Why We're Here
Why We’re Here by: Willem de Thouars
You know, I’ve been through many things in my life. I’ve been through eight blade fights and I won by some stupidity – nothing skillful. When I see high ranking martial artists getting into fights, I say, “This is just bonkers!” Martial technique doesn’t exist. What works in my life is isometrics and that’s the reason I’ve lived a little longer. Jack LaLane was a master of his time. I don’t look at martial arts masters. If I go to a master, he says “chi gong this, chi gong, chi gong,” and I get headaches. It’s silly because since that is what he says, that’s what you have to do, but it is annoying because chi gong has become so educated, like a university. In my days, chi gong and fighting were one, but now everything is separated. We do martial arts to stay healthy and to reach out to others. I have done my job and after next August, I am not going to do seminars anymore. Do you know why? Because I have trained people that can do it. I have touched people. I have put out the seed. My job is to bring people together, not to show how great I am. You might ask why I am not impressed with this martial artist or that martial artist. Maybe it’s because I see that he is sick all the time. Martial arts are wonderful, but let’s have compassion for what is missing in our life. In my life I’m blessed, I go out and listen to music. I am just a simple man. In my younger days aboard ship as a merchantmarine, I fought a man I called Dog Face and Dog Face came back at me. I had a pot of coffee and I threw it in his face. I took advantage of the situation. There was no martial art, no kung fu, and no kun tao. Let me tell you a story. There was a big fight with an American, a Dutch, a Frenchman and an Englishman. The Englishman was a healthy marine. I am not kidding you, his muscles were like cables and I was a skinny kid. I kicked him, and he came back at me - he grabbed me and I was in the corner and I thought, “Oh, no! I am going to die!” He wasgoing to kill me. I felt his grip, I was a skinny guy, so I saw a rock with a sharpedge and I busted his skull. The rock did the work, not my skills.Another time, we were fighting Dutch marines. This one guy was huge, so Isaid “Oh, man! Oh, man—help!” I spit in his face, I got a cue and I punched him in the neck with it. That was a technique that worked. Kung fu did not work. There is another story I’ll share with you. We were two whopper shoppers, stupid kids. There was this man, we called him Long Tall Sally, and he was a Dutchman with a jab. What a boxer! I thought my kung fu didn’t work and I thought I had this lousy teacher. My teacher told me, “All you have to do is inhale keep your breath in and now explode, and you have a deadly punch!” So I said okay and then I inhaled and exploded. Long Tall Sally hit me in the side of the head, and I said, “Oh, shit, my kung-fu doesn’t work!” I said,” Jack, you know our kung-fu sucks!” So I wondered what we were going to do tothat would make us win. There was a cigarette butt of Long Tall Sally‘s, so I grabbed it and applied it, and Jack got a rock and hit him. Long Tall Sally lost. Our teacher was saying you have to stay in the praying mantis, in the correct form, but at the time,I got punched in the face. In my life lessons, I stay humble. I have learned many skills, but the monkey taught me the most. People say that the blocks work, and they do work when you do it like the monkey. I don’t mean to pick on silat because that is my family art. Silat teaches many movements, but you don’t fight with those movements. The street fighter, he always fights with a stone in his hand, so he can bang his opponent on the head. I am not picking on Silat. It is a good art. Karate is a good art, if you know how to use it. Too many people are not researching whether an art really works. I come to these seminars and I am just aplayer. I hope you don’t mind when I speak my mind, and I appreciate all of you and all your skills. We need chi gong healing. When I look at the martial arts, I also see how much of healing there is in the art and love in the art. You also have to understand the culture. Indonesian people are always laughing, saying “Yea yea, you got me!” But five minutes later they say, “I am going to kill you.” I’ve seen it so many times. Like in a coffee shop, one guy will come at you with a blade like a fish hook, so all you do is hit someone and pull them up. I’ve seen people who’ve said how wonderful their kun tao is get stabbed and killed. I hope you understand, I’ve lived through many different things by God‘s Grace. What is really practical in life are boxing, grappling and soccer. If you put those three together, you have a solid defense. But we do martial arts, whatever it is, to stay healthy. Our practice makes us healthy, that’s what we are doing here. Sierra Nevada Internal Arts
Vertical Axis Tai Chi Spinal Energy Pa Kua Energy Body Qigong
Volume 1, No. 13 PO Box 4001, Truckee, CA 96160
www.eurekainternalarts.com (800) 937-3142
Professional Member National Qigong Association
eurekaproductions@ltol.com
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