SaoLim Old Guard.

This recent hop over to Singapore saw me sitting down with some SaoLim elders over at Siao Teck San School; one of the oldest SaoLim schools still teaching in the “old fashion” manner.

The few hours I spent with Sifu Lew was a real eye-opener as he took me through some of the methods that the late Ven. Sek used to train disciples.

We started out talking about the current state of affairs in SaoLim, forms, techniques and future plans and next thing you know, it’s almost 3 in the morning…..

I really respect all these old timers who stay true to the methods handed down and having no interest in changing for changing’s sake.

Their attitude is to continuously polish what they have learned to reach the highest level and this means constantly challenging their own thresholds.

Sifu Liew commented that many dismissed traditional MAs as “unusable” because they lack the knowledge of making it work in the first place.

Either they were not taught or taught by someone who is equally in the dark.

The techniques are one thing, what really counts is the training process involved to fully master them and this calls for long period of time understudying a qualified teacher.

There is no other way…….