day 66: palm change 7, pao quan, & tantui

concepts:

• power in the feet
• scapula & back

forms:

• tantui
• 2-person form, palm change 7 (sides A & B)
• pao quan
  

we began the day as a single group, with Sifu calling both baji and bagua students together. he said that today he wanted everyone to review tantui together, so we could cover the finer points. following the Wutan curriculum, he informed us that tantui was a building block for other kung fu styles, since it helped build coordination, balance, flexibility, and strength necessary for so much of kung fu. i think some of the new baji students were shocked.

tantui

for today, we did lines 1-5. i've posted on tantui before, including the YouTube video of all 10 lines, but i'll go ahead and embed the video of lines 1-5 here:

if it doesn't work, the link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2usF7iSTNA

Sifu's comments are as follows:

• deep stances--you have to go low into the stances...really low
• open movements--the movements are supposed to be open, as in wide and uninhibited
• channel--although tantui consists of "lines," this doesn't mean that your feet have to both be on the line the entire time. in fact, you're supposed to have a small narrow channel between your feet running along the line
• grind the rear heel--the lines require a constant grinding of the rear heel to help transmit power up through the rear leg and into the upper body. grinding means turning the rear foot on the ball of the foot so the heel drives into the ground
  

i've managed to get through all 10 lines, although i knew i needed polishing. today was perfect for this. i felt like i got a lot of attention and detail on lines 1-5 that i hadn't gotten before, and that i really needed.

Phunsak made a comment to me that i needed to start doing tantui with more power. he said--and Sifu later confirmed--that there are different levels of tantui. the first level is done without power, and intended to just help the student develop coordination, balance, and flexibility. the second level is done by adding power to everything done at the first level.

i asked Phunsak and Sifu just how this is done, since i was a bit puzzled as to how power could be generated with the low and extreme contortions involved. Sifu commented (in class and later in the tai chi classes during the week) that power begins from the feet, and that it involves timing the movement of the feet (toes, the ball of the foot, the arch, and the heel) in a way that exploits Newton's 2nd law, with the ground as the reactive force.

Sifu noted that this means more than just grinding the heel, but also means placing pressure at various times and in various ways on the toes, the ball of the foot, and the inner & outer arches. he said this is often difficult to see, since it is very subtle, and covered up by shoes. he advised me that it helps to visualize this going on while i'm doing tantui, since that seems to lead the body to follow the correct timing and movement.

2-person form, palm change 7 (sides A & B)

once done with tantui, we divided into 2 groups again. Sifu told Phunsak to lead us with the 2-person form for palm change 7 while he went to start the baji students on their lesson plan.

with 5 people today, we ended up forming 2 pairs (me, John, Kieun, and Phunsak), with Eric acting as observer. we went through sides A & B separately and then together in the 2-person form.

after awhile, Sifu returned to watch our progress. he reminded us to remember the importance of the scapula & back in helping generate power in the strike. i'm starting to believe that this is acts as an energy transition tool, with the arching of the back serving to store potential energy by creating a coiling tension in the spine and shoulder blades, which is then released as kinetic energy forward as the scapula & back are released.

pao quan

we finished the day with pao quan. Phunsak led us a little further into it. although, i have to say, i struggled with the new additions today, since there were a number of movements that were a bit puzzling to me, particularly since they involved timing and synchronization of independently moving body parts.

Kieun said that we should record Phunsak doing all of pao quan for reference purposes. but seeing that Phunsak seemed to be unresolved about certain elements, i suggested that we hold off for 1 week until he felt more assured as to the correct form. we ended up agreeing on this, and then ended class for the day.

i spoke with everybody later, and we're also starting to become of the opinion that we should record Sifu doing forms as well, since 1) that is probably the best (in terms of being definitive) reference, and 2) it provides something for posterity to compare themselves against. but this is something we'll have to deal with as things continue.