Chan Tai-San arrives in the United States
After many years of service to the Chinese government, Chan Tai-San decided to move to the United States and to establish his own school. At first, Chan Tai-San taught in a number of local schools but eventually began teaching his own classes in the church gymnasium on Henry street in Chinatown. When the Henry street location burned down, classes were moved to the Chan Family Association on Bayard Street, where Chan Tai- San had been appointed lion dancing and kung-fu instructor.
However, the school remained rather small for a number of reasons. First, Chan Tai-San only spoke Cantonese dialect and had trouble communicating with his American students. Second, he was no longer a young man and disliked having to demonstrate the more difficult techniques. Often, if a student could not perform a technique correctly or did not know what a technique was, it was simply removed from their form. Third and most importantly, the training was unlike anything students of commercial kung-fu schools had ever seen.
Since Chan Tai-San lived in the association hall, there was no set class time. Students could come and leave when they wanted and were expected to practice on their own. There were no warm ups, no two man drills, and no sparring exercises. The only two methods of training were basics and forms practice.
Basics consisted of performing single techniques across the floor of the gym. The basics included;
1. Kahp Choih (stamping strike)
2. Paau Choih (long uppercut)
3. Chyuhn Choih (straight punch)
4. Tau Bouh Seung Gwa (steal step twin backfist)
Mah Sik Pak Yik (spin into horse stance crane wing strike)
5. Tau Bouh Bin Choih (steal step whip strike)
Mah Sik So Choih (spin into inward swing strike)
Gung Sik Jong Choih (bow stance forearm strike)
6. A combination of Kahp Choih, Paau Choih and Chyuhn Choih.
Despite the fact that Lama Pai has a wide variety of kicking techniques, they were never practiced as basics.
Once the basics had been completed, forms practice would begin. Forms were practiced at full power, over and over again until Chan Tai-San either corrected them or taught something new. Attention to detail was very important and he would teach only three to six new techniques, never more.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of traditional training was the way applications were taught. It was assumed that you could determine the applications on your own and they were seldom demonstrated unless they were considered advanced techniques. In keeping with tradition, if a student asked Chan Tai-San what a particular application was he would demonstrate it on them and demonstrate that it would indeed work. Students were routinely punched, kicked, swept and thrown around the association hall.
A number of students remained with Chan Tai-San and made progress but his teaching methods were obviously unsuitable for teaching the general public. Those who did achieve something did so because they already had experience in other styles and had superior dedication. For this reason, three of Chan Tai-San's students began the long progress of reorganizing and modernizing the Lama Pai system.
The development of modern Lama Kung-Fu
The task of reorganizing and modernizing the Lama Pai system and creating a suitable program for teaching the general public would probably have been impossible for a single individual. Fortunately, Chan Tai-San had three students who interpreted the system similarly and shared a common vision for the future. These three students were Stephen Innocenzi, Steve Ventura and David A. Ross.
The first step was to determine which techniques, skills and theories were contained in the Lama Pai system and to arrange them in progressive order, beginning with the simplest and concluding with the most difficult. The idea was to produce a logical program in which a student with no experience could learn all the techniques and skills at a realistic rate. There was an increased emphasis on the practice of basics and more techniques were practiced as basics. The techniques were also practiced on various pieces of training equipment such as focus mitts and the heavy bag in order to develop focus, accuracy and power.
The next step was to introduce drills and exercises to develop essential skills. Of particular importance were two man drills designed to teach blocking and intercepting, for general conditioning and to improve reaction time. Among these drills were kicking drills, striking drills, trapping drills and grappling drills. Careful attention was paid to preserve the system's fundamental principles.
The final step was to examine conditioning exercises, warm ups, stretching and strength building exercises and to create a safe and effective program using modern scientific knowledge. Many older methods are still extremely valuable but some do not take into consideration more recent discoveries. While the techniques themselves have been time tested and proven, the exercises can always be improved upon.
In 1992, Stephen Innocenzi, Steve Ventura and David A. Ross began to refer to their own unique approach as simply "Lama Kung-Fu". They believe their method is unique because it is complete, practical, and organized in a scientific way. Today, "Lama Kung-Fu" is a registered trademark. This was done to differentiate it from other lineages and other training methods and programs.
