YiQuan CMA podcast interview with Paul Rogers

[yusuf]

hi all.. hope you are all thriving in your practice.. I've been studying with Paul Rogers for the last couple of years and have been inundated with lots of good info for practical fighting and gong fu development. Linkage to him being interviewed in a podcast (I;m not the interviewer)

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g ... 0654505604


. It covers a lot of the trad thinking in CMA that I've bene exposed to, I listened and it's a great reminder of the teachings .

you will find some value in it

Yusuf

[BruceP]

Yusuf, being that you've done some very deep internal work in the past, how would you compare your previous understanding of those training methods with what Paul practices?

Haven't listened to the whole thing yet, but really liked what I've heard so far. Especially his comment on the acorn containing the whole forest. My own understanding is that what the body begins to understand as it experiences the foundational workings is 'fractal' in nature and self-teaching insofar as how the body learns to learn this stuff from the inside.

Thanks for posting

[nicklinjm]

I second that thought....would also be very interested in how you would compare your current studies with Paul to your previous practice Yusuf!

[GrahamB]

Hi Yusuf, good to hear from you again, hope you're well?

Paul seems very down to earth as a teacher. I watched his two free documentaries that went up on youtube this week and enjoyed then. He seems to resist every attempt to make things mystical/complicated, which I like.

[yusuf]

hello all. thanks for the kind words.. I'm doing well.. hope you are all too...

I saw the question Bruce asked this morning but couldn't;t really find the words to explain. here goes and if y9ou see lots of edits it's because I'm still unsure how to explain. Let me just say I am only a beginner in Paul's CMA method (three years if I remember right)

Firstly, biggest difference, the focus is on practical fighting skills. Everything stems from that and is measured by that. Pushing but nothing like push hands, more designed to finish people. We push to damage in freestyle. If you imagiine Sam Chin combined with a ghost it feels like that but a lot quicker to change. Add in scary power - Paul is maybe a 1/3 of Sam's weight Then pushing and hitting combined. Paul also lets us do a bit of san shou with him, do what you want.

There is very little obvious overlap to the medicine inspired internal training. No Acu points being connected, no dantien build and release energy. Minimal exercises for body parts (). Instead the fighting skill is developed using a fw simple motions, footwork and standing, all of this is using mind. The body mechanics that others concentrate on seem to start functioning and working. I find the shapes could be seen as equivalent to alignment exercises but again the shape is designed for fighting, how not to get your knee broke, how nt to get locked, shapes for resisting take downs etc

Two simple examples. My scapula are opening and closing with a fluidity I never had from working on them with targeted exercises, but it's for taking people off the shoulder if they grab.

Both of these are then reinforced and solidified doing a few simple solo motions and using the mind. Mind is absolutely key and it's no lie that the majority of effort is integrating that. (This could be a whole book but it is not what people assume, nor what people trained in other methods decide is being said).

Theory is the other big teaching and I'm now finding myself starting to answer my own questions, to a degree. I now understand how a XYC teacher could visit once a year and the student still progresses.

I could drone on, sorry, this is so unlike what I;ve learned previously, but curiously I can now look at all the CMA exercises and methods and go oh, that's why that was done, that's how that teacher got that skill. I feel like this is foundational CMA and it answered a huge question for me. What's different about CMA from kickboxing. This approach made me realise what sets CMA apart, and through sparring with MMA & other styles I get how this approach could hold it's own

Hope that sort of makes sense. Please do ask. Happy to answer

Peace all

Yusuf

[windwalker]

Nice

like a lot of what I see in Paul's work

Mind is absolutely key

yes it is.....

[wayne hansen]

It would be interesting what u mean by San Shou

[yusuf]

Hey Wayne.. hope you are good.

San shou - free hitting (like boxing but using more body parts). Also with Paul tried grappling him, double leg and to throw him in the middle of striking as well.

It may start out looking like boxing but very very quickly turns into being tied up and either splatted or hit repeatedly without being able to defend

I can;t do that yet but something is emerging against people who I visit and spar with occasionally. I can see the route to get there rather than stay in an exchange way of fighting

cheers

Y

[BruceP]

Thanks, yusuf - much appreciated

Am finishing listening to the podcast, but he's preaching to the choir over here.

This could be a whole book but it is not what people assume, nor what people trained in other methods decide is being said

They'll decide what's being said anyway...there's no stopping them

[wayne hansen]

Yes I am well yusuf
The reason I asked a lot of people use the term San Shou quite differently

[Observer]

. . .

Paul seems very down to earth as a teacher. I watched his two free documentaries that went up on youtube this week and enjoyed then. He seems to resist every attempt to make things mystical/complicated, which I like.

The two-part documentary "Tianjin Fighting Arts" by Alex Kozma (Line of Intent Films) is about Paul Rogers's martial arts experience, particularly in China, and the training of Paul's son, Coltrane. The documentary can be found on Youtube:

[GrahamB]

It would be interesting what u mean by San Shou

In the interview (original post) he describes San Shou as "separating hands", and as the third stage of tuo shou where you break contact and have to find your way in from a non touching position.

[yusuf]

They'll decide what's being said anyway...there's no stopping them

absolutely the thing.. I suspect I do the same..

anyway, hope we all get to achieve what we desire from our training.. good luck!

[wayne hansen]

What school or art is he referring to

[GrahamB]

Yi Quan