Teachings

• What is Kung Fu?

  Tao Arts teaches the martial art known as kung fu. Kung fu is the martial art of China that is one of the oldest known martial arts systems in the world. Originally kung fu was developed strictly as a form of self defense in life or death situations. Today, kung fu has become popular all over the world as an effective means of exercise and self defense for practitioners of all ages.
  
  

  Tao Kung Fu

  The kung fu taught at Tao Arts is called “Tao Kung Fu”. The “Tao Kung Fu” system was put together and refmed by Tao Arts founder and owner Kevin Huang, an accomplished martial artist who has had over 30 years of experience in the martial arts.

  “Tao Kung Fu” is a compilation of 8 different kung fu styles whittled down to their most basic (and thus most effective for self defense) elements. Each individual style is taught at the highest level of sophistication. A student who goes through one, let alone all 8, styles at Tao Arts will have learned the foundations of what kung fu is all about and be able to apply it effectively.
  
  

  Belt Ranks at Tao Arts

  In order to maintain continuity of physical and mental conditioning in the kung fu training, a system of belt ranking has been instituted. The ranks are:

  • White: Tai Chi
  • Yellow: Tan Tui
  • Orange: San Chiem
  • Blue: Hsing Yi
  • Green: BaGua
  • Brown: Drunken Style
  • Red: 10 Animals
  • Black: SengMen
  • No Belt: instructor level (must be able to do ALL previous moves from memory)

  Every 3 months, Tao Arts will hold a promotional rank test for students to advance a single belt at a time.
  Within a 3 month period, a student must attend class on a minimum of20 different days to qualify. This is
  to ensure that students achieve the proper physical conditioning and repetition required to master the
  movements of Tao kung fu.

  The months of testing are March, June, September, and December. Please stay informed of the actual
  testing time, as they shift with the seasons due to holidays and such.
  
  

  A Typical Class at Tao Arts

  Classes at Tao Arts follow a loosely prearranged format. The class comes together for a formal greeting.
  Then various warmup conditioning drills are introduced. The styles then are taught on a semi individual
  basis. Then person-to-person self-defense drills are practiced. Finally, a formal goodbye is performed.

  The non-hierarchical class structure at Tao Arts means that a white belt Tai Chi student might be taught red
  belt Animal moves or black belt Seng Men techniques. This is because belt ranks at Tao Arts are sequential
  only in name and not in terms of degree of difficulty. Plus, there is tremendous technical overlap in the
  traditional kung fu styles.
  
  

  White Belt: Tai Chi

  The Tai Chi 13 Posture set is unique to Tao Arts. It uses the terminology and raw structure of the Yang Cheng Fu traditional Tai Chi, but it actually contains effective combat features from other traditional Tai Chi methods such as Chen, Wu, Sun, Hao, and Cheng Man Ching. This set is taught going to one’s left side but is meant to be performed ambidextrously.
  
  

  Yellow Belt: Tan Tui

  “Tan Tui” translates into ”jumping leg”. The Tan Tui set is the foundation set of the Muslim style of kung fu known as “Cha Chuan”. There are 10 lines of moves. Tan Tui falls into the “longfist” category in which moves are expansive, athletic, and multi-directional. The large extended limb moves of Tan Tui are meant to be condensed down to smaller movements when opponents attack in street encounters.
  
  

  Orange Belt: San Chiem

  At Tao Arts, the old Taiwanese way of pronouncing “San Chiem” is used. It means “three deep” or “three levels of intellectual depth” or “3 stabs”, depending on how one pronounces it. This simple set is the foundation method of the Peh Hu (White Crane) style that originally hails from Yong Chun (“Wing Chun” in Cantonese) village in China.

  According to the Bubishi (the so-called “Bible of Japanese Karate” edited by Patrick McCarthy with the help of Chinese kung fu historians), the White Crane style was created by a woman named “Fan Qiniang”. At Tao Arts, an extremely simplified version of San Chiem is practiced in order to minimize confusion and maximize self defensive efficacy.
  
  

  Blue Belt: Hsing Yi

  “Hsing Yi” translates to “heart and mind”. At Tao Arts, a variation of the original Shansi Hsing Yi is utilized in which the moves are practiced from a solid but mobile horse stance. There are two sets, specifically a 5 element set which is the foundation and a 12 animal set which consists of variations of the 5 elements. The Hsing Yi 12 animals are different from the 10 Animals that come later at Tao Arts.
  
  

  Green Belt: Ba Gua

  Ba Gua is a circular method that means “8 trigram fist”. It features basically one move, the single palm change. From that single move, all other moves in all other martial arts systems can be adapted and/or replicated. For the sake of directional footwork fluidity, Tao Kung Fu features its own 8 basic ba gua moves that prepare its practitioner for self defense.
  
  

  Brown Belt: Drunken Style

  In China, drunken style is not necessarily thought of as a “combative” martial art. Yet when it comes to self defense, Drunken style is extremely effective. It isn’t that a practitioner goes into paroxysms of drunken imitation, it’s more that the practitioner learns how to move effectively even when his body is being physically contorted against his will by an incoming attacker.
  
  

  Red Belt: 10 Animals

  This set is adapted from the famed Leung Ting book “Shaolin 10 Animals by Kwan Tak Hing”. The moves in this set are pared down from the original book method. People are familiar with the traditional 5 animals which are tiger, crane, snake, dragon, and leopard. But few are familiar with the monkey, lion, bear, horse, and elephant. At this point in the training, many moves have been omitted out of this set because they have already been covered elsewhere in the Tao Kung Fu system.
  
  

  Black Belt: Seng Men

  Seng Men is a combination of Shaolin horse stance training and Taoist fluid circular footwork. Its emphasis is on proper body angling and conditioning. Seng Men has had many derivatives, including White Crane (Wing Chun), Hung Ga, Shorei Ryu, and others. One could even successfully argue that the entire “Tao Kung Fu” system is a Seng Men derivative!