Lunes, Pebrero 3, 2014

Chinese New Year "The Year of the Wooden Horse" Interview with Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming

by Barbara Langley, January 27, 2014

by Barbara Langley, January 27, 2014
Chinese New Year
Most non-Chinese people (Westerners) call the Spring Festival 'Chinese New Year.' The 2014 Chinese Spring Festival falls on January 31 continuing through February 6. According to the Chinese zodiac it is the Year of the Wooded Horse. In Chinese Five Element theory, Horse is in the Fire group, which is the strongest fire animal in twelve zodiacs. The New Year is described as being part of the lunar calendar, but it is actually a lunar-solar calendar as some of the holidays are based on the solstices and equinoxes and others on the full moon.
Chinese New Year is one of the grandest and most important festivals for Chinese people. It can be compared to Christmas Day for Westerners. It is a time of family reunions, numerous activities, traditional foods and clothes.
Its origins go back 4,000 years originating during the Shang Dynasty (17th through 11th century B.C.). There are fifteen days to Spring Festival, and different events fall on each day. The last day is the Lantern Festival.
In the following interview, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, has graciously shared his thoughts about Chinese New Year, tai chi and qigong, YMAA Publication Center and the YMAA Retreat Center.
Q. Please give our readers a little background about yourself. 
A. I grew up in Taiwan during the post World War II era. I come from a family of nine children. My family faced many hardships during this time including lack of enough food and clothing, especially shoes. But here is where I learned much patience and endurance.
Q. What is your educational background?
A. Growing up, I studied very hard and became one of the few students in my high school to attend college. I earned a bachelor of science in physics from Tamkang University and a master's degree in science from the National Taiwan University. In 1974 I moved to America to further pursue my education. I earned a doctorate's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1978.
Q. When did you start training in martial arts?
A. I began training when I was 15 under my White Crane master, Grandmaster Gseng, Gin-Gsao. At this early age, I suffered from a chronic ulcer and began to study tai chi under Grandmaster Kao, Tao. By learning tai chi and qigong, I was able to make a full recovery. And during my time at Tamkang University, I began training Long Fist under
Grandmaster Li, Mao-Ching.
Q. Coming soon is Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival. How did you celebrate this holiday as a child? Were there customs, special foods, activities, and traditions?
A. Usually, we received new clothes from our parents. We also received red envelopes with "lucky" money inside from our parents and elders, such as grandma, aunts, and uncles. However, the best part of the festival was having a big, nice dinner together with plenty of food. We also played with fireworks. And we went to see street shows with lion dancing, dragon dancing or some other shows like Gongfu. Everyone was happy. You would also go see your relatives and congratulate them for the New Year and naturally, receive lucky money. Wow! I miss so much of those times. After you grew up and went to college the fun was not as much because you didn't receive any lucky money anymore. Once you began to make an income, it was your turn to give lucky money.
Q. What was the most outstanding Chinese New Year you remember?
A. When I was in college around 1963, I returned home for the New Year celebration. On New Year's Day, instead of visiting my relatives, I spent the whole day with my Gongfu classmates and visited my White Crane master in the mountains. His wife cooked a big dinner for about 15 of us. After dinner, we practice martial arts, lion dancing, and just have fun. My White Crane master demonstrated for us. We took some photos. Each time I see photos from that time, it brings a lot of good memories and joy to me.  Remember cameras were rare at that time. Only very rich families could afford to have a camera since it cost a lot of money to buy film, develop, and print. Time is fast, too fast. It seems like it was only yesterday.
Q. How did your parents, when they were children, celebrate this festival? Has it changed during the years?
A. I believe more or less it's the same. It is a tradition. When my parents were children, the Japanese controlled Taiwan. The Japanese do not celebrate New Year on the same day as Chinese. Not only that, Japan initiated the Second World War in 1937, which lasted eight years. Starvation was common and there was not too much celebration during that period. I did not hear too much about Chinese New Year celebrations when my grandma and parents were children.
Q. Did you carry any of these traditions with you when you came to America as a student? 
A. While I was attending Purdue, the Chinese community there still celebrated Chinese New Year. When my children were small, we celebrated a little here and there. But it was never the same as it was in Taiwan. The environment and atmosphere were different. Over time, the feeling of tradition was gradually forgotten. Only when we went to China town did it have a feeling of a festival. Later, when my children grew up more, all they were excited about was Thanksgiving and Christmas. I believe this new generation has been naturalized by the culture here.
Q. Did you celebrate this holiday with your children growing up in America?
A. Usually we have a gathering of the families, my wife, sister, and some other friends in Boston. We had a nice dinner. Chat with each other and the children have a good time. However, there was no lucky money. We also have dinner together at Thanksgiving time.
Q. Tell us about the YMAA Retreat Center in Miranda, California
A. In 2008 I decided to dedicate my life to develop YMAA Retreat Center in Miranda, California. As the center develops, it will become a beacon, a leading example of re-establishing the model and methods of ancient martial arts training leading future generations to the path of self-discipline, humility, responsibility, confidence and compassion. The most important mission of this center is to preserve the traditional Chinese martial arts, moralities, discipline, and spirit. The program is entering its sixth year. I feel very comfortable that this project will be successful when it is completed in 2018.
Q. How will you celebrate this Chinese New Years at the YMAA Retreat Center? 
A. It will be training as usual. I may take the students out for dinner. We did celebrate Thanksgiving together here. It was a nice big dinner and time to relax. I guess Chinese New Year is not too important here. After all, there is no festival mood or atmosphere.
Q. What are the goals of the YMAA Retreat Center during The Year of the Wooden Horse?
A. Train hard and catch up on any late schedules. I enjoy this new group very much. They have good disciplines and manners. I believe this year will be a good time to push them even further for more progress.
Q. What do you see as the future of YMAA Publication Center since it is celebrating its 30th Anniversary during the Year of the Wooden Horse?
A. YMAA Publishing Center has established its high recognition and reputation all over the world. As long as David Ripianzi, publisher, is open-minded and willing to change strategies and keep up with new technology, YMAA will be greater and more successful in the future. Naturally, YMAA Publishing Center must continue its tradition of good, high quality products.
In conclusion, Dr. Yang reiterated his mission, "I want to lead Chinese martial artists in the West back to their roots and help them regain the original high level of skill and public respect. I also wish to bring Qigong training to the Western world and have it accepted by the Western medical society once and for all."
Barbara Langley is the National Publicist for YMAA Publication Center, Inc. She is the editor of Taekwondo—A Path to Excellence by Doug Cook, Oct. 2009. She has written numerous newspaper and magazine articles and continues to write a weekly business column. She is the recipient of several public relation awards.
- See more at: http://ymaa.com/articles/2014/01/chinese-new-year-the-year-of-the-wooden-horse#sthash.U0Qi4oZj.dpuf

