Little Nine Heaven UK

At L9H we teach a number of both Southern and Northern weapons. All the forms we teach are traditional and are taught with fighting applications, sensitivity drills and sparring. These three aspects are very important - a large number of people practice weapons forms but few would know how to use their weapons in combat. Senior students sometimes practice with weapons in class and we also do to do weekend seminars on individual weapons. The weapons taught include staff, sword, Butterfly Knives, Three Sectional Staff, spear, bench, fan, Monk Spade and cane.

We practice and teach three methods of iron hand; the Slapping Method, the Thrusting Method and the Back of Hand method. Many people claim to teach or practice iron hand but cannot demonstrate a decent level of breaking ability or rely on 'tricks'. Remember always to seek out a skilled teacher before attempting to condition the hand as without correct breathing and herbal medicine you are only storing up health problems for later. Every fighter can benefit from strong hands whatever their style (traditionally almost every complete Chinese Art had some sort of hand conditioning exercise). Done correctly the exercises also make the hands more sensitive, improve health and help with healing techniques (I.e. Massage, Acupressure etc.). You must remember that the practice is not magic and requires great sacrifices - daily practice and hard work are necessary to get any benefit.

The Slapping Method

The slapping method involves hitting a bag of soya beans in a specific way with the palm, sword-hand, back of the hand, ridge hand and fist. It also involves special exercises and breathing techniques to prevent damage to the hand. The use of specialist Dit Da herbal medicine is also a must. This skill is very useful and with practice you can easily break un-prepared house bricks with what looks like a relaxed strike. This training takes about 45 minutes a day.

The Back of the Hand Method

This method involves striking the back of the hand in a special way with a piece of wood. The back of the hand become a very powerful weapon, tough and resilient. It is useful for those who like using backfist strikes. Also very good for splashing hands practitioners who, over time, can develop a strike without closing the fist.

The Thrusting Method

This method involves cooking the hands in a special herbal mixture before and after practice. The practitioner thrusts their hand first into soya beans, then sand and finally lead pellets, and practices special wrist exercises. After completing this training practitioners can pierce a watermelon with a spear hand thrust. This is a high level skill and there is no similar advanced training course available anywhere in Europe.

Zemen or Poison Fingers (Tzu Men - also known as 'Character Fingers' and 'Word Boxing') is a rare form of soft-style Shaolin. It is one of the earliest recorded styles from the Shaolin Temple and had a high reputation amongst previous generations of Kung Fu masters. The style was designed to help the smaller, weaker or aged fighter defend themselves against a more powerful opponent. (and is therefore ideally suited to women). It is soft, light and vicious - targeting spear-hand thrusts at the opponent's vital points. Poison Fingers is relatively compact, containing 6 exercises, 3 forms, 18 characters/ postures and finger strengthening exercises. Advanced practitioners also learn specific vital points and angles of attack. Senior students who have excelled in other areas of study may learn this style.

As one of the three major internal arts Pakua Chang (Bagua Zhang) has recently seen a huge surge in popularity. However genuine Pakua is as rare as ever.

Pakua students begin their training by learning to circle walk. This involves slowly and continuously walking around an imaginary circle in a low posture (thighs parallel to the floor). This is done until the student can walk for at least an hour daily before they learn more of the system. This training takes incredible diligence, stamina and skill. (I have met many Pakua people who have studied under well known masters and yet cannot walk the circle using our methods for even 5 minutes).

Pakua trains a fighter to move lightly on their feet whilst utilizing complex footwork which leaves their opponent off-balance and vulnerable. One technique of particular note is Pakua's gliding footwork which allows a fighter to step behind an opponent at the moment of attack and seemingly 'disappear'. Our Bagua has been maintained in its traditional form and contains Tien Gunn, 9 palm changes, 3 styles of walking, 2 man fighting forms, and advanced exercises. Senior students who have excelled in other areas of study may learn this style.

Little Nine Heaven is an ancient form of Taoist boxing. It's name refers to the 9 'little heavens' - energy centers in the spine located at major branchings of the human nervous system (similar to Yogic Chakra points). It is an extremely rare style, found today in perhaps only a handful of locations around the globe. This style seeks to imitate the fighting strategies of various animals, this is a different approach to most Kung Fu animal styles, most of which seek to imitate their physical movements. In combat the Little Nine Heaven practitioner aims to close with his adversary and defeat him quickly with short, hooking punches, crushing elbows and penetrating palm strikes. The fighter trains to move to his opponents flank before pressing forward through the opponent's center to drive him off-balance. Senior students who have excelled in other areas of study may learn this style.

Shih Shui is an awesome Chi Kung which forms part of the Little Nine Heaven Style. Shih Shui makes you healthy, strong and full of life. It also improves ones sexual appetite and stamina as well as being a form of Iron Body training that makes you capable of withstanding blows from an assailant.

Both Chi kung (Qigong) and Nei Kung training is taught at L9H. Chi Kung is basically coordinating the breath with physical movement, Nei Kung is moving energy with the mind. These categories can then be further broken down into several (often overlapping) areas:

Moving Chi Kung

This is any movement with which body movement and breath are in coordinated. Most of these forms are simple but with daily practice give great health benefits. Examples include the Standing 8 Sectional Brocade and Tiger Plays with Ball. Many people who wish to learn Tai Chi because they have heard about it's health and stress relief benefits, and have no interest in Martial arts, would be better directed to a form of moving Chi Kung.

Self Massage

Self massage exercises are designed to keep the body's energy flowing smoothly to prevent disease. They may also toneify specific organs. A popular example of this is the Seated 8 Sectional Brocade.

Standing Nei Kung

(also known as San Ti or Zhan Zhang) involves standing stationary in an open aligned posture (taught by a teacher) and held for up to 45 minutes. Daily practice of this allows phasic (major) muscle groups to relax, connective tissue to strengthen and energy to flow smoothly. Because of the postural improvements many internal martial artists practice these methods.

Seated Nei Kung:

(Meditation) There are countless methods with countless benefits. Taoist methods usually put the mind in the company of the energy to strengthen both mind and body. Other methods are aimed at things like spiritual development, the gaining of specific abilities and the drawing of sustenance from ones surroundings.

Hard Chi Kung

Iron Body training uses dynamic tension exercises and body hardening methods to make the body powerful and resistant to blows.

It has recently become very fashionable to practice Chi Kung and this has led to a number of people making a great deal of money out of making it seem extremely complex. Basically barring the last two categories, if you wish to learn Chi Kung for health, it is very simple (the continued practice being the hard part). As a result I don't teach Chi Kung as a specific class - there would be little to teach after the first couple of weeks (though of course it is a part of my martial arts class syllabuses). However if you are interested in learning some methods to develop health and well being I teach seminars every so often and will take students on a private basis so please contact me.

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