day 7: review and breathing

concepts:

• yin and yang
• breathing

today was a short day. i arrived late to class because of a standardized exam i had to take. i arrived at about the half-way point of class.

it appeared that Sifu Jason was having everyone review the first 4 palm changes. Art indicated as much, telling me after i had warmed up that it appeared to him that Sifu wanted to consolidate everyone's performance of the forms. i did a couple of run-throughs of each palm chnage, and then gathered with everyone else during a break.

yin and yang

Sifu Jason, who had been spending time with his baji students, came back after a few minutes. he had everyone group around him, and then started talking about breathing, and the breathing techniques involved with each of the 4 palm change forms we'd learned to date. he emphasized the concept of yin and yang in the forms, particularly in synchronizing it with the movements and the breathing involved, as well as in terms of describing the orientation of the body's energy.

according to what Jason said, yang corresponds to movements up or rotations outwards, and yin corresponds to movements down or rotations inwards. in terms of energy, this means movements upwards or outwards are viewed as "yang energy" and movements downwards and inwards as "yin energy." so if a body is still, there is zero energy (or yin equal to yang). any shift in legs rotating the body left means there is a net amount of energy rotating the body left, likewise for a rotation to the right. if the body rises, this means a net amount of energy leading upwards, likewise a movement downwards.

Sifu Jason went on to state that said these can be applied to each body part in a form, not just the entire body, with the sum of yin-yang states creating a net amount of yin or yang energy leading in a particular direction. this results in a constant flux of yin-yang energies in a moving body, with a net sum that is non-zero so long as the body is in motion and reaching zero when the body is stationary. this can be understood following an entire form from beginning to end; take, for example, the 1st palm change going left (NOTE: "outwards" meaning leading and "inwards" means following):

1. initial stance facing left in Leaning Against a Horse and Asking for Directions: stationary state = zero energy
2. starting to rotate left into Pushing Moon Out the Door: left arm and left leg are rotating outwards = yang energy, right arm and right leg are rotating inwards = yin energy, torso is descending = yin energy, net sum of energy = yang rotating left and yin going down
3. pushing hands left, finishing Pushing Moon Out the Door: left arm pushing/rotating outwards = yang energy, right arm pushing/rotating forwards = yin energy, torso rising = yang energy, net sum of energy = yang, going out and left, and yang rising
4. rotate left into Leaf Covers Summer Flower: arms cross = both in yang energy, opposing directions, left leg rotating outwards = yang energy, right leg rotating inwards = yin energy, torso lowering = yin energy, net sum of energy = yang going left and yin descending
5. pause in Leaf Covers Summer Flower: stationary state, but here yin energy = yang energy
6. starting to rotate right into Leaning Against a Horse and Asking for Directions: right arm rotating out and rising = yang energy rotating right and up, left arm rotating inwards = yin energy right, torso lowering = yin energy, net sum of energy = yang going right and yin descending
7. finishing facing right in Leaning Against a Horse and Asking for Directions: right arm lowering and extending forward = yin energy descending and yang energy going forward, left arm motionless = zero energy, torso rising = yang energy, net sum of energy = yang forward and yang rising
8. finishing stance facing right in Leaning Against a Horse and Asking for Directions: stationary state = zero energy

(yes, i know, the names of the techniques...see my commentary on poetic titles and kung fu)

NOTE: in steps 6 and 7, the right arm is rising as the torso is falling and falling as the torso is rising. Sifu Jason didn't say it, but i think is an expression of the concept of "fire rising and water falling," with the right hand being "fire rising" and the torso being "water falling." "fire rising" is supposed to equal "water falling" and so result in the 2 cancelling each other out. i wonder if this means the net sum of yin-yang energies in the right arm and torso is supposed to sum to zero.

breathing

after some time discussing and answering questions about yin-yang concepts in the forms, Sifu Jason then expanded the lesson by stating that the synchronization of yin-yang energy in the palm changes is also meant to tie into breathing. from what i could tell, breathing in is a yin state and breathing out is a yang one. i inferred that breathing is tied to the net sum of yin-yang energy.

so going back to the 1st palm change sequence above, this means that in step 2, where the net sum of yin-yang is yin (in terms of the torso falling), the practitioner is breathing in, and in step 3, where the net sum of yin-yang is yang (in terms of the torso rising), the practitioner is breathing out. similarly, in step 6, the net sum is yin (at least in terms of torso falling), the practitioner is breathing in, and in step 7, the net sum is yang (at least in terms of torso rising), the practitioner is breathing out.

