Over the 30 years that Plum has been in business, we have made countless dear friends and estimable colleagues, most of whom we have never actually met in person. One of these is Daniel Mroz — theatre artist, martial artist, writer and a professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Ottawa. He is also the owner of a blazing sense of humor and a generous good heart. A few weeks ago, he appeared on Paul Bowman’s Podcast, Martial Arts Studies, discussing “Energy.” We were so taken with the discussion that we asked if we might share it here, and he agreed, with the stipulation that w ..read more

Click Image to register Sally Chang teaches Master Li Chengyu’s Qigong, a Gentle , Elegant, Deeply Nourishing form. Master Li was a beloved Daoist Priestess from Wudang Mountain, and Sally’s grand-teacher. She entered the temple at a young age, and lived to over 100 years old. This form is a consolidation of her decades of Internal Cultivation. Sally Chang brings together Daoist Internal Cultivation Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Principles Internal Martial Arts All levels are welcome! [No Acupuncture CEUs for this event, stay tuned for future] The Academy of Martial Arts 1570 Soquel Dr ..read more

Incredibly excited to welcome Sally Chang to the Academy to teach this simple and important Qigong. Scan Code or Click Image to Register   Sally Chang teaches the Eight Silk Brocades Qigong from a Daoist Perspective. One of the oldest and most influential Qigong forms still practiced today, this moving meditation will include the internal cultivation and health aspects of the form, and how to move through the dynamic Dan Tian as a longevity practice for body, mind, and spirit. Foundations of alignment and integration of movement through the whole body distributes labor and conserves en ..read more

Incredibly excited to welcome Sally Chang to the Academy to teach this simple and important Qigong. Scan Code or Click Image to Register   Sally Chang teaches the Eight Silk Brocades Qigong from a Daoist Perspective. One of the oldest and most influential Qigong forms still practiced today, this moving meditation will include the internal cultivation and health aspects of the form, and how to move through the dynamic Dan Tian as a longevity practice for body, mind, and spirit. Foundations of alignment and integration of movement through the whole body distributes labor and conserves en ..read more

A very long while back, we published a 30 minute video on 10 points for controlling the body in Qigong. Over the years, this was one of our most popular DVDs — it is simple, accessible, and provides solid information for any martial artist wanting to understand basic Qigong structure. The information is ageless, but videographic technology is not so compliant —thankfully, our skills and equipment have improved over time — so when it came time to reproduce a new batch of DVDs, we decided instead to offer this Plum vintage video for free. Yeah, there is a blue tint to some of the film, and it de ..read more

Sometimes it is fun to pick up a short QiGong exercise from a style different from your own. You might feel the energy of the other style or, sometimes it’s plaim enough that you can practice it and infuse it with your own style. Tian Shan (Heaven Mountain) QiGong Number 8: Post Stance, Heaven and Earth Hand 133. Thumb relaxes. Stretch center fingers. 134. Both arms slowly move to the front of the body rising nimbly until reaching shoulder height together. 135. Bend both elbows back until the (back of the) hands reach the “xuan guan” point (the bridge of the nose). Middle and ring fingers drop ..read more

Is it just us, or is there a deficit of spring in this year’s Spring? Well, we’re hoping we can put a little more spring in its step (and yours, too). This Spring, purchase our most popular qigong book, Blossoms in the Spring: A Perfect Method of Qigong, and get the 1 hour instructional DVD for only $1 more. Normally this package sells for $34.50, but for this limited time, it is only $16.25 — less than half price. Blossoms in the Spring is written and demonstrated by Ted Mancuso, Plum’s director, with more than 50 years experience teaching martial arts and Qigong; and Narrye Caldwell, who not ..read more

Well, we won’t be able to use our “Summer of Stars” cliche much longer, so we have a mixed bag of new titles today. There is still a short but powerful stack of books yet to catalogue, so keep a close watch for those. Today’s batch mostly centers around Tai Chi, with a nod to Qigong and an swift punch from an unexpected contender, which will go first. Most people do not know this, but one of the very first items Plum carried was a VHS from Master Ed Parker. It was an exclusive item shot at a seminar in our area (that we attended) and that one item gained us enough attention that we thought, “H ..read more

At least monthly, we discover that Kung Fu books and videos that were previously abundant and available are now out of print. Unfortunately, we rarely hear about these things BEFORE they disappear. Back in the day, Unique Publications was one of the two main American publishers of martial arts books, along with Ohara (Kodansha and Tuttle were the other two, with Kodansha headquartered in Japan). Unique was purchased by another company, APG, then APG was purchased by Beckett, a large publisher but not in the area of martial arts —they are one of the leading producers of trading cards. Their int ..read more

I believe that I first saw Sifu Bow Sim Mark perform at Brendan Lai’s 1984 All Master’s Kung Fu Demonstration in San Francisco. Those were the pre-pre-youtube days and, other than pictures of her in the Kung Fu magazines, I had never seen her movement. I—along with the friends who accompanied me that night to watch one incredible master after another—never forgot the feeling of seeing her on stage doing Fu Style Tai Chi Chuan, and a beautiful sword set: flower in her hair, elegant, powerful, spirited, martial. When Plum started, her books were some of the few early entries in our catalogue but ..read more