concepts: - waist & hips
- roll, wrap, turn, thrust (gwen, zin, sin, gwah...???)
forms:
- drills, front
- drills, reverse
- drills, side
- drills, moving (entry), line
Sifu told us today that it would be good for us to review the basic 2-person drills. this is just as well, since Jay and i had practiced these during the week following our personal session with Sifu last Saturday, and we both had found that we needed more practice--on top of the practice we were putting in already. there were just too many nuances and too much sensitivity involved (both of which we lacked) to pick them up quickly, and while we had made some progress, neither of us felt entirely confident with where we were.
i went into detail on the set of basic 2-person drills in day 44: palm change 5 (cont'd) & basic 2-person drills, so i won't repeat them here. today was largely an opportunity to continue working on the drills, and improve our ability to utilize the techniques involved in them.
today, i managed to get feedback on my performance of the drills, and in so doing gained a little bit more understanding as to why and how the techniques in the drill work.
at their core, the drills involve performance of the 4-step technique endemic to bagua: roll, wrap, turn, thrust. this is something the bagua seems to be famous for, and is apparently something no bagua practitioner should apparently not know. superficially, they appear simple, but in reality they're actually a bit more complicated.
i'm starting to realize the drills are meant to do 2 things:
at their core, the drills involve performance of the 4-step technique endemic to bagua: roll, wrap, turn, thrust. this is something the bagua seems to be famous for, and is apparently something no bagua practitioner should apparently not know. superficially, they appear simple, but in reality they're actually a bit more complicated.
i'm starting to realize the drills are meant to do 2 things:
- teach the student how to apply the basic 4-step process. the 4-step process is supposed to allow a practitioner to redirect an opponent's strike and then counter-attack, in a way which allows the practitioner to maintain sensitivity to the opponent's movements while simultaneously denying the opponent any physical signals as to the practitioner's intent. this is supposed be done following the concept of yielding (a la tai chi), while retaining sufficient softness--this is apparently what allows the practitioner to follow the opponent's movements (and thereby read them) and also allows them to mask the physical signals produced by muscle actions in the practitioner's body.
- teach the student to maintain a soft, supple body, with loose musculature and skeletal structure. this is something intrinsic to bagua, and is something that is repeatedly emphasized in applying bagua techniques. the drills help the student adjust their mental tendencies from one of direct force and hardness to one more of subtlety and softness. moreover, they help the student learn and gain confidence in the idea that subtlety and softness can be effective in fighting method.
based on the feedback i received today from Sifu and John Eagles, i evidently am still leaning toward direct force and hardness. both pointed out that they could sense the tension and contraction of the muscles in my arms and shoulders (the body parts in contact with the opponent during the 4-step process of roll, wrap, turn, thrust), making it entirely too easy for an opponent to sense and react to my movements. in addition, they said that i was concentrating too much focus on my arms and shoulders, meaning that i was overworking the muscles and joints in them. this meant that they were becoming fatigued sooner than desired and that it made it much easier for the opponent to push me into a force-versus-force confrontation--something contrary to bagua, and something that exposes me to the risks inherent with such a philosophy.
both Sifu and John Eagles advised the following:
- relax arms and shoulders
- integrate waist and hips with upper body
- separate waist and hips from each other
these are things i really had to concentrate on in class, and i ended up having to work with John and do the drills really slowly to make sure i was doing them correctly in keeping with the above suggestions.
after doing the stationary 2-person drills, we finished the day with an extended period of time doing the free-form moving 2-person drills on a line (where the "attacking" partner is able to choose the mode of entry).
i am finding the free-form moving 2-person drills useful as a prelude, or intermediate step, leading to sparring. the free-from moving 2-person drill helps a practitioner develop the following:
after doing the stationary 2-person drills, we finished the day with an extended period of time doing the free-form moving 2-person drills on a line (where the "attacking" partner is able to choose the mode of entry).
i am finding the free-form moving 2-person drills useful as a prelude, or intermediate step, leading to sparring. the free-from moving 2-person drill helps a practitioner develop the following:
- a better intuitive feel for engaging an opponent
- a better intuitive feel for opening gates of an opponent once the opponent has been engaged
- a better intuitive feel for launching an attack into an open gate
- a better sense of the level of flexibility and freedom to choose and apply techniques
- a better sense of spacing and footwork
all of these are fundamental elements that are necessary to applying bagua techniques in combat, and hence are things that a practitioner should know on an intuitive, instinctive, immediate level.
