day 37: palm changes 1-4 (A v B)...it's about practice!

concepts:

• practice

forms:

• palm changes 1-3
• 2-person drills (palm changes 1-3)
• palm change 4, side B
  

i got to class a little later than usual today because of some urgent errands (broken electric razor meant a dash to Target--nothing more annoying than facial scrubble). i still had time to go through qi-gong level 1 and stances, as well as a good morning stretch and warm-up.

i'm starting to find that qi-gong exercises are a good way to help settle my mind and relax the body. i had an unusually (and mysteriously) stressful week, and this morning's qi-gong ended up being a very good antidote. of course, i'm still not sensing any "heat" or "energy fields" from qi-gong that other people tell me about, but then maybe i'm just scientifically skeptically that i'm automatically or subsconsciously discounting any unusual sensations i'm feeling.

the class arrived gradually. after waiting a few minutes, Sifu asked Phunsak to lead us through a review of the palm changes 1-3 for both sides A & B, and then to do the same for the 2-person drills for each.

palm changes 1-3, sides A & B

Phunsak did the line version of the palm changes, with 8 repetitions of each palm change for each side. we began with palm change 1 side A, then proceeded to palm change 1 side B, followed by the same for palm change 2, and then palm change 3. this took a little while, since this basically meant 48 repetitions (6 palm changes, 8 repetitions each, making a total of 48). this actually got to be a bit of a challenge near the end, especially in terms of holding form. but i figure it was good, and so made it a point to stay with it all the way through.

as a matter of review, you can view the videos for each of the palm changes on the YouTube channel for this blog: http://www.youtube.com/jonathanonapath

2-person drills (palm changes 1-3)

after taking a short break, Phunsak had everyone form up for the same 2-person drill as from previous weeks, with 2 lines of people facing each other, with 1 line being side A and the other line being side B. we had 8 people, making 4 pairs of partners of side A versus side B. Phunsak led us through 3 repetitions for each palm change, so that we pair got to go through 3 repetitions of the 2-person drill starting from the their left hand and 3 repetitions starting from their right hand. after completing 3 repetitions in either direction (left or right), Phunsak had us change partners.

the 2-person drills for palm changes 1-3 can be seen in the following series of videos:

2-person drill, palm change 1
the direct link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwKcwIwfW5s


2-person drill, palm change 2
the direct link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK0k-kp73Os


2-person drill, palm change 3
the direct link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae6ApxcUM6o


this didn't go as smoothly as it probably should have. quite a bit of time was taken up with review for some of the students who missed some of the recent classes. we ended up slowing down--slow enough that Sifu returned when we were only halfway through the drill. he ended up spending time correcting form, and then had to leave again to work with the baji students. before he left, he asked Phunsak to show us palm change 4, side B once we finished the 2-person drill.

i think the message here is pretty clear: things don't happen without practice. lessons learned in class aren't really learned unless they are accompanied with practice outside of class. it's a waste of class time to not practice outside of class the things that are taught in class. class is about teaching and polishing, practice is about learning and memory, and skill involves both. going to class alone is not enough. there must also be practice outside of class so the lessons taught in class actually become ingrained and understood. class must be followed by practice outside of class. and everyone--and that means all of us--need practice.

it's odd that this comes up now, since i wrote a post last week about this exact issue on my Ironman blog. i suggest you check it out: http://jonathaninthedistance.blogspot.com/2007/05/practice-we-talkin-bout-practice.html

palm change 4, side B

after we finished the 2-person drill, Phunsak called for a break. but Kieun said we'd wasted too much time, and noted that we were in danger of having class run out before we could go through palm change 4, side B. after some additional urging from me, Phunsak relented and demonstrated the palm change.

palm change 4, side B is a bit different from all the other palm changes we've learned so far. this is largely because it involves kicks. i'm not entirely sure on the combat applications, but hopefully we'll get those soon. it begins with a turn from lean against the horse and ask for directions into what appears to be the lion stance but has the name effortlessly support the silver water jar. from there, the palm change leads into 2 successive kicks labeled Lang Tsu kicks the ball, followed by a series of backwards steps involving upward-brushing hand motions which collectively is termed shiny snake coils its body. this is succeeded by a forward thrust of the hand and subsequent pulling back of an imaginary string, with the appropriately given technique name of draw the bow on the horse's back, after which the palm change finishes with lean against the horse and ask for directions opposite from the way it started.

palm change 4, side B can be seen in the following video
the direct link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkQrhUqj3aE


this was pretty difficult to learn. i had to stop and observe Phunsak as he went through it several times. he laughed and warned us that the 2-person drill for palm change 4 is even harder than that for palm change 3. i managed to get a feel for it after awhile, but i'm going to need some more time to get it down and pick up the nuances. i think i can do it with some personal practice time, but i think it's also going to need some careful polishing work in class.

by this time the baji class had already ended. we concluded the bagua class immediately after Phunsak finished taking us through palm change 4, side B a few times. we ended up going to lunch with just 4 people, since everyone had already left.

this turned out to be no big deal, since we still ended up having a very long and pretty deep discussion about Buddhism--a subject which i've had some introduction to as part of my triathlon training (believe it or not) and my own personal curiousity, but which still has quite a number of uncertainties and mysteries for me. i found Phunsak and Sifu to be quite a spring of information about Buddhism, and not just in relation to kung fu but also on its own. i figure i'm going to learn more on my own in time, but i enjoy getting as much perspective and information as i can, and i consider these discussions over lunch to be a good education.