day 35: numbers & palm change 3, side A & B

concepts:

• numbers

forms:

• palm change 3 (side A & B)
• 2-person drill (palm change 3)

i got to the park a little early today to work through a few things. it appears John Eagles had the same thought, since he appeared soon after i had finished warming up. after chatting and catching up on his wedding (which was last weekend), we went through stance and level 1 qi-gong. we were debating the merits of starting level 2 and level 3 qi-gong when Sifu and the jian shu class showed up.

class turnout out today was very light--for both bagua and baji, and i suspect it was because of the Memorial Day weekend. we did end up having about 8 bagua students with a few late arrivals, but the baji class had to make do with 4 students.

numbers

we did go immediately into the lesson plan. Sifu ended up having an extended conversation with John Eagles about Chinese numerology and relationship compatibility.

apparently, there is are entire sciences in Chinese culture related to numerology, with overlaps to astrology, 5-element theory (in contrast to the European 4 elements of wood, earth, fire, water, Chinese culture recognizes 5: wood, earth, metal, water, fire), and Taoist mysticism (in particular, the bagua trigrams). Sifu and John talked about the use of birthdates and years of a wedding couple to determine placement for each partner on a mathematical chart measuring 3 squares x 3 squares (called luo shu), with the numbers on the chart rotating depending on the current calendar year. the placement on the chart corresponds to specific elements and bagua trigrams, such that each chart location assigns a person a specific yin/yang version of an element, with the exception of fire and water. comparing the element of the 2 partners determines if they are compatible and what the prospects are for their relationship.

Sifu drew the luo shu diagram, and then showed how it rotates depending on the calendar year. he also talked about which elements are a good match. generally, Chinese astrology considers yin-yin pairings or yang-yang pairings between couples to be particularly auspicious.

i didn't quite follow everything that was being said, since there were a lot of concepts i was not familiar with. but i did manage to find a few useful links after class:

• http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/118135.htm
• http://www.fengshuigate.com/numerology.html
• http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/9911/01articles.html
• http://www.muus-fengshui.nl/nineqi.html
• http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/StemRelation.htm
  

palm change 3 (side A & B)

Sifu instructed Phunsak to lead us in reviewing palm change 3 while he went to go work with the baji students. Phunsak told us we'd do side A first, and then side B.

we did 8 repetitions of side A, and 8 repetitions of side B. this was pretty much polishing from last week, especially since i'd managed to get in some extra practice time this past week (truth be told, i'd taken time this past week to review all of side A, since i found myself suddenly having difficulty remembering them, which sent me in a state of near-panic). there were, however, some nuances i noticed that i hadn't picked up before, particularly in terms of the feet--they're supposed to be flat on the ground, even when pivoting, and should never be raised onto the balls for rotating. some of the other students who'd missed the past few classes ended up needing this time to catch up.

NOTE: i'm going to start using YouTube videos to help show what we're learning. this is the first post to include YouTube videos.

here's side A:


here's side B:


we took a break, and Phunsak commented on some of the combat applications of side B. during his comments, Sifu returned and added a few more points. i'll summarize their points by technique as follows:

• yellow bird swoops for food--this is either an action to distract the opponent's attention away from another attack, or penetration to their head. both arms are coming over the outside of the opponent (dragon gate), with the lead hand going for the head over the opponent's arm and the off-hand controlling the shoulder/upper area of the opponent's arm (e.g., if both partners are leading with their right arm and right foot, the lead hand is the right hand and the off-hand is the left hand). this should be done with a forward step into the opponent's dragon gate, with the legs in the bow-and-arrow stance.
  
• divert and grab the cloth--this is actually a grab and pull of the opponent's arm down and back. the arm that led yellow bird sweeps for food comes down to grab the opponent's wrist, and the arm that was the supporting arm in yellow bird moves to the juncture between the opponent's bicep and elbow. this should be accompanied by a slide backwards of the feet that is far enough to throw the opponent forward (i.e., towards the defender) off-balance.
  
• white snake spits its tongue--this involves movement in 2 directions, with one hand (i.e., the one holding in opponent's wrist in divert and grab the cloth) pulling down and back, and the other hand (i.e., the one holding the juncture of the opponent's bicep and elbow in divert and grab the cloth) going forward to strike the opponent's neck or head. this should be done with a shift forward of weight, so that the legs go back into the bow-and-arrow stance.
  

2-person drill (palm change 3)

after correcting the forms of several students, Sifu told us to start learning the 2-person drills form palm change 3, and then went back to continue with the baji students.

last week Phunsak had said the 2-person drill for palm change 3 was several orders of magnitude harder than the 1st 2. he was right. this one is much more complex, not so much because the palm changes are longer (the 3rd palm change has 7 techniques, which is more than the 1st's 4 and the 2nd's 9), but because the 3rd involves a 360-degree turn with carefully choreographed footwork for both side A and side B, simultaneously and in the same direction (i.e., both partners go either clockwise or counter-clockwise at the same time). this makes spacing between the partners crucial, since once the turns begin it becomes very difficult to gauge distance and the only real way to know your positioning relative to the surroundings is by knowing--and trusting--your footwork.

we repeated the drill lines from last week, with 2 opposing lines of 8 people facing each other, so that there were 4 pairs of partners. one side was side A, the other side was side B. Phunsak broke the drill down by steps named by side and numbers, calling out each one in sequence (e.g., "A1" meant the person who was side A in a pair would do the 1st technique in side A, "B1" meant that side B would respond with the 1st technique in side B, etc.). this made things much more manageable.

we took some time doing the drill by steps. enough that people began to sort out the techniques and the sequential order of the 2-person drill. however, it's very clear that no one is ready to start doing the 2-person drill for palm change 3 without someone calling steps, and so we're not doing it in the smooth, continuous motion that i suspect practitioners are supposed to do.

we finished the day with Sifu returning to correct individual form again. he was staying behind to provide some personal instruction this time, so was unable to make it to lunch with us. we ended up having a smaller post-class lunch of 5 people.