White Dragon Schools?

Hi

Does anyone have any opinions on the white dragon schools in southern california. Im thinking about taking Kung Fu classes there, but Im still doing research. Right now Im thinking about Kung Fu, but I dont know much about any other styles yet. Any opinions on your favorite style would be appreciated.

Thank You
Stephanie

 

What are you looking for in your style?

 

Good question. Lets see, these might be some general things. But Im looking to develop and strengthen my chi, body and mind. I want something that has power and discipline, and I want to be able to fend off an attacker with no problem. I want to make my body strong and flexible. I want something that I can make a part of my life and spirituality. I believe if I can use my will to strengthen all these things, then I can use that power in every other part of my life.

I am probably going to take Tai Chi Chuan to cultivate and control my chi. For the power, strength, self defence and physical fitness Im attracted to Kung Fu because I think it has all those things plus from what I have read is associated with buddhism. Chan Buddhism. If I were to label my beliefs they would be very close to buddhism though I am also attracted to shamanism and the mystery schools. Its all the same in the end But yeah, there are so many other styles to choose from I dont know where to start. Thats why I was asking for opinions on styles that you all enjoy and value.

 

By White Dragon, do you mean P'ai Lum Kung Fu? If you ignore the hype about having Cynthia Rothrock and Don Wilson as members, it's not a bad style. Pretty standard Kung Fu style; locks, throws, holds, strikes, kicks. Some of it is very straightforwards, and some of it can be complicated.

What kinds of questions do you have about KF in general? There are a lot of styles out there, and the best advice we can give you is to visit, visit, visit! Especially if you're looking for the spiritual side of Kung Fu.

Anyway, ask away, and we'll answer what we can!

 

The school Im going to visit today practices Choy Li Fut. I dont know if that has anything to do with P'ai Lum. Good advice though, I think I will visit different schools in person. I guess Im the only one who can decide for myself. I dont know enough yet to even know what questions to ask. So after my first visit today, hopefully I will know a little more. Thank you.

 

No, CLF is a different style. Go to the Kung Fu forum and ask about it, we have a bunch on MAP. There is a style called White Dragon, but it's not a branch of Choy Li Fut.

Yeah, see if a MOD can move this to the Kung Fu section, you'll get some pretty good responses.

 

I just found out this stuff about Choy Li Fut. Cool your advice helped me to know what kind of questions to ask and what to look for, thanks again! So what Im reading its sounds pretty good, but I think I'll do somemore searching.

"Welcome to Choy Li Fut and thank you for your interest. Choy Li Fut is a martial art that comes from the southern area of China. It is a kung fu system. It includes hand training, leg training, throwing, traditional forms and traditional weapons. It was developed as a simplified form of traditional Shaolin training that could be taught rapidly to a large number of people.

Why should you train in Choy Li Fut?

It is designed to build tremendous self-confidence. Self-confidence gives you the strength to face adversity, and threatening situations.
It is a rapid path to self-defense. If you want to have the power to handle yourself in a short period of time Choy Li Fut is ideal.
It is a great personal conditioning system."

 

Send Infrazael a Private Message, he is one of our resident CLFers. Or do a search on MAP for Choy Li Fut. You'll find a lot of info. If you tell him one of us sent you, I'm sure he'll answer.

 

Howdy!

The best advice is to visit and participate in the classes near where you live- You do not need to have any prior experience to determine if the instructor(s) are skillful, polite, and patient with their students- also if the students seem focused and enjoy the place that is a "tell" also

When you find a local place do a quick search on the style here or on the web in general, while you cannot rely on everything on the web you will get the gist of it-

My advice, stay centered- relax and extend!

James

 

to make life easy, maybe we should move this to:

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46388

This way we're not giving advice on multiple threads

 

He's in So Cal. The White Dragon schools are Choy Li Fut & Tai Ji. The school name is White Dragon, not content.

 

Yes, she made that clear several posts ago, thanks for sharing. I studied a style called White Dragon and I know they have schools in SoCal, but I'm from Pennsylvania. At least I tied to help

 

Pai Lum and white dragon are the same style. Also called bai lung. Full name is bai te lung chuan shih yang kung fu. Ive studied pai lum and can say that the good instructors in the style will foster good martial growth. Quality control is good so you dont have to worry about many erroneous teachers out there.

