day 87: 2-person palm change 8, dim mak, chin na, and announcements

concepts:

• yin-yang
• pressure points
• joint locks
  

forms:

• 2-person palm change 8, A v B
• dim mak
• chin na
  

i almost didn't make it to class this morning. i'm in the peak of Ironman training, and this past week was a heavy week. i strained a lower back muscle on the Monday, but kept with things to hit the Friday climax of a 3-hr run on sore legs and tired body (intentionally...this is part of the training). so i wasn't really feeling my best.

waking up this morning was the last thing i wanted to do. i didn't get out of bed until 8:30, which is very late, and only got to Casuda Canyon Park a few minutes early, feeling less than ready. but you figure days like this every once in a while is good for you (it builds character), so i went ahead and sucked it up.

John Eagles showed up early as well, just in time to greet a returning student (JJ ???). the 3 of us went through bagua qi-gong level 1, and then warmed up with bagua mother palm. John and i reasoned that we hadn't done either in a while, and we figured it would be good to review and make sure it was still in our memory.

by the time we finished, the rest of the class had arrived. Sifu gathered the bagua and baji students together to make a number of announcements:

1. Orlando tournament: apparently the Baltimore tournament lost the sponsorship of the American Kung Fu Federation (sic?), which instead is now sponsoring a tournament in Orlando. Sifu said he wanted to try and get a group together to go to this, and said he'd have Phunsak send out details later.
2. Las Vegas tournament: while on the topic, Sifu also reminded us of the tournament in Las Vegas, being run by Tony Yang, a Wutan brother of Sifu's currently in Ohio. Sifu said he'd also like to get a group to go to this, and said he'd have Phunsak also include details about this.
3. TCM seminar: Sifu also noted that he'd been having some thoughts over the break, and decided it would be good to have a seminar on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) related to pressure points and joints. he said the seminar would approach things from 2 sides: from destruction (in a combat setting) and reconstruction (in a healing setting). Sifu said it was important to know both, since you can't really do one without the other. he is still debating when to hold this, and how to structure it, but currently is considering 3 different sessions sometime in February or March.
   

palm change 8, 2-person A v B

finishing the announcements, Sifu had us break off into groups, and said we needed to finish up 64 palms, since he wanted us to start on the bagua fist form. before he went to start the baji students with their lesson plan, he instructed Phunsak to have us finish the 2-person form for palm change 8, which was the last remaining unfinished part of 64 palms.

as a refresher, Phunsak led us through several iterations of side B, and then several iterations of side A. he then had us pair up to work through the 2-person form, with A versus B.

pretty much like all the other 2-person forms, this took a little time to work through. John and i had worked on trying to figure this out for ourselves sometime back in December, but had a number of unresolved questions that we had not been sure on. Phunsak had memories of 2 different versions from the previous times he'd seen the curriculum, and decided to have us learn 1 of them.

we did a number of repetitions for both left and right sides, and then switched off roles, with the person who was side A then playing side B. after awhile, we then switched partners, and did more iterations.

Sifu returned, and proceeded to go around and check our forms. he stopped us to point out that there was a chin na application at the end of the 2-person form that we were glossing over or missing completely. he noted this was important, because it showed not only how to create a wrist lock, but also how to escape it. he demonstrated both sides of this, and then had us included this in our repetitions through the form.

you can see the 2-person form for palm change 8 here:
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN7CRik8Y6Y


dim mak & chin na

at this point, Sifu said he wanted to go a little bit further on the topic of joint locks, as well as pressure points. he called the baji students over, and addressed as a group again.

he said that it was time we started discussing these aspects of TCMA a little bit more. so far, we've covered punches, kicks, and throws. but he also wanted to see us learn about joint locks and pressure points. both affect a person's nervous and circulatory systems, and hence can disrupt (or correct) a person's energy and health.

he noted that chin na is usually perceived as dealing with joint locks, but that it also covers pressure points--which in the West is labeled as dim mak, and is frequently associated with discussions of meridians, chi flow, and acupuncture. he said that the knowledge in TCMA about joint locks and pressure points actually derive from TCM, and so learning about them requires education in TCM. as a result, the process of learning how to use joints and pressure points to attack also requires learning how to use them to heal.

he gave an anecdote of a classmate who learned about pressure points in the course of martial arts training, but who in the course of his military conscription found himself stranded on an island with his unit in the middle of a hurricane. one of the soldiers apparently had a case of appendicitis, but there was no doctor and the typhoon showed no signs of abating. the classmate was the only person in the unit with anything approaching medical training. ultimately, even though he had no formal medical training, the classmate used his knowledge of pressure points to work the nervous system of the soldier to perform emergency surgery.

Sifu said this is why he wanted to give a seminar on this, since he felt it was an integral part of any person's martial arts training in kung fu.

he didn't go into an in-depth class on this for this class. however, for now, he did go at length about several pressure points about the wrists, arms, elbows, and shoulders, particularly in relation to the joints. he showed us their location, and how they could be exploited against someone trying to grab you.

Sifu cautioned that joints and pressure points are not universal in their vulnerability. he noted that some joint and pressure points will vary in sensitivity in relation to their positioning, and that what may work for a person in 1 position will not work in another position. this means that you have to constantly adjust your actions on joints and pressure points depending on what the attacker is doing. he said that this is why it's important to have a deeper understanding of them, so that we know how to adjust and utilize different joint locks and pressure point strikes relative to the opponent's adjustments to escape them.

after some time on this, Sifu called class to a close. with a reminder about tomorrow's Sunday class, we ended class for the day and went to the usual post-class lunch.