"If you were to have a sparring match or freeplay practice that has the possibility of injury, people will move and fight more realistically." True? Or False? The answer which I've been thinking about for 10+ years, in my humble opinion, is not as clear-cut as we want it to be. Firstly, I recognize that if I make a wrong move in sparring means the possibility of injury, I will definitely move more cautiously. The psychological changes will affect my actions. I think most peop

"Magpie Crosses Branch" is an agile footwork technique, in the 400 years old Ming Dynasty manual, Sword Treatise. Below is my interpretation of this footwork technique. Although this manual is about wooden Staff techniques, but I intentionally demonstrated with a wooden Guan Dao, because you can apply it to any weapon. Even if you're empty-handed too! The important point is to move in a straight direct fashion to the next spot, without compromising your posture. In my opinion

"Chicken Pecks Grains" is a Staff technique from the 400 years old manual, Sword Treatise, written by Ming Dynasty General Yu Da-you. This technique involves making small quick multiple strikes, usually targeted at the enemy's hands. Because of its resemblance to a chicken eating and pecking at grains on the floor, hence it was given this name. Below is a quick 2 minutes video that I've made to demonstrate this technique, and also highlight a few pointers Notice a few things: