GOLDEN BELL AND BREAKING BRICKS
Tim Franklin jumping high for a flying kick in Xingyiquan
Barry is dedicated to developing internal force. Once during a course in 2008, I asked some students to punch him really hard, and he just stood there and smiled.
Barry remarked that the most surprising Golden Bell moment for him was at the Healing Course in Malaysia when I asked someone to punch Barry, and he didn't feel anything. Then I asked someone to hit Barry with a stick of sugar cane. Mark Appleford did the hitting. Again, Barry didn't feel anything and Mark said the stick exploded in his hand with bits of it flying off around the room.
The intriguing part was that Barry had not undergone any formal training of Golden Bell, but had derived the ability to take punches without sustaining injury from our regular internal force training. Many of our instructors have this ability, some without their own knowing. They don’t have to practise stance training for eight hours daily with saliva flowing from their mouth.
It is like breaking bricks. Our instructors and senior students did not specifically train to break bricks. But when they were asked to, they could do so effectively, often to their initial surprise. Breaking bricks and being able to take punches without sustaining injury are an incidental result of, not the initial reason for, our normal training.
It is important to note that our ability to withstand punches and to break bricks is an incidental result of our internal force derived from our training. In other words, we do not purposely train to withstand punches and to break bricks. We train to have good health, vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joy.
Barry performing a majestic pattern of White Crane Flaps Wings
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