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Master Gatewood's Monthly Note - May 2006 "If I Started Again..." Some students have asked, "If you started again, would you take San Soo?" My quick answer would be - YES. The long answer is that I may go about it differently. When I started there were not many known Arts that we felt threatened by. We had a lot of confidence and most who got involved in street fights did well, few ever thought about using San Soo in sports combat. Through the years many Arts have surfaced. This opened the door to new threats that we had never seen. It became necessary to re-think angles of attack, various counters, and gain an understanding of different types of attacks which could be launched against us. The first new arts to surface were many of the internal systems which specialized in yin/yang exchange to neutralize power and force. They trained to feel and flow and that made them much harder to hit. They controlled their bodily chi and could deflect energy, pain, and leverage used against them. Many will laugh and say, "I don't believe in that mystical crap". All I can say is that I have had the opportunity to experience these energies on several occasions. Our Art contains many of these things but it needs to be brought out. As an example, if you feel how the sounds of San Soo can magnify a specific attack you will be in awe. It is more than just "a sound" because there is also muscle manipulation that adds to the sound. Next, grappling came to the United States and it seemed undefeatable. It took a while but many martial artists learned to "sprawl" which neutralized many of the take-downs. We have most of the counter tactics in our Art but we need to research, train, understand, and learn to control these threats. So, how would I train if I started again? I would begin to develop a strong root or foundation which makes it much more difficult to take you off your feet. Develop an early understanding of "internal knowledge" which would encompass controlled breathing, chi, issuance of force (with little movement), flow, etc. Again, we have most of these in our Art but to some internal arts it is their specialty. I would also break down the grappling moves and spend more training time on the ground to build my counters. Next, to learn to sprawl so well that it would be very difficult to uproot me. These are just a few ideas but I have found San Soo to be a very all-around Art. Few arts have the variety of techniques that San Soo offers. Is it a perfect Art? No, but it is a very effective art. If there are weaknesses it is usually in the practitioner, not in the Art. If the Grand Master did not answer every question it does not mean that the answer is not there. It is now our job to figure it out. See you next month!
Over the years I have discussed San Soo with many Masters of our the Art and have come to the conclusion that many are stuck in the past. They are preoccupied with things like the "Basic 45", and some have never advanced. The "Basic 45" were excellent, a foundation and if we were in the military it would be equal to "Basic Training", but in the military there are many more schools to attend to advance into your career, just as we have much to learn in our system.
Today things are different and I have met many Chinese and Vietnamese who have been trained their whole lives in Monasteries and Temples and who were very impressive, I have discovered there is much more to learn than I even knew existed. I have seen many masters who believe if they didn't learn it in El Monte, it is either no good or it doesn't exist. Are we to say that Chi, Internal training, Rooting, Fa Jing and disciplines like this do not exist? Sometimes we touched on them and picked up some of the knowledge, however much of the training goes far deeper. Our knowledge of fighting technique far surpasses many Arts and many stop there but what if we added some of the variations of classical training to enhance what we do? Many have run to Grappling schools to add ground work to our system and I see both sides of that argument. I would like to add that I have looked at many of their techniques and in most cases there was little I saw that was not taught in our Art in some manner, maybe from an upright posture or another angle but most was there. We must stay open and weigh our options, asking questions, maybe you feel you know it all, I know I have a lot to learn. Close your mind and you can grow no more. From time to time I plan to discuss some of these things, I hope we can all learn something.
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