day 20: circle walking - 3rd palm change (the dervish lives!)

concepts:

• combat applications (yellow bird swoops down for food, hawk chasing sparrow, hawk pierces sky, big serpent coils its body)

forms:

• 3rd palm change
• xiao kai men

the class started with a very small crowd today. most of the baji students were not present this time, and there were only 3 bagua students (me, Laura, and Laura) when Sifu showed up. apparently there was a traffic jam on the freeway which had held up the jian shu students, and they were only make it after abotu 15-20 minutes of class.

Sifu worked with us individually at the start of class, reviewing the 1st 3 palm changes. this was useful, as i found out that i'd been doing the 2nd palm change wrong (particularly pushing moon out the door, which actually involves an upraised arm, as opposed to a horizontal one).

3rd palm change

after a good number of students had managed to make it, Sifu sent everyone out to find individual circles to begin performance of the 3rd palm change in a circle. but he must have seen some things that bothered him, because after a few iterations, he asked everyone to stop and join him by the grass.

he said that we needed to review some of the combat applications of the palm change. he took time to break down the palm change into individual techniques, and demonstrated (using Phunsak and Feng individually as simulated assailants) how each technique was to be applied.

this was important for me, since i had been wondering about the combat applications of the 3rd palm change for quite some time. i don't recall that we had ever covered it in-depth (at least, to the same degree as the other palm changes). to me, i had only seen it as a set of actions akin to a whirling dervish (and i mean that literally: whirling dervishes are a Sufi Muslim sect who believe that whirling is a way of becoming closer to God. you can reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mevlevi).

following Sifu's demonstration and descriptions, it turns out that there are clear and concrete purposes for each technique:

1. the initial stance (flying horse soars in the sky) is a parry of an upper strike from the opponent.
2. the 2nd technique (yellow bird swoops down for food) serves as another type of parry against an upward strike, or can act as a distracting motion.
3. the 3rd technique (purple swallow skims the water), as mentioned in previous posts, is a reach down to an opponent's legs to strike a pressure point or lead to a throw.
4. the 4th technique (hawk pierces through the sky), isn't actually about piercing up in the sky, but about directing movement downward by sinking the body, so that the upraised hand is actually a guarding or holding hand against an opponent and the practitioner's sinking of the body and opposing hand is meant to push the opponent off-balance.
5. the 5th technique (big serpent coils its body)--the whirling dervish part--is a means of moving outside the opponent's line of attack and to their rear, while also reaching to the opponent's throat, head, or torso to throw them onto their back.
6. the 6th technique (holding a basket with crossed hands) is very similar to leaf covers summer flower, except that it involves both palms facing upwards. this is meant as a finishing movement to big serpent coils its body, in that it actually initiates and carries out throwing the opponent backwards (the practitioner's upper palm is supposed to be the one that reached for the opponent's head, throat, or torso, and the lower palm is supposed to have been in the opponent's lower back).
7. the 7th technique (single goose leaves the flock) is the same as the other palm changes, with the goal of using the rising hand to parry an assailant's strike and then go into a downward strike against the assailant's arm or body.

this was a revelation. it was also very enlightening, particularly in terms of getting a much better understanding of what the 3rd palm change is supposed to do (compare to my post day 4: 3rd palm change).

after some time going through the 3rd palm change, Sifu had us line up to practice the combat applications for several of the techniques: yellow bird swoops down for food, purple swallow skims the water, hawk pierces through the sky, and big serpent coils its body. Sifu then left us to go work with the baji students.

we eventually found that it was taking too long to go through the entire line, and Art, Lee, and Eric made a mutual decision to have everyone work in pairs so that we could get more repetitions of the techniques. while the line gave each student the opportunity to work against different body types, Phunsak agreed with the decision to go in pairs, but said that we should change partners every so often to maintain some opportunity to work against a variety of partners.

later on, Sifu returned to watch us practice. he made a number of comments about each technique:

1) yellow bird swoops down for food

for this, Sifu showed us that the technique is not actually a wave of the hand in the air, but more a focused action designed for a specific goal of either redirecting an assailant's strike or distracting their attention. the technique is not meant to be a slap or a block. rather, it's supposed to involve initiation of contact against the opponent's arm by the practitioner's forearm, which then maintains contact while the practitioner moves the opponent's arm in a desired direction--Sifu demonstrated how to move it aside, down, or up.

the point is to open up the assailant's gates, whether in their lower body (knee, hips, etc.) or their upper body (torso, shoulder, head, etc.).

