More on Si Fu
After describing all these things I saw Si Fu Fong do over the weekend on this blog, and in person to various friends, I realize that I have a done super poor job of really explaining what I saw. This blog, though accurate, is extremely brief, and the details are fuzzy. I will explain a little, I hope.

Si Fu Fong, is this brilliant multi-disciplinary martial artist, of gregarious demeanor, and less-than-average stature. He teaches various martial arts at his Francis Fong Academy in Atlanta, and makes guest appearance for seminars in affiliated school around the country. This weekend he taught a 10 hour Wing Chun seminar in Whitestone, NY, which I attended.

We were brought through a number of fantastic routines which we practiced and refines over the weekend. Most were purely physical attacks and defenses of the sort you would expect in a martial arts school. The highlights for me, however, were these demonstrations that Si Fu performed of his mastery of internal energies mastery.

It started with simpler examples where he would tug with all his might again larger opponents wrists, but could not budge them. In every case, the 135 lb. Master’s strength was no match for the weight and strength of the 200 lb. student. In every case, he would then shift his focus, eliminate strain, and simple move the person. He would grab their wrist with one finger, or touch there neck, or tough their chest, and effortlessly push or flip them to the ground. The student when given the opportunity, were rarely, if ever able to duplicate the results. In some case, such as when Si Fu was unable to be pushed backwards by his opponent by focusing beyond them, a few students, including me, were able to duplicate this result.

On the second day of the seminar, my very serious martial arts friend, took Si Fu aside, and asked very seriously, what were the steps he could take to begin to understand and duplicate these abilities on a more consistent basis. In attempting to illustrate that these abilities were all about mental energies, or “imagination” as Si Fu called it, he performed some additional demonstrations. I watched first hand, as he stood in front of students, and, using only his mind, with no physical contact, was able to push and pull the students back and forward to the point where they lost their balance. I deduced that he was using some sort of hypnosis technique, a power of suggestion, if you will, where he would very, very slowly tip his whole body toward or away from the student, subconsciously causing them to adjust to keep the distance between them the same, and subsequently tipping in either direction until the balance was lost. I was proven wrong, when Si Fu did the same exercise, but from behind each student. Student after student’s knees buckled as Si Fu pointed at them and concentrated on their movement.

I can not explain what I saw. The hair on my arms stood up straight, and I almost left the seminar early. I don’t know whether I should be inspired, or frightened, but I do know that I have clearly seen something that cannot be explained by simple bio-mechanics. I am pursuing getting a video tape of the sessions to study for myself, and to practice the exercises. I hope reviewing will shed some light on this for me. Until then, I will just live with this feeling of having seen something truly incredible.