, but my opponent does not know me, I shall have one hundred victories in one hundred attempts”.

The Acupoints acts as control circuit buttons that balances the flow of the 12 primary meridians in our bodies. A good acupuncture treatment consists with the selection of the fewest amount of needles necessary and still be effective. The art is the diagnosis, choice of the acupoints, and effective needling techniques. It really makes you think. Imagine trying to balance 12 things at once in your life. It takes imagination to understand something as abstract as the flow of the 12 primary meridians that are invisible to the eyes.

We used the basis of quantum science to explain how to apply the rules of Ancient Eastern Arts into our everyday lives. The similarities between the two are energy and connection.
This course enables the understanding of Chi movement in the body and its connection to the mind and the heart. All that is needed is the unification of you. This process enables an individual to experience optimal performance or what is described as the zone. You just feel good. Dance, forms, and movements help you feel good.

Our major objective is enabling individuals to understand the knowledge of their bodys through the sense and application of ancient eastern healing arts.

Greg believes that his process will become the basis for a science for connecting one’s body to both the earth’s energy (grounding) and to the Universal Energy of the Absolute. As one’s physical awareness and sensitivity to the quality of the energy increases a person becomes capable of establishing different degrees of body balance. Your body becomes trained to “instinctively” respond to external threats and conditions in an optimum manner.

Greg assumes that an underlying prime energy exists to which the body can connect –- a “Mother” language or “Language of God” that is embedded in all of Nature. This Mother language, Greg believes, is the basis or foundation for all other energy and physical activities. It is thus at the heart of how one excels and benefits from sports, chi gong, the martial arts, etc. Hence, Greg’s method provides a tool for optimizing the benefits from many other practices.

To establish a strong linkage to the prime energy requires the proper mental thoughts and intentions. The linkage can be further facilitated by observation of appropriate body movements and symbols. These transfer information into the body via one’s mirror neurons. In addition, the symbols can be encoded to enhance this ancient process.

William C. Gough
August 7, 2008

“Apart from great attainments in Wing Chun, the Master received advanced education in his youth. Moreover, he continued to absorb modern scientific knowledge. Therefore, he could always apply the use of present day’s technological knowledge such as mechanical and mathematic theories to explain the rules of Wing Chun. The Master also understood the ancient theory of the “Five Elements”, “Eight Diagrams”, and mutual promotion and restraint between the “Five Elements” that were commonly used in metaphysics. This helped purification of the martial arts and this was also the secret for the Master to achieve such high attainment.

Greg’s professional hobby has been researching and teaching martial arts (35 years), practicing acupuncture, herbs, chi gung, massage (23 years), and quantum science (15 years): This has led to the opening of our school “Shaolin School of Health & Self Defense.

Our school understands how to teach the complex phenomenon of “Chi” in a simple education system. It is helpful to have a basic understanding of martial arts, chi gung, anatomy and physiology, acupuncture, quantum science, and neural science.

The beauty of the system is that anyone can learn because of its simplicity when understood by the student.

Our system is taught with 21st century style “Active Meditation with Chi Gung (Qigong) Stretching Movements.” We will take you step by step on how to use the information in the Training Section of the SF Project website. The information contained in this website is the basis of how the human system operates internally.

The uniqueness of training Wing Chun is the emphasis of “Gum Gok”. Gum Gok is the perception of information through arms/legs contact using reflex. It is believed that reaction as a result of seeing through the eyes is far slower than the reflexes through Gum Gok. This is because anything seen through the eyes has to be processed through the central nervous system to the brain before a reaction such as a punch or a block can be initiated. In contrast, reflex through Gum Gok is delivered from the spinal cord, which is much faster.

The year was 1964 was when I realized that I was going far away and may never come back to my home again. That was the first shock of my life and it woke me up to reality. NO-THING was forever. For the first seven and half years of I lived in Hong Kong. Everything I read, saw, and wrote was in Chinese (Cantonese) and written in characters. Then the next shock came when I immigrated to San Francisco. I did not understand any English. So for the next seven years, all I learned and spoke was American English. During middle school, I studied three years of Spanish. In high school, I studied three years of Mandarin. So by the time I was seventeen years of age, I had studied four different languages. My personal opinion is that, from the order I learned the languages, naturally activated both sides of my brain in symmetry.

The next shock was two years later when our family moved out of Chinatown and into the Excelsior. There were only a hand full of Chinese students in my grade and none of them spoke Chinese. It was quite an adjustment from mostly all Chinese to none in my class. Two years later, I began middle school and had to change schools again. I had one close friend each grade, but I spend a lot a time alone thinking and asking questions to myself. After school I would go up to McLaren Park and sat in the mountains by myself. Nature was a calming place for to be. I could hear the cars from far away. I talked to myself in deep thought. Mentally I would gaze into the future, plan out situations, and saw how things came together.

I had always seen and thought about things in a different way than most people. I felt I was misunderstood but at the same time I wanted to be different from everyone else. I wanted to be myself and live life the way it was designed for me. I enjoy going with the flow. Every time I forced things, it just did not work out as planned. At an early age, I understood the Tao, but was still a lost soul. I did not know why my life was the way it was. I was nine years old.

