Gongfu Crew

Episode no. 13 is a special episode: I share the insights and perspectives I gained from talking to all the interesting teachers and practitioners I had on the podcast during season 1. I also share my thoughts on what's next for the podcast.

If you want to stay up-to-date regarding the podcast, check the podcast's instagram account gongfu.crew, as well as my personal account gongfu.munich.

This episode features the fascinating style of Wuzuquan, or Five Ancestors Boxing. Itself an amalgamation of different martial arts traditions, it is also one of the more famous southern styles of Kungfu. Our guest, Russ Smith, shares insights from his long martial arts journey, which began with Okinawan Karate and later led him to Five Ancestors Boxing. We dive deep into the varied training methods and the intricate philosophy of this southern style.

This episode will focus on the training methods of Yiquan (Mind Boxing). My guest is UK-based Paul Rogers, who has been practicing and teaching Yiquan for decades. He shares his understanding of the method, its theory and practice, and his collected insights based on a long journey in Chinese martial arts.

More info on Paul on his website: https://internalfightingarts.eu/

This episode will feature another staple of Southern Kungfu: Southern Praying Mantis. Specifically, we will be talking about the Kwong Sai Jook Lum variant. My guest, Phillip Le, has a very broad background in martial arts, but specializes in this form of Chinese gongfu. He describes the training methodology, the progression, and what makes Southern Praying Mantis so special.

Check out his Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/fighters_root/

More info on Phillip himself also here: https://www.jooklumprayingmantis.com/phillip-le.html

This episode dives into Xinyi Liuhequan, a style stemming from the Muslim communities of Henan province. Derek Notman from Massachusetts shares his insights into the training method, and how it changed his understanding of (internal) martial arts through the specific shapes and movement methods of the style.

More about Derek and his teaching (both online and on-site) here on his website:

https://www.islandphysicalculture.com/

In this episode we talk about Tongbeiquan, a Chinese martial art that has been around for a long time. My interview partner is Rosa Mei, who is currently residing and teaching in Prague. She has a wealth of experience, not only in Tongbeiquan but in many forms and methods of martial arts, and was more than willing to share her wisdom. We talk about her own learning journey as well as her unique approach at teaching traditional martial arts.

For more info on Rosa and her teaching, check her various channels:

https://www.bionickungfu.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@Bionickungfu

https://www.instagram.com/bionickungfu/

In this episode we dive into the practice of Bajiquan within the Wutan tradition, founded by Liu Yunqiao in Taiwan. Vincent Mei, who learned the art in Taiwan and is now teaching it in NYC, shared his insights with me. We talk about the approach of training with Wutan, focusing on the specifics of Bajiquan power generation and partner training, as well as the differences between Chinese martial arts and other martial traditions.

For more info on Vincent, including his online teaching efforts, go to https://bajishu.com/

You can also check out his channel wutanusa on Instagram.

This episode will focus on Baguazhang, one of the three so-called internal styles of Chinese martial arts. Bagua became quite well-known and influental in Beijing during the early Republic. It developed into a number of substyles, some of which took roots in Taiwan. Our guest speaker and new member of the Gongfu Crew, Carsten Stausberg, learned Yizong Bagua from Luo Dexiu over the course of several years in Taiwan. He was kind enough to share his insights into the training method with me.

More info on Carsten and his teaching and training on his Instagram channel (carsten.stausberg) and on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@casitor1)

This episodes deep dives into Xingyiquan, one of the so-called internal martial arts, usually grouped together with Taijiquan and Baguazhang. It was quite influental during the Republican era on the Chinese mainland, where its practitioners were known for their martial skill and fighting prowess.

I had the opportunity to talk to Byron Jacobs, who was fortunate enough to learn from Di Guoyong, himself one of the most renown Xingyi practitioners of Beijing. Byron is also very active in the online martial arts community through his Mushin Martial Culture platform and the Drunken Boxing Podcast. In addition to that, he recently published the well-received book "Dragon Body, Tiger Spirit", a translatation and explanation of the Xingyiquan classic texts. You can find it in the shop on his website:

https://www.mushinmartialculture.com/our-story

In this episode we will talk about another extremely famous school of Chinese martial arts: Hunggar. Originally coming from the area around Canton, it has become famous not only because it was featured in countless Hongkong movies, but also because it made its way to the US and Europe quite early. Ghyslain learned a very traditional, Taiwanese form of Hunggar and shares his insights into the training approach, methodology and fighting philosophy of the style.

Ghyslain also has an interesting channel on Instagram that you should defenitely check out: gk_wushuquest

You can also find some more info on his website: https://wushuquest.com/