Sifu had us work in the line practice, so that we could see how the technique works against opponents with different body types. from what i could tell, it seems to favor smaller defenders over larger attackers, since the physics makes it much easier for a smaller person to get under and redirect an oncoming strike. i found that it was somewhat harder to apply the technique against a smaller attacker, largely because it was still very easy for the smaller person to get under the forearm pressure. in order for this technique to be applied effectively, it's going to require a mindful awareness of stance height and physical movement of both parties, with the practitioner adjusting each according to the body type of the attacker.

2) purple swallow skims the water

here, we practiced reaching for the knee. we did not actually follow through to a strike or a throw. Jason wanted us to simply practice on entering the opponent's lower gates and grabbing either one of our partner's knee, with our leading leg being placed behind the partner's legs and the leading arm (the purple swallow) going down in front of the partner's legs.

from there, he said we had a number of options, including striking a pressure point, pushing the knee back (to cause the assailant to fall backwards), pushing the knee outwards (to cause the assailant to fall sideways onto their back), or reaching behind the far knee (the one away from us) and going into a fireman's carry to lift the opponent.

Sifu also reminded us that sometimes, if we can't reach the knee, we can push on the leading side of the opponent's hip down and towards their backside, which can also serve to push them backwards.

3) hawk pierces through the sky

with this technique the practitioner is supposed to place a leading leg behind the leading leg of the opponent, make contact with the leading shoulder, then sink with the hand and arm of the leading shoulder moving down with the body while the rear hand and arm rises. this will cause the elbow of the leading arm to push backwards into the assailant, pushing them off-balance over the practitioner's leg and onto their backside.

from what i could tell, this is supposed to be done with the practitioner placing slightly greater weight on the leading leg, which is different from what i had been doing--placing equal weight on both legs. Art pointed this out to me, noting that the technique is more effective if i had my weight going into the sinking arm, which seems to help throw the sinking weight of the torso into the opponent, thereby increasing the force pushing them off-balance.

Sifu again had us practice applying this, by first beginning with use of our leading forearm to redirect and control an assailant's reaching arm out of line (similar to yellow bird swoops down for food), then using the forward leg as a pivot to step forward and bring the rear leg to a leading position situated behind the knee of the assailant's leading leg (e.g., if you lead with your right, the right forearm redirects the strike, and then you pivot on the right foot, bringing your left leg forward until its behind the knee of the opponent, resulting in your sinking hand being your left hand and your left shoulder being in contact with the opponent's torso).

from there, we have many options, of which Sifu pointed out a few:

• sink and push the opponent off-balance
• reach for the knee and engage any one of the choices given for purple swallow skims the water
• use your shoulder to bump the opponent
• change direction and rise, raising the sinking hand to lift the opponent's arm and produce an opening to the torso to push with other hand (basically, the same move from the 5th palm change known as fairy liu-hai teases the toad)
  
• switch the hands into leaf covers summer flower and initiate any of the choices connected with that technique
• raise the sinking hand and move it in a circular motion so that it moves backwards into the opponent's face and forward arm, and simultaneously kick the opponent's leading foot forward, to result in the opponent losing balance and falling backwards (i suspect this is actually a shui jiao move)

i recall Sifu using these choices repeatedly in sparring demonstrations for the class--enough that i have come to believe it (hawk pierces through the sky) be one of his favorite moves (comparable to his observation that one of Gong Bao Tien's favorite moves was white ape presents the fruit). i can see why: while superficially simple, it is very deceptive in that it actually provides a lot of options to counteract an opponent, and it is the kind of technique that seems to match well with Sifu's body type and shui jiao background.

this reminded me of a comment he has made on several different occasions about learning bagua--while it is important to learn all the techniques to truly learn a martial arts style, ultimately we have to adopt and utilize those techniques that are best suited for our bodies and abilities.

4) big serpent coils its body

for me, this turned out be the most difficult technique to practice. i worked with Art, and found a significant amount of difficulty in performing this successfully.

done right, a practitioner begins by stepping to avoid an assailant's strike and then spins to the assailant's rear. from there, the practitioner is supposed to reach behind them in the direction of the spin and then snake their reaching arm in front of the assailant's torso, either to grab the body or reach up to the neck and head. at the same time, the practitioner's off arm is supposed to make contact with the opponent's lower back and push forward. essentially, the off hand acts to push the opponent's hips forward while the reaching hand pushes the opponent's throat or head up and back, sending the opponent off-balance and making them vulnerable to being thrown.