chinese new year in the philippines

The Philippines is home to an important Filipino-Chinese population. So important, in fact, that its capital city is home to the world’s oldest Chinatown. So how do people there celebrate the Chinese New Year?
The festivities for the Chinese New Year are on. And here in Manila’s Chinatown, both the local Chinese community and Filipinos are excited to welcome the year of the water snake. Starting with this grand parade that will cover the entire stretch of Chinatown’s main street… and ending at the newest and only upscale mall in this area, the Lucky Chinatown Mall.
From there, the festivities continue with a full day of activities lined up; there’s going to be an exhibit that will feature Chinese culture and arts… like calligraphy, for example, Chinese lanterns, Chinese chess, and fan painting. There’s also going to be lots of food; authentic Chinese food that is that are very popular here in the Philippines.
In fact, you know, there’s a lot of Chinese influence here; in Filipino food, in their language, their beliefs and traditions even. One very interesting bit of trivia here for you; Manila’s Chinatown is actually the oldest Chinatown in the world. It’s been here since the 1590’s and so Chinese people have lived here for at least five centuries. And so there is a great deal of mutual respect between the local Chinese and Filipinos and because of that, Chinese New Year is actually an official non-working holiday here, except that this year, it falls on a Sunday.
Nevertheless, it’s one of the most anticipated events of the year. People here absolutely love the festive mood and the traditions that surround the Spring Festival. Feng shui, lucky charms, dragon dances and fireworks are all very popular here at this time of the year. These things of course are believed to bring good fortune and obviously that’s what people not just here but everywhere are hoping for this new year.

