Fists Like a Comet, Eyes Like Lightning

If you always put a limit on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

 ~Bruce Lee

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think African Americans and Southeast Asians?

Chinese takeout?

Vietnam?

Korean grocers?

Expensive weaves?

By the time you read this, I will be getting my butt handed to me at my Shaolin Kung Fu class. My first introduction to Kung Fu was through a coworker several years ago. He was longtime student of Wing Chun, an offshoot of Shaolin Kung Fu that is mired in mystery and myth.

My attraction to Wing Chun stemmed from the “official story” of a woman using a unique style of martial arts taught to her by a Buddhist nun to defeat a local warlord who wanted to marry her, and I enrolled in a class.

That lasted all of 3 weeks.

As much as I was interested, I just couldn’t hang.

Ip Man and Bruce Lee introduced US audiences to the form, but the latter would later reject all systematic forms of martial arts in favor of what would eventually be called Jeet Kune Do.

I’ve wanted to return to Kung Fu for years, but my reluctance to schlep to Manhattan or Queens to classes and 101 excuses (Excuse #1: I can’t do a pushup) kept it on the backburner.

And then I saw an ad on a fence at the corner of Gates and Bedford advertising classes, right here in Bed-Stuy.

I sat in on a class and knew instantly how I’d be spending my weekday evenings this summer. Master Mesan Williams has been teaching Martial Arts throughout NYC since 2004.

His weekly classes encourage a come-as-you-are approach to the concepts of Shaolin Kung Fu and his classes are a designed to provide the student with an holistic overview of the tradition. He also offers Tai Chi at the Bed-Stuy Y.

Martial arts were an integral part of black activism during the 60s and 70s, introduced through film and returning black G.I.s. It offered a place of refuge for black urban youth looking to escape the violence and racism of the time. Kung Fu’s approach to unarmed combat, meditation, and fostering one’s connection to community provided young black men with a new vision of themselves for themselves and within their community.

I consider myself more self-aware than most thanks to my yoga practice, but I believe in seeking out new challenges and experiences.

I still can't do a full pushup, and I have to do 20 of them in order to leave the class, but I figure as long as they don't have to scrape me off the floor each time, I'm going to stick it out.

I invite you to come and sit in on a class to check it out for yourself.

Master Williams’ classes are held Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7pm to 8:30 pm and on Saturday afternoons from 2pm to 3:30pm. Children’s classes are also available.

For more information, contact Master Williams at:

Zen Life Studios
Ultimate Partee Palace
704 Decatur St (at Thomas Boyland)
347-772-7015 or 917.805.6547