Videos of the Club 
Videos of the Club
These videos are taken from the weekly record taken at the club and are updated regularly. Details of "old" videos are now held on the video archive page and anyone who wants a copy of the videos is advised to get in touch with me. There are ~ 50 videos of various lengths on CD at the moment (Nov 2002) including those given below. Apologies for the delay in getting new videos onto the site; the "Instructional Video" is slowly taking shape but has taken more time than expected. The novelty of my video editor has still to wear off so many more effects have now been (mis-) used in the title sequences than ever before !
One of the issues that Peaceful Fight tries to overcome is a 1,1,1,1 rhythm of movement (ie 1 opponent attacks, 1 defender defender attacks, 1 defender attacks, 1 opponent defends etc). Here, Ken and I demonstrate the limitations of this type of fighting and why, once started, it's better to move at your own pace rather than allowing the opponent to dictate the fight speed. Although Peaceful Fight in part utilises the opponent to determine what happens in the flow of movement, it works at attempting a strike rate of 5 to 6 strikes per second to finish the melee as quickly as possible. Ideally, the opponent never gets a second shot in !
However, even though it is not predicted that the opponent will get a second shot, it is important to consider the possibility. However, at the same time it is important to not do it in a regimented 1,1,1,1 type fashion. This is achieved by training the body / mind to interpret the feedback from the opponent of the second strike so that it reacts naturally to whatever the opponent does. This is initially by the use of 1...1,2,3,4 training. In this exercise, the opponent attacks (1) and the defender returns 4 strikes (following the natural flow of movement). The defender then pauses so as to link with the Dao and the attacker attacks again. If the student is sufficiently linked to the Dao, they will defend by striking against the attacking weapon or moving without really knowing that it was the attacker's chosen attack (ie it will be done subconsciously) . They then continue to attack again for 4 more strike within the flow and the pattern is repeated until the attacker is finally subdued. Once this part of the art is mastered, it then moves onto the significantly more difficult 1...1 Random number, exercise.
021002a.zip 021002b.zip 021002c.zip
Smooth movement is one aspect of how a player of Peaceful Fight moves. It underpins much of the later work on intermediate strikes and also helps to focus the mind on the "not too much, not too little" concept of the Tao. In these videos, Ken works on maintaining the smooth movement whilst moving towards a restraint position. The first video shows a fairly simple flowing movement but it is well executed. The second video shows how "classical" final positions come out naturally if allowed to do so. You can't see it very well as Ken has his back to the camera but there is a compression neck lock being applied just before he turns me to the floor. Very professionally done and (thankfully !) very safely. In the third video we were coupling the feeling to the 1..1,Random method of training (ie there was to be subsequent strikes but Ken did not know when they were to occur). Note, there is a slight pause in the playback just after he drops his knee into my testicles. He claims it was accidental, but don't worry, my sex life remains as exciting as ever ! The final restraint ended up as a choke out at the nose / mouth and was a very effective final position.
Here I was working with Ian on the first movement, trying to move away from a rather static position that he sometimes found himself in. The techniques show how well Ian has developed over the past few months.