Miyerkules, Enero 29, 2014

Imagine the world without a cellphone?



Paano kaya kung hindi naimbento ang computers? Edi walang cellphone? Kaya mo pa bang mabuhay ngayon ng walang cellphone
Noon
Walang cellphone, kapag nag-uusap ang mga tao, focus lang sa kausap walang distractions
Ngayon,
May kausap ka na personal, may kausap kapa sa text, dagdag mo pa ang ka-chat sa internet. Walang focus at nakakabastos
Noon,
Kung anong napag-usapang oras, ‘yon na ‘yon, wala ng bawian
Ngayon,
Napag-usapan na ang oras, nababagago pa, walang konsepto ng “man of honor’
Noon,
Kapag naghihintay ng sasakyan, nakikipag-usap kahit hindi kilala. Pampalipas oras, nagkaroon ka ng kaibigan
Ngayon,
Dedma, naglalaro sa cellphone.
Noon,
Sa bahay nangliligaw, nanghaharana pa.
Ngayon,
Sa text nalang ang panliligaw at wag ka, hindi pa nga nagkikita, aba mag jowa na.
Noon,
Praktisadong practisado ang pakikipagkapwa tao
Ngayon,
Praktisadong praktisado ang pagfofollow sa taong hindi kakilala, nakikipag eyeball pa, e namoduss, tsugi ka.
Ano pa ba?

J

MIRROR




What do you see as you look at the mirror?
A pretty face or a pretty soul?

We are too conscious about how we look to others, but we are not concern about our attitudes towards other people.
The moment you wake up, straight from the bed you’ll go to the mirror and you’ll see how you look. And will whisper “napaka ganda ko talaga”. Holding your camera, you’ll make a selfie shot and directly post it to facebook with a caption “just woke up, good morning”
Well, as I observe to most of the young people nowadays, they are more concern of how they’ll bring themselves physically, leaving a good attitude behind.
Yesterday, I saw this young pretty lady, walking on a pavement, suddenly an old lady approached her and held her on her arm, and then I heard “nanay, yung damit ko, ano ba, wala akong pera.”
Attitude.
Youths today were not wearing their values anymore. They wear make-ups instead, nice clothes, high shoes, and an ego.

You, what do you wear? J

TEARS (random thoughts)


How important tears are?

Tears are the blood of our soul.
It comes out whenever we are emotionally damage or distracted.
It falls exclusively for worthy people, it falls for things which we value.

People who often cry, are the people with wounded souls.
People who seldon cry are the ones challenged by circumstances.
People who never cried are impossible.

Life give us tears to ease the pains were keeping inside,
It has its majestic power which heals that nobody can understand.
It knows when to fall, and for whom it will fall.
Tears are like diamonds, once it shown it means so much.


J

ALONE


It is good to have time alone, especially before the day ends.
I call it, self-assessment.
I try to meditate the things I have done, decisions I made, and the connections I did to somebody.
It makes me feel better when I am productive and have lot of things done. Im glad when I did good connections. And whenever I have a not-that-good day. I’ll make “bawi” for the next day.
Doing this “self-assessment” helps me know myself more. How I make decisions, how I connect to people, how I make decisions.

I also make this time private. Me talking to God. Telling Him my stories, Lifting up my circumstances and struggles to Him, asking Him Questions, Praising Him.

Well, what do I want to say?
Have your time alone as well. it will bring you peace, and will give you time to enjoy yourself.

Be a loner, even for an hour. J

Turning back time



 
If I will be given a chance to turn back time. I will choose to turn it in during my high school years.
I wasn’t enjoy my high school days. I was a prisoner.
SCHOOL-HOME that was my life. I haven’t experience going out at night, with my friends. Playing late, pranking others. I was a boredom during those moments.
 Well the first factor why im a school-house boy is my Librarian mother in our school.
Hmmm.
I can vividly remember, how she scolded me whenever i go out at night without telling her, and then she will picked me up once she knew I was not at home.
I could say


I was forced to be a good boy.
If only I had experience those moments I will still be a good boy I guess, or I don’t know, nobody could tell.


Well how about you, if you will be given a chance to turn back time, will you turn it? J

How do I make people happy?





