day 47: for couples only: palm change 5 and basic free-form 2-person drill

concepts:

• 2 hands, 2 feet
• contact
• movement

forms:

• palm change 5
• 2-person drill, free-form

class, both for bagua and baji classes, was a little lower in number, as most of the students going to the lei tai tournament were resting up before leaving for Baltimore next weekend.

palm change 5

Sifu instructed the bagua class to review the 2-man A versus B form for palm change 5, and he then went to start the baji lesson plan. since Phunsak was absent, both John Eagles and Kieun led.

we did a brief review of each side individually in a line, and then did the A v B set. a few people, who had missed segments of the A v B set in past weeks, were able to use this time to pick up the whole drill. i noticed that overall, we seemed to be doing this with greater fluidity than before, with the set being much less awkward in weeks past--this is a positive, and i suspect it's largely a result of everyone having extra time to learn and practice both sides of palm change 5.

2-person drill, free-form, moving

following this, Sifu returned and asked us to begin working with the moving free-form 2-person drill.

we started to warm-up with the 2-person hand drills, and Sifu waited to check on our form and correct any mistakes we made. after a few minutes, however, he stopped the drills and said we should use the remainder of class to begin learning the moving free-form 2-person drill.

Sifu used Kieun and John Eagles for demonstration, using each as a partner to show how the drills was supposed to work--and how it can change depending on the partner.

this is an extension of the free-form 2-person drill from the past 2 weeks. as a result, it has some similarities, but also differences. i'll begin with the differences:

1. what we've been doing has been along a line, with partners moving backwards and forwards along an imaginary line (such that the defender stepped forward to practice entry, and the opponent stepped backwards to practice escape). in contrast, the free-form moving 2-person drill is exactly that: free-form. it does not follow a line, but instead both partners are free to move in any direction (laterally, forward, backward, circular, angle, etc.) at any time.
2. the moving line 2-person drill has defined roles, with 1 partner being the defender and the other partner being the opponent, and the 2 exchanging roles only when both arrive at the end of the line. the free-form moving 2-person drill has no such rigidity in roles. each partner is free to assume roles of offense or defense at any time.
3. the moving line 2-person drill moves only at the speed that the defender can step into entry and the opponent can step away to escape. in comparison, the free-form moving 2-person drill has not speed setting, and can go as fast or as slow as the partners allow, and can vary in speed according to whatever selection of actions by each partner.
4. the moving line 2-person drill ends (i.e., the partners switch roles) when the partners reach the end of the line. in contrast, the free-form moving 2-person drill does not end, and just keeps going.
   

in essence, the moving free-form 2-person drill adds another order of magnitude in complexity and fluidity to the moving line 2-person drill.

in terms of similarities, i can see that thee 2 drills share some common objectives:

• acclimating students to the combat style of bagua, which involves very close contact between the practitioner and the opponent--close enough to the point that knees, hips, waist, torso, and shoulders are constantly in contact.
• acclimating students to the more chaotic, unstructured conditions of fighting
• helping students learn to apply techniques previously learned with alacrity and effectiveness
• helping students learn to coordinate their actions and improve their sensory awareness of their own movements
• helping students gain sensitivity to their opponent's movements and to their own responses to their opponent's movements, so that they learn greater sensory awareness of their surroundings

from what i can tell, the free-form moving 2-person drill is another step up from the free-form line 2-person drill in terms of training and development of skills towards becoming prepared for actual fighting.

we ended up working in pairs, occasionally stopping to switch partners and resume again.

a number of things i noticed:

• the free-form moving 2-person drill does not stop. even if you make a mistake, you must continue. this apparently is supposed to adjust your mindset that in a fight, you don't stop, and that you have to be able to continue fighting after making a mistake
• the free-form moving 2-person drill involves constant close contact. as a result, it forces you to acclimate to the bagua philosophy and requirement of close contact with an opponent
• the free-form moving 2-person drill is about sensitivity. you have to be able to sense what your opponent is doing in order to react to them
• the free-form moving 2-person drill is about reflexes. you have to be able to recognize what the opponent is doing, and then instantly respond with a counter-technique
• the free-form moving 2-person drill is about softness and redirection. attempting direct confrontation of force against force only results in the drill turning into a wrestling match--the opposite of bagua philosophy. in order to be done well (as in effectively), the drill requires partners maintain softness and respond to their opponent's force by redirection of such force , and then respond with a disguised counter of their own force. if the opponent applies force (e.g., a punch, a joint lock, a throw), you are supposed to go with the force, never against it.
• the free-form moving 2-person drill is a workout. because it can go on forever, you can continue as long as you are physically or mentally able. as a result, it is a test of physical ability and conditioning, as well as your mental ability and concentration.
• the free-form moving 2-person drill is hard. you have to be aware of your opponent's position, your position relative to the opponent, your opponent's action, and your response to the opponent. this involves a lot of movement and a lot of focus, drawing upon your body's energy and your mind's attention. i found this to be a real workout...i'd like to do it more.
  

i ended up working with Eric, John Eagles, and then Kieun for a few times. i struggled at first, but Sifu advised me to just focus on the techniques i know, and to ignore (i.e., continue) after mistakes. once i did this, i began to get a better understanding of the purpose of the drill, and once i did that it started to become a little bit easier to do...although, i think i'm going to need a lot more practice to get really comfortable with it.

Sifu also noted that today we were just concentrating on learning the drill, and so we weren't doing the full drill. Kieun said the full drill actually involves application of 3 things:

• throws
• locks
• strikes
  

Sifu said we'd get to these at a later date, but that for today we should just focus on getting adjusted to the drill and getting comfortable with the basics. according to Kieun, that meant that today all we were really doing was learning:

• maintaining contact with the opponent
• movement in response to the opponent
• learning to continue even after making a mistake
• constantly going with the opponent's force, never against it
• opening & entering gates into the opponent
• closing & escaping gates from the opponent
  

i once read that bagua is comparable to guerrilla warfare, in that it never involves direct frontal assault, hit-and-run tactics, and escape-and-evasion strategies. based on the observations i saw in the free-form moving 2-person drill, i can see how such comparisons came about. the drill really helps me see just how bagua is supposed to be applied.

although, i should point out, Sifu emphasized at the end of class that we should remember that there is no set style of fighting in bagua (or in any other martial art). he said that while each martial art style has its own "flavor" and that there are very specific principles and very clearly defined "right" ways to perform techniques, we all should recognize that a single style is never the same between differing people. he made it a point to note this. in particular, he said this is why we should always remember that no one should every completely copy the fighting style of another person--including him.

he said the reason is that different body types call for different fighting styles, and that what is effective for one person is not always as effective for another person. he said that each of us has to develop our own method of fighting, with the criteria that it be those things that work for us. he repeated that class will teach us the "right" way to perform techniques, the principles in applying the techniques, and the philosophy guiding the style encompassing the techniques, but that the form of the expression of the techniques (i.e., the way we apply them) is something that is unique to each of us...and this is something we have to discover on our own.

and based on what we've learned and discussed the past few months, such discovery is done by practical application--that is, the only real way to learn how to fight is to fight, and the only real way to learn how to apply a martial art effectively (key word: effectively) is to apply a martial art in a fight. which is where the free-form moving 2-person drill and sparring comes in...they are as close as you can get to a real fight and still be safe. which is why they are so important.

with that, Sifu called class to a close. he informed me that lei tai practice was cancelled for tomorrow (Sunday), since everyone going to the lei tai tournament in Baltimore said they needed time to heal up before the event. he also announced that the jian shu class had ended, and that starting this August 4 (the 1st weekend after the return from Baltimore), class would return to the normal start time of 8am.