Six Harmonies - Eight Methods
Luk Hup Bat Fat
Many dialects have many spellings
The great Grand Master He who developed the system his name
Chan Hay Yee
From there the system split into two different stages, and it became two Different styles, One System is the Mind of Heart - “Sum Yee” - “Heart Mind.”
The other System is called the Mind of Movement - “Ying Yee” - “Movement Mind”
The last Chairman, His name “Cheung Tin”
The present Chairman, His name is Grand Master Y K Chow, of the Ying Yee System.
The only other Master to know this System in Canada is Master K Fiedler. He is Grand Master Y K Chow’s only student to Make it the level of teacher. After more years together, GM Chow ranked Sifu Fiedler to, "Master Instructor", in 1993. This rank gives the teacher the ability to give tests to masters and Sifu alike. Before Sifu Fiedler went on his retirement, he ranked Sifu James to Master degree. Plus he made sure to teach the art equally to all top students, each top student was taught four weapons forms, each top student was taught a different top Sum Yee form, and Ying Yee form. These equal to thirty top forms, and three hundred techniques that actually turn into multiple techniques, methods, directions, and type of movement you can imagine.
After Sifu Fiedler retired, we had Master James for ten years teaching Sifu Dee and Sifu Gallant, Before Sifu James retired the masters that were coming to teach him from Vancouver are now coming to teach Sifu Gallant and Sifu Dee, but only after Sifu James asked them to please teach the two new up and coming masters. After Sifu Fiedler, it was Sifu James who held the top position in the club for ten years, now after Sifu James, it is going to be two new masters, and they have what it takes to make it said Sifu James.
He told us all he never had so much confidence for students going to the next degree. Not only is there skill level great, they are both level headed, they are both adjusted well for teaching. Teaching is not for everyone, sure it seems like there are many who think they can teach, but that is not the case. What the case is, so many people want to teach and the teacher they had said that they would never be good teachers, they should concentrate on music, calligraphy, sparing, breaking, or healing, but not teaching.
One of the greatest things GM Chow told us his Grand Master Told him was that not every one is good at teaching, just as not everyone is good at fighting, in the same breath, not everyone is good at healing, another area that takes lots of study for most, but others have a natural healing body that they were born with and those are the best healers. Every Master knows what type of student he or she would be before they even start to go towards those directions, after seeing many students come and go, it is easy to tell exactly because of temperament, patience, compassion for people. However the one thing that was told to GM Chow was that every once in awhile will come someone that can do all three, they can fight well, they can do herbal treatments for small bone injuries, and they can Teach. But remember even if you can't fight well, if you are a good teacher, is that not more important to have the right attitude to pass on these wisdom of the ancients.
Long time ago, I heard that Sifu Fiedler had two of these areas covered to such a degree it was amazing. He could fight so good that people could not believe it when they saw him sparring, it was as if he was doing ballet floating around his opponents, never hurting them, but also never allowing them to hit him. If they had a hat on, he could fight with them, take off their hat while he is in the middle of a fight, put it on his head, while blocking their attack, then grabbing the hat and putting it back on his opponents head without skipping a beat. It was so fun to watch that, and that is when Sifu Fiedler started to call some of the martial art technique close to what is known as Slight of hand. He found the skill of both to be of a very high level, because normal people have never practiced the hand to become faster and faster, with the eyes always catching up to the motion of the hands, which is exactly what happens in the martial arts and in the training of magic. Also if some of you would like to try to get your hands and eyes trained to higher level, is to juggle three balls with different types of drills. After juggling for years, you can only be surprised at the hand speed you will have, not only that but the way you can balance or catch things right out of the air.
Sifu Dee, and Sifu Gallant, are being groomed for Master degree, every once in awhile, some one comes from Vancouver for a few weeks to train Sifu Dee and Sifu Gallant, those two weeks of training is video taped while their teachers are here to teach them. One teacher comes from a Southern Eagle and Mantis school in Vancouver. When this teacher met Sifu Fiedler over twenty years ago, he could not believe the mantis forms GM Chow taught him. Since that time, they both met each other every three to five years to help each other with their knowledge in various mantis systems. One of the systems that Sifu Fiedler was interested in so many years ago, was Tai Mantis, a very soft style mantis that used an almost tai chi like philosophy, and was almost like one of the Southern Eagle and Mantis forms Sifu Fiedler learned in Vegas from another master. Good luck to both of you, Sifu Dee and Sifu Gallant, as they have three more years to go until testing, or longer, it all depends on how much they train, and how fast they catch on, many of the higher level forms are hard to catch onto, once you do understand the sky is the limit, because when you look at a technique in the basics, you can only make them work so many ways. But techniques that are advanced in Luk Hup Bah Fah, can be used so many different ways that it is uncanny, almost like magic, something you would not believe unless you seen it for yourself.
