Bear

This is a response to Jack Strappete. I thought it would be useful information for all.

Pardon me Shun Shifu,

I don't mean to bother you, but I've got a question. I can't help but notice the yellow card material in the video tutorials. Brad started me out with a technique called Rising Knee. He told me that was the first technique a student of Shou Shu should learn....He never told me anything about these techniques. Are they something new or did he just neglect to tell me about them, he always seemed pretty distinct about the things he taught me and the order they were taught.

-Jack

Hey Jack,

It's no bother. It's what the site is for. I hope you won't mind if I post this to my blog as it is important information that a lot of people probably don't know.

Yes there is some reasoning behind an order of things. However the reality is that it is the order of principles that are taught that is important. Not so much the order of techniques. Now of course there are techniques which are more conducive to teaching certain principles. Some techniques could be switched around without effect. But not all.

For example Da' Shifu used to say that the purple and green material could be switched and there wouldn't be much difference. The principles and level of difficulty are similiar for both of those belts.

Yes Rising Knee used to be the first technique learned. I learned it myself that way. However when this was instituted (and for many years afterwards) the way the art was taught, as a whole, was different. In the early years the art was taught much like it had always been taught. Students mastered the bear first. They would go all the way to black belt and become a Shifu studying only bear material. Hence the bear patches on the first degree belt. When Da' Shifu started designing the teaching system he designed a system which was familiar to the way he had learned.

He utilized the teaching ideas of Kenpo. The main thing that he borrowed from Kenpo was the idea of teaching in techniques. Techniques we not utilized at all by his teachers. There were the animal forms which contained techniques but as I understand it these were only used once a student had mastered the motions. In other words, students would only learn one small motion and were expected to perfect that motion. The next day they would be given another. Progressive weapons was something that was reserved for much later.

Personally I really see the benefit in that teaching style. It produced extremely high quality Shifus. It just didn't produce very many. Da' Shifu tried to teach this way for many years but could not keep any students. It required a great deal of discipline on the students part to persist in this environment. In addition to discipline it required tremendous trust. In other words it just didn't fit into our culture.

So in the early 70's the martial arts craze hit. There were a number of teachers making a great deal of money. Yet Da' Shifu couldn't seem to keep a single student. He decided to figure out why. So he joined up with the Tracy Brothers.

From learning the art of Kenpo he realized that the teaching methodology worked with modern society. They taught really cool techniques that would keep the students interest. Students without the required self discipline would stick around because of the cool factor and hopefully they'd develop self discipline as they went along. Those that did were able to persist and become Shifus.

So the main thing he borrowed from Kenpo was the idea of teaching through techniques rather than techniques being a way to practice. In the early days the techniques taught were entirely kenpo techniques and over the years he slowly replaced them belt by belt. A lot of todays techniques are still rooted in those early Kenpo techniques.

However what he did differently than kenpo was to apply Bear motion to them. He taught the power of the bear through the kenpo techniques. Early on Shou' Shu' was taught as pure bear. So essentially it was the idea of teaching bear first still just through a different medium.

Today we consider this the old way. Although it had a predecessor. I suspect that the way you were taught was the old way at least in part. These early Shifus were incredibly powerful. You description of your shifu mowing through people sounds very much like these old shifus. They were truly the bear when they fought. Unstoppable power. Incredibly explosive energy.

However over the years Da' Shifu kept experimenting with his teaching system. He recognized that the bear fighting style was incredible for a man of strength but not everybody had the required body dimensions. Including Da' Shifu.

Recognizing this he decided to introduce the other beasts into the art. Basically what he did was he taught the material as if it were 8th degree material. It was Shou' Shu' or a mixed beast art. It could only really be called Shou' Shu' if it was taught as a mixed beast system.

This slowly evolved over the years as more and more of the other beasts were added. It really accelerated over the last few years of his life. I was lucky to be very close to him during these years. It evolved into an incredible art.

However there was a pitfall. While the sophistication of the other beasts was added students tended to not recognize that thier primary objective was to master the bear. There is so much to think about in the principles of the combined beasts that is is very difficult to stay true to the root animal.

So if you were taught the old way, (or somewhere in between) then while you did learn Rising Knee as your first technique, you most likely learned it in a purely bear form. Rising knee is actually a predominantly tiger technique. And therien lies the problem of the new style of teaching.

Before it was quite simple. Everything was bear.

And that is a very long answer as to why the yellow belt. The yellow belt was added to introduce the material in a strictly bear format. Like the old days. Now that the rest of the techniques are mixed beast the yellow is a helpful prep for them.

The techniques in yellow are mostly techniques that we taught but not formalized on a card. It is made up of horses and hard bows. No cross steps, no soft bows, no passing through stances. Stances are solid and defined.

Without it we run into the problem of teaching passing through stances without having really concentrated on stances in the first place.

Since Shou' Shu' is such a complex art the only perfect system for teaching it would be one that necessitates a full time focus. The old way that Da' Shifu learned obviously worked well. He was incredible. The kenpo style techniques done in the way of the bear worked well also. It created very powerful shifus.

The mixed beast way is excellent also. It introduces incredible subleties which make it work for all bodies and develops fighting ability in a relatively short amount of time.

But each of the ways has flaws. None are perfect. The yellow belt brings back a little of the old way. We work individual weapons a lot to bring back the even older way. And we teach the sophistication that was presented in later years.

Even with the yellow belt I think there is not enough bear. I'd love to see a student work bear for at least a couple years before being introduced to anything else. Unfortunately I don't think it will work in our society. I see a lot of problems with teaching it the best way possible. Not in turning out the best students but in keeping people long enough that they get good.

Your situation is not really that unusual. I would guess that there are quite a few people out there like yourself that learned the art and didn't really know where it came from. One that I know of is Shifu Gerrels That link is to his son. I can't seem to find a profile on here for Shifu Gerrels Sr. I don't think he even knew the name of the art for a long time.

Take a look at the videos. Normally they are a paid portion of the site. That's what supports the site and the ISSA when it is fully up and running soon. But right now they are free. The level that you can see is determined by your rank. We'll have to figure out where you are so we can set your account accordingly.

Hope that answers your question

SSW