from there, the practitioner should then be able to throw the assailant onto their back by finishing the technique with a transition into holding a basket with both hands, with the practitioner twisting their own torso and bringing the upper reaching hand--and the assailant--in the direction of the twist so that the assailant falls backwards. i suspect, but did not confirm, that the transition is to holding a basket with both hands rather than leaf covers summer flower, because the act of twisting the palm of the reaching hand to face upwards into holding a basket with both hands serves to further tip the opponent's head back and up, increasing their loss of balance.

i worked on this with Art and really struggled to get this right. Art kept revealing my mistakes by counter-acting my spin and pushing me backwards. after awhile (and bemused looks on his part), he pointed out 2 things to me that seemed to resolve my difficulty:

• to initiate the technique, it is crucial to step outside the line of the opponent, and NOT step across it. stepping across the line only exposes you to the opponent. stepping outside the line (i.e., stepping towards their backside, or "dragon gate"), in contrast, 1) closes off their attack to you, 2) enables you to direct their strike away (i.e., towards their inside, or "tiger gate"), further exposing their backside to you, and 3) positions you to spin.
• in snaking the reaching arm, it is crucial to do so in a way which 1) lifts the opponent's torso, and 2) angles the opponent's body back. this is what sets the opponent off-balance and makes it much easier to throw them onto their back. Art showed me that in the past Sifu demonstrated this on him by reaching for Art's throat--the Adam's apple, to be specific--and lifting it up and back so that it tipped Art's head in the direction of the throw. this act served to force Art to do exactly what was required by the technique: lift the torso and angle it back off-balance.

Sifu confirmed this, stopping practice with Lee in the position of an assailant and drawing a line extending from Lee's leading leg forward. this, Sifu said, represented the imaginary line upon which we were supposed to confine out footwork to one side--the opponent's backside.

in addition, Sifu also added to Art's observations by pointing out that it was important to observe footwork in the spin, particularly at the following points:

• at the start of the spin, when the practitioner makes the initial step to begin, the leading foot should be in bai-bu (e.g., if you are leading with your right, your first step is with the right foot to the opponent's dragon gate, and it should land in bai-bu pointing to the opponent's tiger gate). this gives more force to the practitioner's simultaneous hand moves to knock the opponent's strike away toward the tiger gate.
• at the end of the move, in the transition into holding a basket with both hands, the leg that provided the direction of the throw should be in bai-bu (e.g., if your left leg is forward, with the right arm being the reaching arm and left hand being the lower hand, then the throw is going to be over your left leg, and it therefore needs to be in bai-bu). having the leg be in bai-bu seems to greatly improve the apparent easiness of the throw.

with these points in mind, i started to feel much more comfortable with this technique. enough so that it felt much more forceful and much stronger. it's not really a spin, but a controlled use of rotational momentum and torque forces with changing directions to produce a decisive outcome. to me, this turned the palm change from being reminiscent of a whirling dervish to being more reminiscent of the Tasmanian devil (you know, the whirling, destructive, all-consuming nemesis to Bugs Bunny in the Warner Brothers cartoons).

in general, i suspect that all these techniques--as are a lot of techniques--are interchangeable, and (consistent with Sifu's comments, along with what i saw from Phunsak and Kieun, from last week) can be mixed-and matched in any combination desired by the practitioner. i can see how the various options that Sifu pointed out to us in each technique are actually available in the others (i.e., the options following hawk pierces through the sky also naturally follow yellow bird swoops down for food). this makes perfect sense, since a martial art should allow the practitioner to implement and formulate any type of actions to effectively respond and deal with the unpredictable chaotic environment of a combat situation.

xiao kai men and conclusion

class began winding down, and Sifu called class to a close. in the few minutes after the ending, i took the opportunity to ask Phunsak a few questions that had been confusing me about xiao kai men--while i've been practicing it over the weeks, and have started to become more familiar with it (so that it's not so awkward and a lot more smooth), i'm still finding some transition points between techniques a bit tricky. Phunsak helped me as best he could, and i managed to get the answers i needed.

of course, this is only for the linear form of xiao kai men, and i am still completely clueless as to the circular form, which i suspect is actually very crucial in terms of understanding circle walking--and so very crucial in terms of learning 64 palms. i am also certain that i am going to have to take some time at some point for a review session to cover the combat applications of each of the techniques in xiao kai men.

Sifu and Art decided to go to lunch at the Santa Fe shop down the street, leaving the class to go home. i ended up having lunch with Phunsak (who was going to stay for an afternoon session with Sifu) and Laura at the Dumpling Master (that's the English translation...i don't know the Chinese name that's on the sign outside its window). it wasn't the same without the usual lunch crew crowd, but maybe things'll get back to normal next week.