A site honoring the teachings of Kuo Lien Ying and the magical time that we were able to learn from Si Fu
since I was 16.
I began training kung fu at age 16 in Santa Monica, at which time my main motive was to learn how to defend myself. I trained for one year under Bob Cook. I traded my tuition for painting the school motif on its pillars – a tiger and a crane. Larry Johnson was my training partner and roommate. In those days, I would do anything to become
stronger – run on the beach to get to class and swim back, a few miles each way, from Marina del Ray to Santa Monica and back. I worked as a laborer digging ditches and loading trucks to keep building strength.
After a year of chasing the ultimate kung fu style (I loved the power of hung gar, the speed of preying mantis and the range of motion of Northern Shaolin), I narrowed down to Kuo Sifu, mainly because he was by far the most cryptic and charismatic teacher … and he was open from pre-dawn till bedtime, every day of the week. Bing would keep me on track with morning practice, often after I was up most of the night jumping over the furniture in the kitchen trying out techniques from other styles with a training buddy.
After all the years of "bitter practice," beyond the forms, and the discipline and spirit of training, I am left with the feeling that
Sifu genuinely loved and cared about us. Back in the 60s, I used to go on solo camping trips to Big Sur, to try to escape the busy-ness of SF and train in nature. With a backpack and sleeping bag in tow, when I would tell him I would be back to morning practice in a few weeks, Sifu, like a worried dad, would try to press a few dollars into my palm.
When I moved back east to NYC in 1974, I went to Sifu to say goodby and ask him if he knew of a teacher for me back there. I remember looking into his face and thinking it might be the last time I would ever see him. He told me about his student Peter Kwok in New Jersey, and even called Peter to tell him I was coming.
Over the years, kung fu training became a profession for me. I had spent so much time practicing forms that there was little else I was trained to do. (My training history is on my website: www. littleriverwest.com). Without that early role model of Sifu, his outrageously high spirits and fearless individuality, and his utter devotion to daily practice, I am sure this path would've been
impossible for me.
I still love teaching – from my little group of five year olds -- "Shaolin mini-monks," to my fabulously fit students in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Creating a network of courageous self-healers remains one of the most rewarding and fun things I do. Sifu was the vital link between a noble lineage of old China to us in mid-century America, and I feel honored to share his spirit and knowledge.