breathing is important, since it can have major impact on the expulsion of power. this a concept that is recognized in Western medicine, and is something that is readily accepted and applied in athletics, so i pretty take this as a given. in weightlifting, proper technique is taught with any eccentric (pushing) muscle movement tied to exhale and concentric (pulling) muscle movement tied to inhale. sprinters in 100m and 200m are taught to treat their races as one long exhale. for sports and medicine, exhaling is already known to increase the amount of power a body can transmit.

of course, i'm a little puzzled as to just how yin-yang breathing is matched to yin-yang movement. for example, in the parts of the 1st palm change above, the net sum is the net of the rising and falling of the torso--not the net sum rotating left or right, which seems to be on a different schedule (step 2 has a net sum of yang energy rotating left, but net sum of yin energy in the torso going down). in order for the synchronization of breathing, energy, and body movement to work, it has to be related to whether the torso is rising (yang, so breathing out) or falling (yin, so breathing in).

complicating this is that Sifu Jason said that whether one breathes in or out depends on the intended action. he mentioned this in reference to combat applications of the forms, where each movement can be varied and changed to accomplish different tactical objectives. Jason said that whether one breathes in or out has to match the function of a particular movement.

take the initial movement of the 4th palm change. this was the movement that came to my mind when he talked about the connection between breathing and intent. in this particular movement, the practitioner reaches out with one hand and arches their back (this is the "Bob's Big Boy" pose that Jason joked about in a previous post). in combat, the arching of the back and reaching out is supposed to drive the practitioner off the line of the opponent's hand attack and allow the practitioner to reach over the opponent's reaching arm to the opponent's head.

taking my question on this, Jason said that if the practitioner reaches out with the intent to block, then this is a state of yin energy and so the practitioner should be breathing in. in contrast, Jason said that if the practitioner is reaching out with intent to strike, then this is a state of yang energy and so the energy should be breathing out.

i said that this seems to make the initial movement of the 4th palm change significantly more complicated, since the subsequent movement--a twist into dragon stance but with the non-reaching hand pushing back and down against the opponent's thigh/knee area to push him or her off-center--involves breathing out. this would mean that the practitioner is having to increase the steps in their breathing going from the initial reach-out to the immediate turn. Sifu Jason said this is correct, and that is why breathing is such a topic deserving of specific attention--and also practice.

i am, however, still puzzled as to just how breathing is tied to yin-yang. as i mentioned above, i'm under the impression that breathing in is a yin state and breathing out is a yang state, and that anytime the torso is descending is yin (and so means breathing in) and that anytime it's rising is yang (and so means breathing out). this seems to make sense.

but it's completely wrong in dealing with the 4th palm change's turn from the initial reach-out to the downward-pushing dragon stance. Sifu Jason said the twist and push-down is supposed to occur with the practitioner breathing out. but this means breathing out (yang) when the torso is falling (yin), which contradicts my understanding.

the only way i can make sense of it is that the intent of the practitioner is focused on a movement involving yang energy (pushing the opponent), and so determines that the practitioner is breathing out. this would correspond to Sifu Jason's comments on the initial reach-out's connection between breathing in or out and the practitioner's intent during the reach to either block or strike.

if this is really the synchronization that is supposed to occur, this means that the timing of breathing in (yin) or out (yang) is NOT connected to the net sum of the yin-yang energies in the body as it is moving, but rather tied to the intent of the practitioner to achieve a specific yin or yang state as he or she drives the body. this means that the practitioner can decide to pursue a yang objective (such as striking or pushing or throwing) that engages the body to go through a flux of yin-yang states (such as turning, rising, or falling), but with the objective--or the intent--determining whether the practitioner will ultimately breathe in or out.

this is still somewhat of a puzzle. i suspect (as with so many things so far) i'm going to have to discuss things further with Sifu Jason and the class.

Art noted as an aside to me that Jason hadn't taught this aspect of 64 palms the previous times he'd gone through it. he said he found it interesting that Sifu Jason was taking time to focus on breathing. he suspects that Jason is trying to get everyone to consolidate these 4 palm changes and get them down before moving on.

the class ended rather quietly after that. Jason called the class to an end, and everybody went their various ways.