Paul Gale

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Sifu Paul Gale

Paul Gale (Not to be confused with the Paul Gale of 1up.com fame) is a highly regarded Chinese martial arts instructor. He is generally considered to be the first to bring authentic Southern Chinese gungfu to Northern California, and is a pioneer in making these martial arts available to western students.

[edit] History and training

He began his training in the early 1970s and began teaching in 1982. He teaches Wing Woo Gar and Tai Chi Chuan. Paul Gale's first and only teacher is James Wing Woo, now 85 years old, who is still active in instructing in the Hollywood, CA area.

In the style of Wing Woo Gar, Paul Gale's gym is notorious for the slippery cement floor that he waxes multiple times every week. His students wear cotton-soled slippers, which provide insignificant traction. The purpose of the gym's slick floor is to assist students in generating power by using isometric contractions with the large muscles of their legs. Students must concentrate on stability at all times, or they will slip. Other methods of teaching include examining combinations of arm and leg movements while maintaining stability, moving in a horse stance, maximizing the body's intrinsic lever systems, and transmitting forces from the lower body to create movement at the arms.

Historically, Wing Woo Gar is merging of many Southern Chinese martial arts including Hung Gar, Mok Gar, Li Gar, Choy Li Fut, Tam Tui and others. Northern arts are also incorporated including Northern Praying Mantis, Shaolin, Lian Chuan and Xingyiquan. In addition to the forms and exercises, James Wing Woo's martial arts include detailed teachings of Chinese energy anatomy and mechanics. The internal usage of the body, including lifting, rounding and expanding different parts of the torso and other muscle groups, is thoroughly explored. As is the use of the mind inside the body, using a variety of different concentration and intention exercises to help create a full unification between mind and body.

Chinese philosophy and medicine are also incorporated, as Wing Woo Gar includes teachings on the prenatal breath, the relation between glands and emotions, the "animal" symbology of human anatomy and movement, the "three treasures" of Jing, Chi and Shen, concepts such as Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, and many, many others.

Paul Gale is featured in the book of interviews Nei Jia Quan: Internal Martial Arts edited by Jess O'Brien, published by North Atlantic Books in 2004 (ISBN 978-1556435065).