Going with the Flow

By Eve Newman

Boomerang Staff Writer

In the thick grass at Undine Park , a group of 10 people in matching black pants and black T-shirts stand in a circle. No one talks as they perform matching movements, raising their arms and breathing deeply.

The movements they perform have names such as water buffalo, crane’s beaks and golden bowl.

After a few minutes, they break the circle and move into rows and start doing a series of slow forms, arms extended, hips rotating, their bodies totally under control.

Tim Sheehan, a doctor of acupuncture, homeopathy and naturopathy, leads the Colorado and Wyoming Chapters of Modern Arnis, a school that focuses on traditional training in Chinese, Filipino and Indian marital arts.

A Laramie class meets weekly, cycling between the study and practice of Tai-Chi Ch’uan, Bagua and Hsing-i, which are types of types of internal Kung Fu systems that focus on the cultivation of internal strength, or what Sheehan describes as an energy flow.

To demonstrate the power of this internal energy, he calls one of his strongest students to push against him. The two men line up and match their muscular force and weight against each other, with the student gradually overpowering Sheehan and pushing him back.

Then he calls several more students to line up behind the first student and all push against him. He stands on one leg and pushes back. Their faces show strain as they struggle against him, while he looks relaxed and keeps talking, his body unmoving.

“Internal systems don’t depend on muscle and bone for power,” he said.

He said that to really understand Tai-Chi is not to just mimic movements but to stimulate a rejuvenating energy flow through the organs and muscles. That energy can be used for fighting, even though most Americans familiar with the art see it as a slow-moving practice.

“If you train correctly, it should turn you on so much that you should feel so up that you want to train, and you don’t need to be convinced,” he said. “You just kind of radiate with energy.”

The school is named for Modern Arnis, a Filipino art that Sheehan learned from one of its masters back in the 1970s, when he met him in Colorado . The art teaches twelve angles of attack that lead to the understanding of the techniques of many fighting styles. Also, those who practice it have the ability to use anything as a weapon as well as disarm their opponents.

“It’s a very practical system,” Sheehan said. The school also teaches a Chinese fighting system called Shaolin Kung Fu and an Indian marital art, Silambam, together with and its meditative counterpart, Lathi.

The study of these arts has been nearly a life-long pursuit for Sheehan, who started when he was 10.

“I grew up in a really screwed up, dysfunctional family, and I realized fairly early on that if I didn’t get some help I was going to sink,” he said.

He met his first teacher and learned a new way to see the world that inspired him to keep learning, as well as start teaching.

“That changed everything so much for me. It just kind of dug me out of all kinds of stuff,” he said.

Sheehan breaks the class into smaller groups, with students practicing different things. Some move in unison, others take turns attacking each other, and in the back an experienced student works one-on-one with a newcomer.

People walking through the park or driving past often slow to take in the sight, their heads craned to watch.

Later they demonstrate Bagua, which consists of eight forms performed continuously within a circle, designed to develop harmonious mental and physical movement.

“We train family style, so everybody’s working to help everybody else improve,” said Dave Claypool, who teaches the Laramie-based classes, including a class through the University of Wyoming Outreach School.

Claypool has trained with Sheehan’s school for more than 14 years, and he has no plans to quit anytime soon.

“It’s hard to describe, but it’s just necessary for me to do it, and it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

He started studying martial arts because he wanted to learn self defense, and soon he found himself in the best shape of his life. He compared the personal development of practicing the martial arts to agriculture, since he’s spent time studying both.

“Here you’re cultivating yourself,” he said.

Other students also testify to the personal and health benefits of working with the martial arts school. One student said repeated sinus infections stopped occurring since she started training. Another testified to being able to maintain an active lifestyle and steady weight as his friends have aged and slowed down.

James Childress said that a previously annual case of strep throat hasn’t affected him since he started training.

“I’ve been able to accomplish more in my life since I have started training that I would have even hoped prior to that point,” he said.