Guest guest Posted July 16, 2001 Report Share Posted July 16, 2001 So we had some talk about Paul Grilley's new book here recently. I decided to look more into this Paulie Zink, one of Grilley's teachers. I found that he has a set of videos which give instruction in Monkey Kung Fu, of which Zink is suposedly a master and world champion. If I was rich I would probably like to get the whole set even though I am not studying any fighting arts at this time. But one of the 8 videos is specifically about Taoist Yoga, so I got it. Wow - this is incredible. I can see why all these top yogis are excited about this guy. I think Grilley comes from an Ashtanga background and his book seems to kind of adapt some of these Yin yoga ideas to a serious Ashtanga-based asana practice. (See the current Yoga Journal for Grilley's article on Yin Yoga). Sarah Powers is another Ashtanga teacher who is into this. And I recently spoke with my Ashtanga teacher who told me he had taken a Yin yoga class in Hawaii with a guy who is also an Ashtanga teacher. But anyway, the practice presented by Paulie Zink on this video is a bit different and totally amazing. There is a lot of emphasis on squatting and all kinds of variations on squatting, including walking in a squatting position. Also hopping like a frog. Just like Ashtanga, I find the practice a bit beyond me at this time, but it is something to work on. Lots of cool ideas in this video. He does not explain anything or talk about where this comes from (except to say it is Chi Kung), he just demonstrates it in a very straight-forward way. Unlike most other yoga videos I have seen, there isn't even any background music. (Please leave the music out of the videos!) The squatting/walking reminded me of the last couple of times I saw Michael Hedges perform - he walked around in a squatting position (try it) while playing his flute and reciting the Jaberwocky. Paulie Zink was his yoga teacher. Anyway, I got this from a place called Martial Arts Gear: <a href=http://www.martialartsgear.com/videos/panthervideos/china_files/76.shtml target=new>http://www.martialartsgear.com/videos/panthervideos/china_files/76.sh\ tml</a><br>Check this out if you want to try something new, something really challenging or just want to see a master of a different type of serious physical yoga. I would like to know more about this guy, in case anyone has any info, like where does he teach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 Terry,<br><br>Thanks for your post about Paulie Zink. I'd been very curious about his video and now I'm even more so. I take it that what he demonstrates on the video is a bit different than what Paul Grilley teaches . . . (more martial arts oriented perhaps?)<br><br>FYI, I recently found out that Paulie Zink gave an 8-week seminar in Taoist Yoga at a Santa Monica Taoist martial arts school a few months ago. I don't know where he's located permanently though. <br><br>When I first became interested in Taoist Yoga, I searched for stuff about Mr. Zink with little success. It seems that unlike many famous and infamous yogis, many martial arts masters tend to be extremely secretive . . . <br><br>Anyway, keep me posted if you discover anything more. <br><br>All the best,<br>Robyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 Terry, <br><br>Here's a link for a short profile of Paulie Zink -- apparently he's located in Glendale, California where he takes private students. <br><br><a href=http://w3.blackbeltmag.com/halloffame/html/155.html target=new>http://w3.blackbeltmag.com/halloffame/html/155.html</a><br><br>Best,<\ br>Robyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 <I take it that what he demonstrates on the video is a bit different than what Paul Grilley teaches .. . . (more martial arts oriented perhaps?)><br><br>Yes the practice he demonstrates is different from what Paul Grilley details in his book (or in the Yoga Journal article). Grilley seems to have adapted some principles of Yin Yoga (which Paulie does not talk about in the video) to standard yoga asana practice. What Paulie demonstrates is all "asana practice" but the postures are for the most part very different from anything I have seen in Indian yoga. There is some overlap and there is no reason why everything he does might not be found in Indian yoga asana traditions, but it just happens to be really different. I would not say that it is "martial arts oriented" any more than Ashtanga is. I have started to look into Qigong (ch'i gung) recently. This is the "yoga" of Chinese martial arts. It seems to be as vast as the Indian yoga tradition. But so far I have not come across anything like what is in Paulie's video although he subtitles it "Ch'i Kung". It seems like one goal of all kinds of physical discipline is to be able to use our musculoskeletal systems to their full extent, to be able to move anyway we can, like animals. All monkeys can do everything any monkey can do, all cats can do everything any cat can do. But humans...what is wrong with us? There is a concept that there are actually many thousands of yoga asanas, I guess every possible arrangement of the skeleton would be an asana. So any system is going to be limited. So it can be very valuable to see a whole new perspective. The yoga in Zink's video is both very different from Ashtanga and very similar to it. Paulie seems like a very nice guy too. I would definitely suggest getting the video if you are at all interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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