Noah's Different Kung Fu

Last night we spontaneously started doing forms before bed. What I mean by that is Noah was the one who decided we were to have a Kung Fu class and he was the one running it. What we did was take turns doing forms. I did the forms that I usually do and Noah did his "different Kung Fu forms." We tried to get a video of it but once the camera came out Noah started doing more foot work so that it was hard to follow him. Initially a lot of his moves were more stationary but varied a lot in terms of strikes, and locks. There were a lot of locks, which I hadn't taught him yet. Not sure if he meant to be doing locks, but that's how I would use what he was doing. There were also tons of claws and even some ground fighting. The thing is, I don't know where he learned this Kung Fu from. Before he would do more pows and cups, and some of that was still in there, but it almost looked like he was doing a different style. Like Hung Gar (or ha gau as Grace mistakenly said. One track mind lol) Also, as we went further and further into our turns, he started taking aspects from my forms and putting them in there, but also developing them. Like starting to really work on more evasive stances over and over as part of his form. It was really cool to watch. Jonah got up there and did a bunch of basics. But that was interesting to see. Jonah was doing more or less what we did in class, but Noah was doing stuff from our classes, stuff from my forms, stuff that I do around the house, and his own stuff as well. He would even do say a double palm strike and then purposefully do it in all four directions and then move on to another flurry of completely different moves. What I am saying is that Noah's made up forms, had a rhythm to them, and a purpose and idea behind them. They looked like real forms.

I guess people in the past were pretty good at Kung Fu even if they didn't live an ascetic lifestyle and even if they didn't take Kung Fu "seriously." Why? Well what I mean is, first off there are not a lot of forms of entertainment. There is no TV. Music and that sort of thing was considered to be in the same class as prostitution. So some people got really good at Opera and all that, but the mainstream culture didn't encourage that sort of development. They might admire an opera performer but simultaneously look down on them as well.
Kung Fu is a cheap form of entertainment that pretty much anyone can do. Some people are better than others, but pretty much in the village, everyone can do some sort of Kung Fu, or maybe even the village requires everyone to practice a little bit in a structured class. That will get you to a certain level, but that's not really where the art develops. The art develops in families outside of class practicing their own made up forms over and over throughout the day. I mean there is nothing else to do so why not. Plus if you start from when you are a kid and have very little inhibition you will just be more raw and expressive in your Kung Fu. When a new student steps into a school there is usually a period of years where the student has to get used to the idea of moving their body in a Kung Fu way without feeling self conscious about it. But kids play Kung Fu all the time in playgrounds and at home, and  they don't care whether their moves are correct, realistic, following a certain theory, or anything like that. They just DO. It's like the impressionistic or modern art that breaks all boundaries. In a way, this childhood form of Kung Fu is very advanced. I mean if you had superhuman strength, those childhood moves would be all you need right?

In a way, you lose this ability as you get older. Not so much from age, but from people telling you, "No that's not right you have to put your hand here." "No that's not realistic you can't do that in a real fight." "No that has no power because you stance isn't like this or like this." But when you see a kid swinging for the fences and roaring as he claws, where is the error in his stance or intent? There is none. It's just that through conditioning and practice his moves can get stronger and small muscle movements more effective. But that doesn't mean his moves are wrong. Further more, all of the "in a real fight" or "In a real situation." statements are kind of B.S. because the child's wild movements are actually closer to the real situation. Furthermore, they can learn what really works in a "real fight" more easily through experience. In the wild, this would be from real fights or hunting and that sort of thing. For our family, it is noodle sword sparring. Did you get hit or didn't you? And if you did, you aren't hurt. And the real situation of modern societies with weapons of mass destruction, well, correcting someone's punch isn't going to change things a whole lot when you think of the big picture right?

But who cares about qualifying all that. The point is Noah had a blast last night expressing himself in a real art form. It was great.