Su Dong Chen

[eoejmvp]

KungFuMiäs - Thank you for the welcome!

I have not bumped into many Finns in the USA, but there were Estonians down the street from us several years ago. We invited them over, along with my Dad's Finnish co-worker, and it turned out they knew each other! They also understood each other and dinner conversation was a mix of Finnish, English and Estonian. Good times! Please let me know if you come to the DC area - we can have a coffee and talk Kung Fu. I am planning a move back to San Francisco, though, so I can't promise I'll be in the DC area (I also extend the invitation should you ever visit San Francisco).

Regarding Master Su, I met him in 1996 when I lived in Japan for the second time. (I've lived in Japan now 4 times, totaling 4 years). At the time, I found training extremely frustrating, because I couldn't do anything - I couldn't stand properly, I couldn't do anything with any skill. After training we would go and drink and talk over beer. (Master Su loves talking martial arts over beer.) I was fascinated - completely fascinated - by his systematic and logical breakdown of the martial arts. It was the talking after training that got me going back time and again. At that time he was, if I understand and remember correctly, finalizing his "placement" of the internal styles of martial arts. Hsing Yi Chuan is about Total Body Control and Total Body Movement; Ba Gua Zhang is about Spiral Body movement, which is used for object manipulation (weapons and opponents). Tai Ji Quan is about Wave Dynamics. There is more to it than this (he always has 3 levels to everything), but I don't understand it quite well enough to provide a good discussion here.

He can be very challenging, psychologically, to study with. He expects a certain seriousness and maturity in training. Unfortunately, there are students of the martial arts who are more interested in "pursuit of limitations" or who are acting out some psychological issues from their youth. Master Su sniffs these guys out immediately. He doesn't beat them up or anything, don't get me wrong, but I've seen them have difficulty, because their mental expectations are completely not in line with what he is offering. I think, though, that all good martial arts instructors do this to their students: they force them to grapple with their psychological issues, when the student thinks that s/he is there to learn how to fight! It's shocking to be forced to face one's inner demons. He is wise beyond martial arts, with a deep understanding of human psychology and a top general's understanding of strategy. I have been greatly influenced by Master Su and count knowing him and knowing some things about EOE as one of the great gifts in my life.

His martial arts instruction is very dense - every minute is full and he has explanations for everything. The explanations are frequently not filled with the answers the student expects, because he has so thoroughly plumbed the depths of martial arts. This is startling to some students. His classes and seminars are very systematic (as hopefully are demonstrated in the clips you can find on the Internet). He starts with basic principles, taken from physics (for instance, things like gravity), and he expands into martial arts applications from there, developing each step along the way. Because of this, students can learn movements very quickly, if they are willing to change their perspective on how to develop certain skills.

Of course, he is always evolving, too, so I find that he teaches differently today than how he was teaching ten years ago. I had more exposure to him ten years ago than I have had recently, though last Fall I interpreted for him in Miami.

Regards - eoejmvp

[oskar]

Welcome eoejmvp and thanks for the interesting information about Su and his teaching.

I'm visiting Japan (Osaka) quite often and in the future will probably stay there bit longer periods too. Been thinking what i will do with my training there (Osaka doesn't seem to have much internal arts), but maybe could do some visits to him in Tokyo. Would be very interesting at least.

[eoejmvp]

Oskar:

Master Su has moved to Taiwan now. Maybe you can make a trip out there? You might email him (find the address on his site essenceofevolution.com) and ask if he has any recommendations for training. It may take him a while to reply, unless you can write to him in Chinese or Japanese.

[oskar]

Ok, that makes visiting him bit more difficult then. But i will keep your advice in mind when the time is right...

[KungFuMiäs]

KungFuMiäs - Thank you for the welcome!

I have not bumped into many Finns in the USA, but there were Estonians down the street from us several years ago. We invited them over, along with my Dad's Finnish co-worker, and it turned out they knew each other! They also understood each other and dinner conversation was a mix of Finnish, English and Estonian. Good times! Please let me know if you come to the DC area - we can have a coffee and talk Kung Fu. I am planning a move back to San Francisco, though, so I can't promise I'll be in the DC area (I also extend the invitation should you ever visit San Francisco).

Thank you for the invitation, that would be great! I think i will end up in USA sooner or later, then we go out for a beer or thirteen (as we say in finnish, doesn't translate very well hehe ). Would be very interesting to talk about master Sus system.
And thank you for the long explanation! Very interesting.

[Mika]

eoejmvp, it's good to have you here. Good stuff

[maminglei]

Good stuff! Lot of similarities on both concepts and techniques with what my Tong Bei teacher is doing, especially all that slapping looks very familiar. Too bad I have to wait for my next trip to HK to see the latest youtube postings

[KungFuMiäs]

Nyt ollaan kyllä jossain niin asian ytimessä :
[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]