day 62: bagua review, tai chi, & long fist (the growing spectrum!)

concepts:

• scapula
• yielding
• close to the body
• suai, da, na
• close gate, far gate
  

forms:

• bagua review, 64 palms
• side B, palm 7 and 2-person palm 7
  
• pao quan
• yang tai chi (combat applications)
  

today began a few minutes late, which turned out fine since we ended up staying late. Phunsak, John, and i showed up first. John and i warmed up with the series of spin exercises Sifu had shown me during the leg conditioning consultation. Phunsak warmed up with various baji and bagua exercises. we ended up being joined by 2 visitors, one (Tim) coming from Maryland and checking out Los Angeles for a few days, and the other (Vivian?) trying the class out.

Sifu arrived with Eric, and then announced that he wanted to spend a few minutes today to make videos of the combat applications for Yang tai chi. Eric was making a DVD, and so had equipment to record. Sifu asked the rest of us to serve as partners (i.e., "victims") for the video. he then asked Art, who had arrived, to work with Tim and Vivian.

bagua review; side B, palm 7; & 2-person palm 7

Sifu instructed Phunsak to lead a review of 64 Palms to date. this went without too much incident, although we had to take a few stops with several of the palm changes for side B to remember things correctly.

Sifu, who had been working with the baji students, came back to observe us, and then stopped us at a few points to make the following comments:

• spine & scapula--there's a number of palm changes (side B, palms 1 & 2, in particular) featuring forward strikes. it appears i've been missing a slight cocking action of the shoulder and upper back for these. Sifu pointed out that these strikes are supposed to be preceded (or initiated) with a rounding of the scapula and spine. the scapula, he explained, help round the upper part of back, helping store energy which is released as force when the strike goes forward. as a result, it is part of the power generation process. Sifu said this was the same action that's supposed to be applied (and which i had also missed) in black bear probes with its paw from xiao kai men.
• yielding--in addition to the power generation role, Sifu also noted that the rolling of the scapula serves a function in absorbing an incoming strike. he said that much of bagua involves "sucking in" an opponent's force just as much as it involves redirecting or using that force. the rolling of the scapula serves to absorb the opponent's force, by helping the practitioner to contract the body and spine, which acts to make the torso like a sponge sucking in an incoming strike. it also helps the practitioner to bring the arms and torso together in a way that "sticks" to the opponent's strike, allowing the practitioner to then employ bagua techniques in counter-attack. Sifu said that these are purposes very similar to the "yielding" in tai chi, except that bagua is using slightly different methods by involving the spine and scapula.
• close to the body--for a number of palm changes (side A, palm 3 and side B, palm 3, in particular), Sifu said my arms were extending too far away from my torso. he reminded me that in bagua, the arms should stay in close proximity to the body, both as a defensive measure to protect the torso and the arms, as well as an offensive measure in disguising intent.

Sifu then took a number of minutes to show us a lesson on gates. he said that we have learned about 2 gates: dragon gate (the back of the opponent), and tiger gate (the front of the opponent). however, he said we also need to learn that there's another layer to this, with a close gate and far gate. he defined and demonstrated them as follows:

• close gate--this is the region of the opponent outside of their striking range
• far gate--this is the region of the opponent within their striking range
  

Sifu said that in a fight, we have to approach the opponent in 2 major steps: 1) have a plan to enter the far gate, and then 2) have a plan to enter and engage the close gate once you have entered the far gate. the 2, he emphasized, are linked together: how you enter the far gate will determine what you can do in the close gate. as a result, the far gate should be seen as the set-up for engaging the opponent.

after this, Phunsak proceeded to show us side B, palm 7. this is a relatively short palm change, and Phunsak had showed it to us briefly before the September break. we ended up having enough time to do the 2-person form for palm 7, and so spent a number of minutes learning that, too.

you can see the video for side B, palm 7:
the link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKfRrTU2SGA

pao quan

at this point we took a break. while we waited, i asked Phunsak to help me review the pao quan we had done to date.

Phunsak took a number of minutes to correct my form, and noted the following:

• force--i need to apply more force in the movements. unlike tantui, he noted that in pao quan you have to learn how to generate power.
• movement--he said that unlike tantui, pao quan is about moving across open ground, and so the movements should involve more aggressive consumption of space, with feet shuffling or stepping forward and backwards to accentuate forward and backwards motions
  

Phunsak also told me that with tantui, there's actually more than 1 level. the 1st level is just meant to open the body in terms of limbs, joints, and connective tissue, as well as improve coordination and balance, and so as a result involves doing the lines without force in very deliberate manner. the 2nd level involves application of more force into the movements. he said that for pao quan, i can use the 2nd level of tantui to figure out how to produce power in the form, although pao quan adds an additional layer of complexity by involving more aggressive footwork.

yang tai chi

we finished the day by recording the combat applications for Yang tai chi. Sifu had compiled a list of the techniques in the simplified 24 movement form, with each technique having marked beside it a series of applications:

• suai--throws and take-downs
• da--strikes
• na--joint locks
  

Sifu wanted to make videos of each technique. for today, he had marked out half, with the others saved for next week. Eric, who had brought a digital video camera and a stand, was doing the formal recording. Jay and John volunteered to be the partners. i decided to help track what we recorded, and also made videos on my digital camera.

we figured that Eric would be making the official videos for the DVD, since his camera had higher quality and the plan is apparently to dub commentary over the video. my footage would just be stock that i would give to him for auxiliary use.

i put all the video i took on my Youtube channel, and you can see it at:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=jonathanonapath

i should point out that the videos are a lower resolution than what Eric recorded, and i didn't get all the close-ups and extra takes that he got. in addition, the videos i took don't have any of the commentary that will be on the DVD. so take this as a caveat: my videos are NOT meant to be instructional, but simply are tools analogous to mnemonic devices to help remind you of what things look like. for instruction, you need to buy the DVD--or better yet, attend class.