Large Fierce Mammal

I’ve written here before of my Esteemed Friend Gary Carbone, late of New Jersey but now a Man of the Catskills, and much entertainment and enlightenment may be had from reviewing that history of commentary here.

Just yesterday I learned that beginning on Sunday, 26 March 2017, Gary will be offering a series of workshops hosted by the East Dragon Karate Academy in Dover, New Jersey, the first few of which will, “… focus on “Ba Fan Shou”, a very old Chinese Kung Fu style that’s is very good for fighting and self-defense ….”.

As Gary describes it,

Ba Fan Shou (Eight Overturning Hands) is a Kung Fu style attributed to General Yue Fei, a national hero of China who lived in the 1100’s. It was said that this system was taught to his troops, for use in close combat fighting. Sometimes referred to as “Yue’s Boxing”, this system is very old and was the forerunner of Chinese Eagle Claw Boxing. As in Eagle Claw, Ba Fan Shou often uses the “overturning hand” to grab while striking or throwing with the other hand.

When I learned this style from my teacher Master Chen Jun Hao in 1999, he told me that few people in China had learned this. For that reason, it has been closely passed on as a treasure of Chinese Boxing, to select disciples.

In all my years of practice, I have only taught it to a few people — less than five.

We plan to learn the entire eight lines of Ba Fan Shou over the course of a few workshops. I hope you will join us for a fun and informative day of training.

These are full-day training sessions, starting at 09:00 EST, and subject to slight adjustment, structured in the following format:

• 09:30-12:00 EST: training
• 12:00-13:30 EST: lunch*
• 14:00-16:30 EST: training

*Students are responsible for their own lunch and refreshments, and Gary advises that Dover has a lot of good, inexpensive food available including Mexican and Colombian varieties.

Attendance will be limited to 20 students for optimum individual instruction, so book early!

Tuition for each seminar will be:

• $50/person in advance (payment must be received 2-days before class day, so no later than Friday, 24 March 2017); OR
• $60 at the door, subject to vacancy (cash only, no personal cheques).

To reserve your seat, or for questions, email Gary Carbone directly at 47theuclid@gmail.com.

Bon courage to all!