Al Case

Becoming a Kung Fu Master through the Secret of Light Kung Fu!



Posted: Tuesday, December 01, 2009

by Al Case
http://www.alcasebooks.com/

One of the neatest things in cinema was when David Carradine in the old Kung Fu TV series walked on the rice paper. Rice paper is extremely thin, and the moisture on the sole of the foot, along with the weight of the body, was enough to tear the stuff. The legend, of course, was there is this thing called Light Kung Fu, where one could actually make the body lighter, maybe even levitate it.

Now, myself and all the guys in the neighborhood would watch David Carradine, Kwai Chang Caine as he was known on TV, and wish we had a kung fu master to teach us how to walk on rice paper. Why, there was no end to the things we could do if we only knew Light Kung Fu! The neighborhood bullies would be nothing if we had that awesome power! So, a little thought about the problem, a little western ingenuity, and we came up with a solution. Take a roll of toilet paper and unroll it on a linoleum floor. Now, very carefully, put a small drop of water on each square. Now, walk. We thought that rice paper would be like wet toilet paper, you see. So we tried out our kung fu steps, and...the thin stuff was ripped apart. Hmmmmm.

We cleaned the mess off the floor, let it dry, and unrolled the paper again, put our feet down and tried not to turn them at all. Squoosh, squoosh, yikes! Darn stuff just turned into puddly, little messes. So we tried putting a long row of chairs next to the unrolled toilet tissue, and tried supporting ourselves with our arms as we walked the walk. Squish, rip, and darn! This rice paper stuff was tougher than we thought. Now, in the end, we never did manage to walk the light kung fu walk, and not tear the filmy tissue into shreds. And, to be truthful, I don't think it is possible to do, toilet paper is supposed to dissolve in water, and rice paper, well, who knows what the heck rice paper is for, or even looks like. But something amazing happened because of our interest in being able to do what the old masters did, even if they were only actors on the tube. We worked out long hours. In between trying out our light kung fu, we practicing kicking and blocking, we did our forms again and again. In essence, though we never walked the light kung fu walk, we became masters through another route, through dedication and long hard work and by pursuing dreams!

Al Case has researched martial arts for 4O years. A writer for the magazines since 1981, he is the founder of matrixing technology and neutronics. You can walk on rice paper with him, or, least get a free ebook, at Monster Martial Arts .
Al Case loves the martial arts and writing. He is a good enough natured fellow, unless you start talking about the government (grrr). He has a 115 pound chocolate lab that sits on him, and his website is AlCaseBooks.com.

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