Simply, by just putting a smile on my face and let the smile reach everybody.
Smile is powerful, it helps you to connect to people you don’t know. It may lead to friendship, or partnership, or any relationships.
Smile is not expensive, I give it for free.
In fact,It attracts positivity, so if I were you, all the time I will smile.

J

Messing things up



Have you ever felt that your plans are messed up?
You felt like your world fell into pieces.
That your plan is not taking in a good place. That everything seem so unpredictable, and you can’t handle it anymore.

You know what?
It is because, you are not the one in control of your life. It is Him who lend you your life. It is Him who is mighty and could change everything in a sudden.
Whatever your plans are, if it’s not for you. It’s not for you.
 I am not saying that “don’t make plans” or waste your time in planning” what I am saying here is that,
Make your plans, but let  Your Lord know your plans, lift it up to Him, believe in what He can do and trust Him with all you heart and with all your soul.
According to Him,
To human belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of tongue (Proverbs 16;1)
Commit to the Lord whatever you do and you will succeed.
God has greater plans for us, but on the other hand, expect that it is harder to achieve than what we have in minds. So when time gets rough look up and tell Him, “Your will be done”, “I surrender all my plans to You” “I have faith in You and “so something good is about to happen soon”.

GODBLESS US PEOPLE J

Amazing things



Think of the things you have, and things you didn’t have.
Then after that,
Think of the children you see on street begging for food. Think of what they have, and what they don’t , which you have.

These little things that we have, we didn’t find amazing, right? But to those who are less fortunate, they see those things so amazing.
But you know what, what really amuse me is how this kids survive every single day. Because as I can imagine them sleeping on a cold night, gets wet when rain pours, and wiped-up when flood rises, amazing grace covers them.

Let us learn to appreciate little things. J

Pointed or Pointless?


 How do you live your life?
BORING?
Everytime you wake up, you always complain “hay umaga na naman, ordinary day”
BUNKRUPT?
You don’t have anything, even peaceful mind and wisdom.
BITTER?
In Everthing you does you see no good.

Or you’re living your life this way:
BALANCED
Everything is under control, everything is at place.
BEAUTY
Everything you does you find ways to see beauty on it.
BLESSED
What you do you make sure you always bless somebody.

Life is simple, people just complicate things up.
In fact we could be living a pointed life whereas there’s BALANCE, BEAUTY, and BLESSINGS. And leave a pointless life, BORING, BUNKRUPT, BITTERNESS behind.
We are the ones who are making our life, we have freedom to do anything we want to. We are the one who decides what road we will run, or what journey we will explore.
There are times we’ll be in our hard days, but we could lift up all our burden to our strong God. He’s always there for us. Keeping His eyes on us, waiting us to call unto His name, and catch all His blessing towards us.
God loves us, all He wanted for us to do is love Him back, and recognize Him us our Father.
Godbless J


SORRY PO,

“Sorry”.
Bakit ba ang hirap sabihin ng isang maiksing salitang ito na mayroong 5 letra?
May iba na nagsosorry ng labas sa ilong nila, may iba naman na nagsosorry nga pero laging may kasunod na, “e kasi ikaw e,” “e kasi ganito e”, E kasi ganyan e” palaging laging mayroong sinisisi.
Hindi madali para sa karamihan na sabihing “sorry, it’s my fault ” “sorry, mali ako”, “sorry, kasalanan ko, hindi ko dapat ginawa yun.” “Sorry”
Nagsosorry sila (kunwari di ako kasali) para matapos lang yung issue.
Nagsosorry sila kahit hindi naman nila nararamdaman.
 O Sadya lang sigurong may mga taong ganun. Insensitiv kung baga. Hindi nila nararamdaman na nakakasakit na sila kaya bakit sila magsosorry? Kung mag sosorry man sila yun ay dahil tawag lang ng pangangailangan. Matapos lang ang alitan.
 May mga tao namang sobrang sensitive kaunting kibot, masasaktan, kaunting tukso magmumokmok.
Pero bakit nga ba may salitang sorry?
Sabi nga sa isang teleseryeng aking napanuod, para saan pa raw ang pulis kung pwede namang humingi ng sorry sa bawat kasalanan.
POINT?
Ang sorry para lang sa mga taong nanakit ng hiindi nila sinasadya,
Halimbawa, naapakan ko ang paa mo, yan pwede magsorry.
Halimbawa, nakalimutan kong gawin ang pinapagawa ng nanay ko, yan pwede akong mag sorry.
Halimbawa, nasira ko ang cellphone mo, pwede akong mag sorry.
Ito naman ang mga hindi katanggap tanggap na hingan ng sorry.
Halimbawa, sinaktan mo ako dahil nagsinungaling ka sa akin. (ang kapal ng mukha mo ha**p ka)
Halimbawa, nahuli kitang nakikipaghalikan habang syota mo ako (ay talagang napaka-kapal ng mukha mo at talagang ha**p ka talaga)
At,
Haimbawa, ninakaw mo ang lollipop kong nasa bulsa ko lang (ay sobra talagang napaka- kapal ng mukha mo, at sobra talagang talagang napaka ha**p mo naman)