You will find it to be rather different than alot of traditional Chinese kung fu styles. It is more ecclectic, and based largely on Chinese kempo.

If the lineage you are looking at has anything to do with Glenn C Wilson, Id think twice about joining if you are interested in the style of pai lum; while he is an accomplished martial artist, he is nto teachign what many would call "pai lum kung fu".

 

Why only Taiji for chi cultivation? Why not anything else like Bagua, Hsing-I, Pikua or liu he ba fa?

There are many great chinese internal martial styles. How you would prefer to learn to fight is something to be asked as well... Are you more the type to get in someones face in combat and take them down, or do you prefer to keep your distance and pick them apart? You did say minimal effort.. but more info on yourself is needed

 

Hey Jewel, welcome to the forum. Interestingly, I live right next door in Murrieta, and I've checked out the White Dragon school in temecula before. They seem ok at first blush, but I am concerned a bit by the fact they don't spar at all. I personally don't think you can learn to fight effectively without this. Their lineage is legitimate, in fact I think they have the same sigung Infrazael has. If you want to learn Kung Fu, they're the only option you actually have here in the Temecula/Murrieta area, there are no other public kung fu schools.

As to the connection with Buddisim, there is none that I'm aware of. They teach a martial art, not religion. In the modern secular American world we live in trying to teach Buddisim in a public kung fu school would turn too many people off (especially around here, witness the full page article in the paper a couple days ago about the christian street preacher who hangs out on the corner of winchester and margarita! Ugg). The one criticism I'd have of them is they seemed a bit pushy with the sales pitch when I went in, and it did turn me off a bit.

If you broaden you horizons a bit and want to try something other than just any style of Kung Fu there are a few good places to train around here. The Fight Lab on Yinez (same road as the white dragon school) next to the maytag place is a very good mixed martial arts gym. They have a credentialed BJJ instructor, a very good competitive Muay Thai choach, an Golden Gloves Boxing coach as well as a few profesional MMA fighters who work and train there. For pure self defense (and a workout that will kick your hind quarters something fierce) they're a great choice. Also, there is a Gracie Barra in town if you're interested in learning straight Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The instructor there is also credentialed with a direct lineage to the Gracie family. Other than that, watch out, there are a bunch of McDojos around here that aren't worth the time or money (I live near one). Hope this helps a bit and good luck.

 

Hello Sliver,

So much information I just came back from my free session at white dragon and thought it was awesome. I learned alot in 40 minutes, though my form needs lots of work. Dosent sparring mean to practice fighting moves on each other. John the teacher there, was telling me how important it was when pratice fighting with each other to use actual force, so that you learn what it is really like to hit and defend yourself. My forearms still ache from the defending moves he was teaching me. I thought that was sparring though I could be wrong. He wasnt pushy at all. The only issue I had was at the begining I couldnt hear or understand him cause the students were yelling and he talked so fast. But I quickly was able to tune everything else out and focus on what he was saying. Its cost $135 a month, Im not sure if thats expensive or not. But it would probably be worth it, I just have to start making $$$ first. I just started up my business.

About the buddhism, that would be something that I could practice in private, though I wish there was a temple closer than 30 minutes away. I didnt really expect to find buddhism there, but I do like how Kung Fu originates with a connection to buddhism.

I found the fight lab website and Im going to check it out. You know, before Kung Fu I wanted to learn Kick Boxing. I took cardio Kickboxing before and loved to watch the real kick boxers in the next room. I also like to watch it on TV. Do you go to the fight lab? I do want to learn self defence and get a kick ass work out. Well thank you for all the advice, it helps to hear from someone who lives close by and knows.

Thanks
Stephanie

 

That seems pretty expensive in my book. How many lessons do you get a month for that price?

I'd go with Silvers advice and check out the Fight Lab. Brazilian Jujutsu is GREAT, Muay Thai kickboxing is probably the ultimate stand up fighting art. Not only will it give you one hell of a workout, it will give you simple and effective self defence.

If you are still intrested in Kungfu, check out the yellow pages. You might still find somewhere reasonably close.

 

You get unlimited lessons per month plus private time with the instructor at no extra cost.

 

So they hold lessons every day? If so, that is worth it. Or do they have only 2 lessons a week on?

 

Every day