Good luck to both of you.
Six Harmonies and Eight Methods is Luk Hup Bah Fah in Chinese.
There are many methods to look at this name, there are many levels of understanding in this name, or set of words.
I will try to explain as basic as I can so that you can try to understand some things that are totally profound. Once you start to get this bug in your head, you will be off on a journey that will fill your mind and soul for years to come.
Six Harmonies and Eight Methods is also known as Six coordination's and Eight Directions. Both have completely different ways of looking at these pearls of wisdom. If you look at coordinating your body and mind, you have to coordinate your eyes, and mind, your will and chi, your Strength and Skill to have perfect balance in both. Your Internal Harmonies is making your mind work together with your will power, your will power working together with your Chi, and your Chi working well with your Strength.
Your External Harmonies are your hands and feet working together. Your Elbows and Knees working together, and your Shoulders and hips working together. Think of it like this. Stand in a fighting stance, any fighting stance, now look at the relationship between your hands and feet, look at your elbows and knees, make a line that runs down from ceiling to floor, and if your knees and elbows are in line, you have perfect harmony, if our hands and feet are perfectly in line as the elbows and knees, again you are ahead of the game. Last but not least, your hips and shoulders, think about when you twist in your stance, think about when your hips being diagonal, are your shoulders too. I will leave you there to figure some of these things out for your self, don't be shy to ask Sifu Dee questions if you have any, listen, this is the only way to learn, and if you want Sifu Dee to remain learning, ask him tons of questions, he loves it.
LUK HUP - BAH FAH
( Six Coordination’s ) - ( Eight Directions )
LUK HUP
Three internal harmonies and three external harmonies:
INTERNAL HARMONIES:
Mind + Will
Will + Chi
Chi + Strength
EXTERNAL HARMONIES:
Hands + Feet
Elbows + Knees
Shoulders + Hips
SIX COORDINATION'S:
Eye’s + Mind
Will + Chi
Strength + Skill
BAH FAH
Eight Methods:
Hands, Feet, Eye’s, Spirit, Chi, Strength, Trunk, Skill !!!!!!
Here is another way to look at this knowledge you can never get enough instruction with the Internal Martial arts, reason being we did not grow up in Asia and there are many expressions and terminologies we need to learn and study.
The Eight Methods
1. Chi. Concentrate the spirit to make the chi move. This is the chi kung method. Imaginations involved in making the spirit and chi circulation move like water in the ocean, be like a tidal wave. It is like a contained fury.
2. Bone. Holding the power in the bone. The meaning is to make all the joints connected. There can be no empty or loose place. This method enables you to make the outside soft, the inside solid.
3. Image. The idea here is change the race, copy the inside. Anything in the universe that moves you can copy. You see the image and take the spirit in order to radiate, the meaning. When we see animals fighting we copy their meaning and spirit.
4. follow. There are two ideas here: circle and through. This involves the spirit and chi. The spirit must circle, go out in all directions, and the chi must circulate, in other words, go through. "Follow" means you know the opponent and know yourself, you design and react. You must use the basic principle of yin and yang to develop chi and power, mind and power, with no breaking. The spirit is like a radar, but the power must be straight. The joints bend, but the mind must be straight and unhesitating. You cannot focus, you just react. This is for developing sensitivity and the flexible instinctive power that enables you to react.
5. lift. This refers to the crown point of the head. The meaning is to wake up, be alert. It makes the chi and circulation faster. But, it is not focused on. It is comparable to running the orbit in the chi kung exercise.
6. return. This means practice yin and yang, in and out. In is a chi and mind exercise; out is a coiling exercise.
7. check. Calm and Humble. the idea is to concentrate on clearing up your mind, and make the breathing smooth and deep. If you control the breathing, you can remain clam. When you are calm, the body is able to remain relaxed. When your body is relaxed then you can move. The movement I refer to is the movement of the chi through the body. When the Chi can move smoothly through the body to make a complete cycle, you are able to breathe deeply, giving your body more oxygen. (Oxygen means energy). This gives you power like a wave, leaving you more flexible and able to react.
8. conceal. fake and hide. This means you must have the idea in your mind without letting your opponent know what your intentions are. For example, you must signal to the east and hit to the west. Point to the south and hit to the north. Up is unreal and down is real. To make this a little easier to understand here is another way, if you are a great liar, you will be the greatest fighter, is what GM Chow told me. I could not believe when Grand Master Chow taught me this, it was so profound. He then told me that to use the word lie with Kung fu as the topic does not mean lie in the words from English, however it does mean to deceive with movement.
Back with more soon:
Sifu Dee