Siu Lim Tao ~ Before we begin the Siu Lim Tao, the most important parts of any form, is the opening and the closing. The opening stance for setting the structural foundation of the entire Wing Chun System is the “Yee Ji Keem Yueng Ma”. Yi Ji in Cantonese is translated as the Chinese character two. Keem is translated as pinch. Yueng can be translated as lamb, sun, or yang depending of the character. Ma is translated as horse. Understanding the meaning of the name will give the clues necessary for learning, training, and most important self improvement training the stance.

The Function of “Yi Ji Keem Yueng Ma”:

The “Yi Ji Keem Yueng Ma” trains the Yin energy of the body. Yin has several meanings such as hidden, female, and potential. There are three Yin Meridians (Spleen, Liver, Kidney) which flows up from the feet to the upper body.

Use the “Yi Zhi Keem Yueng Ma” to build a strong foundation for advance techniques. When the student understands how to connect the entire internal parts of the body to the external parts of the body to work as one unit, internal strength will appear. It is similar to a puzzle where after sorting out all the pieces, the final step is to complete the puzzle.

Read the poem of “Yi Zhi Keem Yueng Ma” in the Poetry Training section. Being orally taught and understanding of the philosophy are necessary for learning properly.

Training with a group class was much easier because of the group energy. It was tough training with Uncle Stanley because it was one on one. Uncle Stanley had a great eye and could point out every mistake. There was no hiding anything. I had always to be on or else. I felt so dumb at times because of the complicated hand combinations that were taught. Also flexibility, Ling Wood, had to be trained. Body positioning was simple but not easy to execute.

I remember watching both my uncles, and their moving hands were like a blur. My uncles would say, practice what you think you saw. Their power was true power. Unless one felt their hands, you have no idea. To be truly great, one first needs the master to orally explain the philosophy of the style. Then the master must to take you by the hands in Chi Sao or Sticky Hands practice. In order for the student who really wants to learn the proper way, the teacher has to take time to lead, guide, and care. It is really a perfection of a system that to lead to self mastery.

I trained with Uncle Stanley for 2 years. A martial arts philosophy is after training diligently for one year opens the little idea. Five years one begins to understand the little idea. Ten years the little idea becomes the reality. Twenty years and the big idea will appear.

Traditionally, the first form of Wing Chun, Siu Lim Tao, is practiced for the first year. The second form, Chum Kui, is practice for four years. Then the third form, Bui Zhi, is taught. When taught properly, and if the student had natural physical skills, mental capability, the Wing Chun system can be learned in a year.

Uncle Stanley and Uncle Chris had created their own training system for Wing Chun. It is the same thing what Bruce Lee did. The beauty of the Wing Chun system is that even though we learn the same forms and techniques, everyone could adapt the Wing Chun system to their own mind and body. Thus the first form is called the “Little Idea Form.” My personal opinion is “Siu Lim Tao” is the greatest form from Shaolin.

More on the Siu Lim Tao which lead me to co-creating a self healing system for the 21st century is next.

For 5 years in my father’s garage, before I began training, I played with the children of the private students taught by Uncle Chris. Because of cognitive learning, learning by watching, I found understanding the forms of Wing Chun was not difficult. When I practiced the first form called, Siu Lim Tao, my arms would move into positions by themselves. It used to scare me. No one had ever talked about chi gung or energies in the early 1970’s.

Uncle Chris is the greatest motivator with his pure emotion while teaching the class. Even though there were many students during group training, it seem like he was talking to you directly, giving directions to correct you orally. It was amazing how much he knew and had to offer, but only if you understood what his words meant. During hard and heavy training, it was difficult to remember most of the instructions. You can only work on correcting only a few things under that kind of pressure. Concentration was the key. Sifu Chris always said that it was more in the mind than the body. He said Master Yip Man told him that if he practiced the Siu Lim Tao daily, he could become the strongest man in the world, and Chris believed. Chris has never been defeated in challenges and street combat fighting.

Wing Chun specializes in teaching “Gum Gok” in Cantonese meaning sensory perception. Blind folded training while practicing “Chi Sao” in Cantonese meaning sticky hands and wooden man training was the secret. You better have a good practice partner, someone you can trust with your life. Accuracy, speed, and power are the name of the game. Have self confidence and courage beaming from your eyes. With the eyes of a tiger and the heart of a lion, you will be in a state of fearlessness.

In Oriental medicine, the heart is the housing of the mind. Your mind must be clear, quick, and decisive. Stay calm during duress, relax, and go with the flow. Position yourself securely, well balanced, and stability is the key for a solid foundation. Knowledge of the ancient philosophies in combination with modern science, eastern culture in combination with western culture, finally healing and killing will reveal the secret of the holy grail of the martial and healing arts. Find it for yourself and you will travel your own path filled with life giving energy. Maybe you will be able to live a quality, wonderful, long healthy life while living your dreams too. That is what I found out during my 36 year journey so far. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. It is always a blessing to be alive, breathing, and well.