Ang sorry karapat dapat lang yan kung ang kasalanan ay hindi sinadyang gawin, samantala ang hindi karapat dapat na hingan ng sorry ay yung mga bagay na pwede namang pigilang gawin pero ginawa parin kahit na alam naman niyang makakasakit sya.
Kaya’t…
Wag masyadong kapalan ang mukha para humingi ng sorry kung ang ginawa mong kasalanan ay intentional mong ginawa. Wag ganun tol.

J

FAILURE


I have failed. Everyone does.
For me failure makes us stronger and fiercer.
When we fall, our instinct is to get up and keep on walking. Whenever we get wounded, our instinct is to clean the wound and put med on it.

Failures help us grow, it helps us understand life. And most of all, It helps us closer to God.

I could imagine how we cry whenever this earth is challenging us, I can imagine how catholics kneeled, bow down and pray during crisis.
Yes.
That is why God let us fails, because He wanted us to communicate with Him. He waned us to talk to him and he wanted us to have a personal relation to have.

That is what failures for.

DREAM,

What is your dream?
Mostly we are dreaming about mansion house, millions of money, expensive cars, and trips abroad.
Dream!
 That’s what our parents taught us, right? To dream big and aim always for the best.
Dream!
That’s what we do when we get bored, and before going to sleep
Dream! Oh, How we wish to live in our dreams.

Dreaming is good but dreaming most of the times is bad. With that we forget that we are living in this real world, that we indeed chose to live in dreams than to face the things that we have here on earth.
Whenever we get afraid we run away we hide and go through the fancy world, a world where nothing bothers us, where everything is always under our control, where everything is alright.
Hey,
There’s nothing wrong about dreaming, but if you want to live in your dreams, you have to wake up, and do something to reach that dream. J


PAPER


Im staring at this blank paper in front of me wondering what to write on it.
5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1 and a half hour, till I decided to write about this piece of paper before me.

What about a Paper.

When I was a thudler I love having a pad of paper and I will consume it in drawing different lines and forms. When I was in grade school I started using my paper to write my name on and my teachers name as well, I also learned to use it as “bangkang papel” and let it flow in the stuck water outside our classroom, an “airplane” and let it fly towards my playmates.

When I reached my highschool, I started to use my paper as a medium to connect with my crush, I remember how I took time just to make the paper more pleasing so that my puppy love would appreciate it. I learned to make an origami as well and displayed it.

Now,


I found my bestfriend in paper. Where I wrote my experiences, my joyous moments, my adventures, my failures, disappointments, frustrations, dreams and nightmares. It helps me to ease the pain I am keeping inside. It makes me feel relax everytime I am in tension.

Well, Paper is like US will you believe?

We started as blank papers of this universe, what we get from the world is what we are writing in this life.
Sometimes we get folds, sometimes we get scratches, sometimes we get mistakes.

