concepts:- finger
- metal/water v. fire/wood
- center
- bridge/spanner
- structure
lessons:Sunday was a little sparse. it was just me and Phunsak, along with new student, Jonathan (this is a different Jonathan, now making a total of 4 Jonathans who have or are taking lessons with Sifu: me, Jonathan Shen, Jonathan Wong, and the new Jonathan, Jonathan Sevard). Phunsak had missed the Saturday class with Art to represent our school at World Tai Chi & Qigong Day. as a result, we made this Sunday more of a make-up, going into more detail into Shanxi crocodile.
hsing-yias much as it looks simple, it appears there's quite a number of permutations coming out of crocodile depending on what principles you choose to incorporate into it. of course, i suspect that this is true of any technique in any style. Sifu has said as much in the past, saying that a technique is not just a technique, but can have any number of applications depending on 1) the situation, and 2) the intent. i'm guessing intent means not just what you want to see happen to the opponent, but also what kind of principle you want to emphasize in the movement. this adjusts the physics, or at least changes what physics you are exploiting, within a movement.
we didn't go into breadth of permutations today as more so than just play with some principles that Sifu wanted to focus on. we used crocodile as the framework to experiment, although following the above reasoning i think it was just convenient because it's what we're covering in class at the moment--i suspect we could have done the same experiments with any other technique.
we reviewed the material from Saturday, but went into more discussion regarding the notion of yin and yang in the hands. Sifu tied this into 5-element theory, offering the following pieces of knowledge:
- the index finger and middle finger correspond to fire and wood, and the ring finger and little finger correspond to water and metal
- fire and wood are considered yang elements, and water and metal are considered yin
- yang involves movements up, out, forward, but this can be interpreted as projecting or sending energy, and yin involves movements down, in, away, but this can also be interpreted as absorbing or receiving energy
taking the above, Sifu said you can construct a logic that any intent, or yi, for yin in a technique should involve receiving energy through the ring and little finger, and any intent for yang in a technique should involve sending energy through the index and middle finger.
Sifu said you can see this in crocodile, although it is more apparent in Hebei than Shanxi. with Hebei, both hands have the index and middle fingers slightly more extended than the ring and little fingers. the curled ring and little finger help to sense and receive energy, and the index and middle finger help to send energy. in Shanxi, both hands are open with all fingers extended, but the movement of the hands in crocodile still work with the sensing and receiving still asking for an emphasis on the ring and little fingers and the sending asking for an emphasis on the middle and index fingers.
i didn't ask, but i suspect, that this can also be correlated to ting, hwa, na, and fa. ting and hwa are yin stages, and so call for movements through the ring and little fingers. na and fa are yang stages, and so call for movements through the index and middle fingers. i'm not sure how this ties into water, metal, fire, or wood, since there's yin & yang aspects of each element.
i did ask if this is why with jian shu it's always stressed to reach out through the middle and index finger, with every thrust forward calling for the middle and index fingers of the sword hand pointing into the opponent and the middle and index fingers of the off-hand pointing back. Sifu said yes, and also commented that this is why the defensive moves involve following the direction of the ring and little finger--they may not trace a path conforming to those fingers, but they initiate in their direction.
Sifu had us try variations of this to test how effective or ineffective crocodile can be without visualizing these aspects in the hands. from what i found, it definitely doesn't seem to work as well if you don't sense/receive through the ring and little fingers and send through the index and ring fingers.
Sifu also had us to try scenarios different from crocodile. with one, he had our hands locked in an opponent's grip and we broke out of the lock by projecting power through our thumbs. in essence, the thumbs could also be used to send force.
next, Sifu had us work on integrating the rear hands with the hip. reviewing what we'd done Saturday, he reminded us that with crocodile the power of the rear hand comes from the turning of the hip. the force vector in crocodile has its magnitude coming from 2 components: the power coming from the legs pushing off the ground, and the power coming from the rotation of the hips. the former is linear, the latter is rotational. both, if timed right and structure is maintained, go into the opponent.
the last part is the trick. it's a little bit harder than i thought. Sifu stressed that the rear hand has to be in union with the hip, and the legs have to be pushing as you turn. i had some trouble with this, and couldn't seem to generate the power that Sifu had. for some reason, i couldn't get it to consistently work, while Sifu was able to apply the technique regardless of whatever i did to try and counter it. despite however structurally sound i thought i was, i could not consistently break the opponent down, and despite however structurally sound i thought i was, Sifu could still apply the technique to break me down.
i've noticed this before, and the last time i mentioned this to Sifu he shrugged and just said: "breaking your structure doesn't matter, i can still get the techniques to work." this has always befuddled me.
Phunsak and i ended up spending some time trying to figure this out. i think there's another way to look at this.
what Sifu said worked because it acted to create a structure to convey force through the body. but it's not enough to maintain structure. at least, it's not enough to maintain
your structure. for that matter, it's also not enough to think about the
opponent's structure. it's also necessary to think about the
combined structure of both of you--that is, you have to think about the system composed of you and your opponent and the structure that is composed of both of you.
the combined structure forms the instant you and your opponent make contact. the point of contact becomes the bridge (or to use an engineering term, the spanner) connecting both of you. this creates a single body. whoever controls this single body controls the encounter. whoever doesn't becomes the victim.
i think this is an iteration of the concept "controlling the center." we've talked about this before in terms of combat concepts (reference:
combat concepts)--that in physics, in a system of 2 moving bodies, the system of 2 moving masses has a common center of mass. whoever controls this center of mass controls the center of the system, and can thereby control the physics between the moving masses within it.
the difference here, however, is that we're seeing the idea applied not with respect to 2 moving bodies but with respect to 2 connected bodies. technically there's no difference, and so i take this as a "duuuuuuuuuuuh!" moment. in physics they're both the same. in engineering, however, the bodies must be connected to engage leverage, torque, moment, force, etc.
but i also think this is important because in forming the bridge/spanner you have to be cognizant of the common center of mass. we've learned from Sifu that control of the system's center goes to whichever fighter is able to place their own center closest to it. as true as this is for a system of moving masses, it also applies for a system of connected masses. which means that when you form the bridge/spanner with the opponent, you MUST do so in a way that places your own center closer to the common center of mass--and more importantly, keeps it there as the opponent fights back.
once you take the center, you have to keep the center. if you don't, it doesn't matter how good your own structure is, the opponent can still overwhelm you.
this is hard. because no opponent will let you take the center nor keep it. this means you have to know when to relax and when to stiffen to remove or form the bridge, and to know how to move and position so that you can do both. it also means that you do all this in awareness of where your center is relative to your opponent's center and to the common center made by both of you. and it helps to mess with the opponent so they can't challenge you.
Phunsak said this seemed right, and then said it's the same idea with some other moves he's learned in baji, systema, and aiki-jitsu. actions that don't seem like they should work can. we tried using this physics/engineering approach to the other techniques that Phunsak showed, and he confirmed that it seemed to work better--or at least, make things more consistent.
we stopped there for the day. this was a lot of stuff to think about, and i definitely need some time to get this sorted out. it occurred to me this is a recurrence of the problem i've had before regarding my center (you know, the trick Sifu showed us involving a partner making a fist near your chest and you being able to apply a wrist joint lock on them by simply looking down), and that STILL frustrates me. that also involves controlling the center, and i think it's important, because now i can see how the concept applies in terms of fighting.
ugh. frustration!