i wouldn't have realized this if it hadn't been for the sparring work in lei tai training. i'm starting to understand how sparring is crucial to learning kung fu as a martial art. classes can teach techniques, and a student can learn the techniques. but in order to understand the principles and the important points of the techniques, a student has to gain first-hand experience in trying to apply them in a combat setting--and sparring is as close as you can get to combat while still being safe. it is only in this type of setting that a student can get a grasp just what is necessary to make the techniques effective. my perceptions of the free-form moving 2-person drills are an example; it is only because of the sparring work i did in the past few months during lei tai training that i am able to see how the free-form moving 2-person drills are steps guiding and teaching a student more of the skills necessary to apply bagua as a martial art.
something else i'm realizing--and this is something Sifu alluded to at some point, but which i am only now starting to understand--is that some techniques are more appropriate for certain contexts than others. as a result, while xiao kai men and 64 palms can be seen as storehouses of techniques, they shouldn't be viewed as catalogues of techniques that are appropriate for all conditions. from the free-form moving 2-person drills and the sparring work in lei tai training, i'm starting to see that xiao kai men and 64 palms are just devices to help remember techniques, but that some are more appropriate for stand-up fist-fight encounters, others are more appropriate for attempts at throws and take-downs, and others are better for situations of grappling. as a result, while a practitioner should use xiao kai men and 64 palms as ways to remember bagua techniques, a practitioner also has to gain the understanding and experience to recognize which of the techniques should be applied for which situations.
Sifu checked on us, and then instructed us to continue while he went to get the baji students sparring--most of them are going to the tournament, so i guess he wants to make sure they are ready.
i worked with Jay, and focused on engaging, opening gates, and then applying 4 different techniques. i don't know their names, but i know 1 was a push twisting a hand and forearm into the collarbone area, another was a push using the shoulder (similar to the technique Sifu taught in the last lei tai session--reference: day 45: lei tai training), one was a throw, and one was a choke hold.
i could feel myself starting to get a grasp of this, although Sifu later returned and said that i shouldn't get too enamored with the 4-step roll, wrap, turn, thrust, since in a fight it tended to become predictable and could be too slow, and that i should also remember that bagua also utilizes a simple method of directing (or even knocking) an opponent's arm to the side.
with that, we finished class. Sifu stayed to teach Eric in a personal session, so the rest of left for the day.
i wouldn't have realized this if it hadn't been for the sparring work in lei tai training. i'm starting to understand how sparring is crucial to learning kung fu as a martial art. classes can teach techniques, and a student can learn the techniques. but in order to understand the principles and the important points of the techniques, a student has to gain first-hand experience in trying to apply them in a combat setting--and sparring is as close as you can get to combat while still being safe. it is only in this type of setting that a student can get a grasp just what is necessary to make the techniques effective. my perceptions of the free-form moving 2-person drills are an example; it is only because of the sparring work i did in the past few months during lei tai training that i am able to see how the free-form moving 2-person drills are steps guiding and teaching a student more of the skills necessary to apply bagua as a martial art.
something else i'm realizing--and this is something Sifu alluded to at some point, but which i am only now starting to understand--is that some techniques are more appropriate for certain contexts than others. as a result, while xiao kai men and 64 palms can be seen as storehouses of techniques, they shouldn't be viewed as catalogues of techniques that are appropriate for all conditions. from the free-form moving 2-person drills and the sparring work in lei tai training, i'm starting to see that xiao kai men and 64 palms are just devices to help remember techniques, but that some are more appropriate for stand-up fist-fight encounters, others are more appropriate for attempts at throws and take-downs, and others are better for situations of grappling. as a result, while a practitioner should use xiao kai men and 64 palms as ways to remember bagua techniques, a practitioner also has to gain the understanding and experience to recognize which of the techniques should be applied for which situations.
Sifu checked on us, and then instructed us to continue while he went to get the baji students sparring--most of them are going to the tournament, so i guess he wants to make sure they are ready.
i worked with Jay, and focused on engaging, opening gates, and then applying 4 different techniques. i don't know their names, but i know 1 was a push twisting a hand and forearm into the collarbone area, another was a push using the shoulder (similar to the technique Sifu taught in the last lei tai session--reference: day 45: lei tai training), one was a throw, and one was a choke hold.
i could feel myself starting to get a grasp of this, although Sifu later returned and said that i shouldn't get too enamored with the 4-step roll, wrap, turn, thrust, since in a fight it tended to become predictable and could be too slow, and that i should also remember that bagua also utilizes a simple method of directing (or even knocking) an opponent's arm to the side.
with that, we finished class. Sifu stayed to teach Eric in a personal session, so the rest of left for the day.
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