But after a long run, with these folds and scratches, we’ll be a good paper formed as a beautiful Origami. J

Biyernes, Enero 3, 2014

ABRUPT CHANGE

Naranasan mo na bang gumising ng maaga, na ang gaan-gaan ng pakiramdam mo? Hindi dahil nakaamoy ka ng white flower o kaya nakapaglagay ka ng vicks sa ilalim ng ilong mo. Yung pakiramdam na ang peaceful at refreshing hindi dahil nakakarinig ka ng mga kuliglig, at nakakaamoy ka ng car freshener. Pero ang malupit, yung kukuha ka agad ng libro, tapos babasahin mo agad, hindi dahil may exam ka mamaya o oral recitation ka. Yung pakiramdam na dahil maaga kang nagising, gagawa ka ng breakfast hindi dahil gutom ka at hindi ka nakakain kagabi kaya gusto mo na agad kumain. Maliligo ka habang kumakanta at itataas mo pa ang mga kamay mo na parang nagkokonsyerto sa araneta, at may pag pikit pikit pa ng mga mata. Sasabunin mo ang buong mong katawan na tila ba ayaw mong may matirang dumi sa katawan mo kahit isa, yung tipong pati taling mo dahil kulay itim, gusto mo ring alisin. Yung maglilinis ka ng buong bahay habang mahimbing pang natutulog ang mga kasama mo at nakikita mong tulo laway pa sila. Yung magkakape ka tapos maiispan mong maglaba, hindi dahil gusto mong isuot ang paborito mong damit na nasa labahan pa o dahil wala ka na talagang maisuot.

Yung pakiramdam na masaya ka.

Masaya kang gumigising.

Masaya kang nagluluto. 

Masaya kang naglilinis ng bahay.

Masaya kang naglalaba. 

At higit sa lahat, 

Masaya kang napapagod para sa iba. 
Hindi mo alam kung bakit.
 

Parang kaplastikan sa pandinig mo, pero masarap sa pakiramdam pakingan ang sarili ko. 

Tulad mo, tulad ng iba na katulad niya, katulad nila, at katulad pa ng marami pang iba, ako ay naging katulad na katulad niyo rin. 

*late tayo gumising. Nag-alarm ka na, I a-udjust mo pa.
*ayaw nating iniestorbo ang tulog natin.
*gusto lang nating kumain, paggising natin.
*ayaw nating maghugas ng pinggan, Badtrip kaya yun. Mamaya nalang
*nakakainis magbasa pagkagising na pagkagising mo palang,magkakape muna tayo, o milk (para sa mga katulad nating mayayaman)
*ayaw nating maglaba. Maglalaba lang tayo kapag wala ng maisuot. O kaya si mama nalang maglalaba.
*at higit sa lahat, mahilig tayong mag reklamo. ANO BA YAN! 

Pupusta ako, (hahaha, magsusugal pa) basta, ito ang masasabi ko.
Walang araw na hindi ka nagreklamo sa buhay mo. 

Pagising palang, “ano ba yan, natutulog pa ang tao e” 5 minutes pa.
“itlog na naman ang ulam?”
“ako na naman ang maghuhugas ng pinggan?”
Sa pagligo, “ang lamig naman” grrrrr.
Sa jeep, “traffic na nga, siksikan pa” (insert bad words)!!!” 

Kahit saang lugar, nagrereklamo tayo. Pero naisip ba natin ang mga taong dapat na nagrereklamo?

Ikaw? Reklamo ka? 

Araw-araw gumigising ka sa malambot mong kama, naisip mo ba ang mga taong natutulog sa kalsada? Ikaw, may pinggan ka na pinagkakainan, naisip mo ba ang mga taong walang pagkain, ikaw nakakaligo ka sa malinis na tubig, naisip mo ba ang mga taong gustong-gusto nang maligo at naiirita na sa amoy ng katawan nila? ikaw na nakakasakay sa jeep, at nagrereklamo, naisip mo ba ang mga taong pangarap ang makasakay sa jeep? 

Lahat ng bagay, maganda man o mabuti, hinahanapan natin ng dahilan para ayawan ito. Hindi tayo marunong mag appreciate ng maliliit na bagay na meron tayo. Hindi natin nakikita kung gaano tayo ka swerte dahil tayo, Meron tayong food, may home, basic needs baga. Itong computer, Camera, iphone, tablet, at iba pang mga gadgets, bonus nalang to. 

Kaya ikaw, kung gusto mong maexperience ang abrupt change na naexperience ko, itext mo lang ako. Ipapakilala kita sa Kanya.