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  • Wudang Cotton Palm

    Dear Shaolin Wahnam Family,

    Sigung posted this on the front page, so in the absence of anyone else taking the lead I hereby start a proper discussion on it.

    Some organizers asked me to teach Cosmos Palm again, but I mentioned before that the Cosmos Palm course at Hew Hampshire would be the first and last time. An excellent alternative is Wudang Cotton Palm.

    I did not learn Wudang Cotton Palm though I learned Praying Mantis Cotton Pam in the 1960s. I also do not have the legendary art of Cotton Palm where a master could suck into his stomach an opponent's attack, like Pak Mei as reputed.

    But I believe I know the force training methods of Cotton Palm My sifu, Sifu Chee Kim Thong, was an expert of Cotton Palm, though I was unaware whether he also had the "sucking in" skill.

    Pleace click here to view the video of Cotton Palm and here to view the picture series.
    I had actually wondered what the Cotton Palm was and had thought about asking more details, but amusingly the thought escaped me several times before I could decisively act on it.

    The set looks simple and beautiful, and certainly very interesting from Taijiquan perspective. To my non-expert eyes it looks even more flowing than the Cosmos Palm set, but I'm probably missing in the picture something that would clearly set the latter as the superior art. An educated guess is that the force training in the Cosmos Palm is much more versatile. I really would love to read a good comparison of the two sets, who else agrees?

    The description of the "sucking in" skill is brief and remains a bit unclear to me, so I also thought to ask: does it mean capturing energy from an incoming attack (and possibly returning it)?

    With sincere respect,
    Olli

  • #2
    Hi everyone,

    Reviewing the set after a good night's sleep I noticed how Sigung's palms are shaking after the Single Drake Leaves Crowd... such incredible power!

    This set seems very special. Somehow it doesn't fit any of my established notions of what Shaolin Kungfu is. There clearly are Taijiquan inspired patterns, but the force training resembles Wuzuquan, which makes it a very unusual combination. The Shaolin Arts are very much alive, no doubt.

    How very lucky it is to be in this school that our "alternatives" to elite arts are just about equally elite arts.

    Thank you Sigung for being so unfathomably generous!

    With sincere gratitude,
    Olli

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    • #3
      The set looks simple and beautiful, and certainly very interesting from Taijiquan perspective.
      You are right ... another amazing set Sigung has gifted us with. I wonder which lucky course organizer will be running such a course in the future .
      I see many Tai Chi Chuan patterns, as well as some Shaolin patterns ... and some very interesting patterns I haven't seen in another set (which does not mean they are not found in another set ofc.)

      Lucky us .

      Best regards
      Andrea
      Enjoy some Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan & Qi Gong!

      Evening Classes in Zürich
      Weekend Classes in other Swiss locations


      Website: www.taichichuan-wahnam.ch
      Facebook: www.facebook.com/Taichichuan.Wahnam.ch

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      • #4
        Wudang Cotton Palm Vs. Yang Style Taijiquan

        Dear Shaolin Wahnam Family,

        I had the opportunity to ask from Sigung during our graduation dinner how does the flowing force of Wudang Cotton Palm compare to the flowing force of Yang Style Taijiquan as previously taught by him.

        If I remember his answer correctly, he said that the Cotton Palm is equally flowing, but about six times more powerful! Quite a precious art we have here. Also recall his recent answer in the Cotton Palm Q&A that the Cotton Palm force is actually in another class of its own, so its not just a question of it being more powerful.

        Sigung also kindly explained that there were two things to take into account: his teaching of Cotton Palm benefitted from his previous teaching of Yang Taijiquan and that future instances of him teaching Yang Taijiquan would benefit from his new experience with teaching the Cotton Palm.

        With sincere respect,
        Olli

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        • #5
          Congratulations!

          Dear Shaolin Wahnam Family,

          Sipak Tim's research on Wudang Cotton Palm is a good read for anyone interested in the art. Congratulations Uncle Tim for having your article accepted, and thank you for investing your time on such a good topic for the benefit of us all!

          With sincere gratitude,
          Olli

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          • #6
            Combat Applications of Cotton Palm

            Dear Shaolin Wahnam Family,

            On the UK Summer Camp's Cotton Palm course it was recommended that for the best training we should first focus on form, then on combat application, and finally on force development with the set. Some of you might already be ready for combat application, so I would very much love to hear what the Cotton Palm has brought into your fighting skills.

            During my recent vacation I was inspired to use some time researching for low-key combat applications for palms in other sets and styles. I discovered that the 50 Sequences of Eagle Claw Kungfu had two particularly outstanding sequences that could be used to apply Whirlwind Cotton Palm and Reverse Palm Strike. While the force of Eagle Claw is generally much harder than what we trained in the course, it makes little difference in terms of combat application.

            Turn-Return Palm (sequence 9)
            Whirlwind Sweeps Leaves (sequence 17)

            Sigung has currently on his featured videos two pages from the Selection from 50 Sequences of Eagle Claw in UK Summer Camp 2009. One of them is the page Formidable Attacks that May Appear Flowery which has another good demonstration how effective Whirlwind Sweeps Leaves can be!

            With sincere respect,
            Olli

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