The Story

What’s the story of Mo Duk Pai?  What is the system all about?  Quality.

It’s a broad term, quality, but we can go about examining it in very specific ways.  Today in kid’s class, we looked at three calisthenic movements and three martial movements, keeping an eye on the quality of each movement.

The hope was that the students would make a connection between the idea that while there is a quality way to do a push up (as in most people know a good push ups when they see one) there is also a quality way to throw a punch (not as many people can make this distinction).  In a push up, one point of quality is to keep the body moving as a single unit, not let the hips, torso or head flop about during the movement.  In a punch, a point of quality is to get the maximum power out by putting not only the arms but also the hips and legs into the strike.

Similarly, in a quality kick, it’s important to keep the hands up and the elbows down to protect against incoming counter strikes.  In a quality squat, it’s important to bring the hip crease below the knee cap.

Now, the specifics can certainly change in application – as in when a student has to throw a kick or punch against an actively resisting opponent, things change.  So also might the specifics change in the application of physical movement when the environment changes from a nice clean indoor space to city streets (parkour).  Can quality preserve under such difficulties?  Of course – it simply requires patience, practice, analysis and persistence.