Allow me to introduce another community member here who has been working with me for some time and I think could be a valuable resource for you, especially if you have a background in Karate, Steve Andrezza.
Steve lives in Perth, Western Australia (where we met) and is currently the CEO of an innovative company that has invented a groundbreaking 3D pipe-printing technology (Long Pipe Ltd). In addition, Steve is a family man with 3 young kids and still finds time to train and teach his passion, Shotokan Karate.
In the picture, Steve (in white) is receiving his 6th Dan ticket from his Teacher Gary (in black). Gary is a pure no-nonsense martial artist with hands like vices. Last time I lived in Australia he reached a milestone of training everyday (I mean everyday come hell or high water) for like 20 years (Steve - you will have to remind me of the stat). My personal opinion is that Gary has done a wonderful job instilling in Steve what is great about Karate, its traditions, core values and practicality when it comes to self-defense.
Steve is certainly taking those values into the future. He is a guy who likes to practice what he preaches and uses his martial artistry to support and enhance the other aspects of his life. A big guy (6-4?) with a big punch (I have been on the receiving end) Steve is reaching the point in his Yi Chuan training where he is starting to see the truth in my hypothesis, that is, most martial arts were originally built on Integrated Strength principals, and, when those principals are 're-discovered', the brilliance of the style comes through.
I am introducing Steve to you and the rest of the community for many reason, they include:
Many of you are using the Yi Chuan method as a means of unlocking ideas in styles you have practiced for many years. Steve has an is trotting the same boards with the interaction of Yi Chuan and Shotokan, his experience may be valuable to you.
No time to train? Ask Steve how he manages it.
Have a Karate background? Steve may be a good resource on how Yi Chuan will evolve your understanding of Karate.
Do you live in Western Australia? You may want to look Steve up, particularly if you have kids interested in Karate!
Need pipe? Steve's innovative piping solution blows away the competition:)
Steve and I are in the development phase of a set of exercises that put Integrated Strength back into traditional Karate. While I have dabbled in Karate, Steve's knowledge in encyclopedic so I am very excited about this collaboration. Our goal is to reimagine some of the most fundamental practices so that Karate practitioners have a direct water to apply Integrated Strength throughout their entire system(s).
In the near future we will be introducing some of these exercises to the community for your feedback and enjoyment. If you are interested in following the development of these exercises, please express your interest by commenting here.
I think I may have read something by him or a translation at some point.
If you presume karate was designed with the same awareness of principals as yi chuan they would have to have a lot in common once you get past the stylistic differences, particularly the cultural oneness.
Skimming the article it strikes me that the internal congruence between the two styles if far more convincing then the external ones. -Steve
Hi. Explaining karate through yichuan reminded me of a Finnish fellow called Timo Klemola, who has long history in both wadoryu karate and yiquan and who has written, I think 2 books about his findings. He has his own youtube channel too. Googled and found this one, maybe useful: https://asiakas.kotisivukone.com/files/finevision.kotisivukone.com/kumitegata_web.pdf