day 251: sorting out some theory

concepts:

• arms
• sounds: i-ya, hon, han, hei
• spine expansion
  

lessons:

• bagua elbow form
• bagua arm form (inso)
• kyudo
  

we're making a transition this week away from the elbow form to the arm form. so things were a little mashed in terms of what we covered.

bagua elbow form

we spent the initial part of class working on the elbow form in mirror image and on a circle. we'd done this last week, but only cursorily towards the end of class. we warmed up with the moving basics, and then as a group worked on trying to sort out the mirror image and the circle versions. we had some initial problems on the circle with starting and finishing in the proper directions, and weren't able to sort things out until Phunsak arrived and pointed out that we hadn't been doing any walking of the circle, which helps adjust the orientation so that you start and finish facing the same way.

bagua arm form

after awhile, Sifu had us stop on the elbow form and said it was time we started working on the arm form. he told us that the arm form works a different engagement range (slightly farther than the elbow techniques), and acts to project power (to a greater degree than the other forms). but because it projects power through the fingers and palms, it requires conditioning work on the hands.

Sifu had us spend the rest of the class working on some basic drills, going on a line. there were a number of different ones, all of which to me seemed eerily similar to movements in chen tai chi and chang quan. i suspect that this may be because the arm form was derived from techniques in those styles and then modified to adapt bagua principles. although, this may not mean that the applications are the same--but we'll find that out soon enough.

Sifu also discussed some sounds. they don't necessarily relate to bagua, but he said that they are often done while doing the arm basics. he introduced the following sounds:

• i-ya: (pronounced like "ee-ya") this originates from the mouth and throat area
• hon: (pronounced like "hoon") this comes from the upper back area, just below the base of the neck
• han: (pronounced like "ha") this comes from the diaphragm
• hei: (pronounced like "hey") this originates in the kidneys
  

the purpose of these sounds is to help in power generation. Sifu said you're supposed to do them to generate explosive power, where you breathe-in to have a slow gradual build-up, and then make these sounds to make a sharp breath-out. the origin point of these sounds relate to some of the 5-element theory tied to the mother palms (Sifu used as examples dragon and big bird, which are yin and yang wood, respectively, and are associated with the lungs, and so should be made with "hon").

i suspect there's more sounds. i vaguely recall that there are 5 sounds associated with TCMA, but i'm not sure of this. if true, it means that there's 1 other sound to learn. but we'll see.

kyudo

i stayed for the full kyudo class this evening, since i had no bike ride scheduled for Sunday. we had a lower turnout this evening (approximately 10 people), although we had some late arrivals who had come from the UC Irvine dojo. as small as the class size was, it turned out that we were short of yumi (bows), and so Sensei decided to make the entire class an open shoot to allow more continuous opportunities to practice.

this was good for me, as it gave me a chance to catch up on the practice that i missed last weekend. Sensei had me work on expansion this time, except that the expansion was not in terms of expanding outwards from the chest but upwards along the spine. Sensei noted that this seems to bring a natural opening of the torso that allows a greater pull without tension in the back, chest, or core. in addition, it makes it easier to pull in the feet when exiting ashibumi after release of the arrow.

i also took some time to place an order for kyudo gear tonight as well. originally i had planned on a solo order from Japan, but it turns out that Yachiyo (Sensei's wife) was arranging a group order from the same company, so i decided to just merge my order in with everyone else's to help save on shipping and handling. i ordered a yumi (i figure it's time to have my own bow), along with additional equipment. it will take a little time to arrive, but i expect that things will be shipped in time for Christmas (yay!).