concepts:- dynamic balancing (yin & yang combined with vortices)
- static balancing
- tai chi theory
- bagua 64 palms (sides A & B, 2-person forms)
- pao quan
tai chi theory
Sifu began class with all the bagua and baji students together. while working on the tai chi book with Art, he apparently had gone through some work on the classic sources of tai chi literature, particularly the more famous poems normally associated with tai chi. he told us this morning that he wanted to dispel what he thought was a misperception in the language of one in particular.
for the life of me, i can't remember the name of the poet or the poem, so somebody with more familiarity will have to fill me in. but the message was still clear. evidently, in tai chi, there is a tenet of holding things in balance, akin to the weights that must be balanced on a scale. however, Sifu believes that most scholars who stop at this miss the deeper meanings of the poem, which he says has additional lines indicating that tai chi is not just about balancing weights. he said that people who hold only to this message get a static view of the principles in tai chi--something that is not useful for the dynamic conditions of a fight, and something which was not what the original poet intended. rather, the poem goes on to note that the principle of balance must involve balancing moving forces, and so is not just about the kind of static balancing that happens on a scale, but rather the dynamic balancing that goes on with moving forces.
Sifu says that if you consider the ulterior meanings of the poem, it refers to the notion of axes connecting spinning motions, as well as concepts of yin and yang. he believes that this refers to the idea of circular motions common to tai chi techniques. moreover, he says that combining the idea of balancing to these kinds of motions in a dynamic setting means using yin and yang principles to control the forces involved to direct the motions in a desired outcome. as a result, the poem is really about combining yin-yang theory to the idea of vortices to deal with the complexities of dynamic balancing...and this is what most people miss in adopting the common static balancing interpretation of tai chi.
bagua 64 palms (sides A & B, 2-person forms)
wrapping up his commentary, Sifu had us begin with a review of palm change 4, side B. Phunsak took us through this, as well as a review of palm changes 1-3 for side B.
on Sifu's instruction we also began review of the 2-person forms, particularly for palm changes 1 and 2. Sifu took a moment to discuss the alternative applications he's been demonstrating in relation to the 2-person forms, and noted that the intent of the movements in the 2-person sets, and even the sequence and order of movements in the sets, can vary depending on the technique chosen to be applied. this is another reminder that the palm changes are not static, but can change according to the applications that are desired to be shown--as i've written in earlier posts, we've learned that each movement in a form, regardless of kung fu style (e.g., baji, bagua, tai chi, chang quan, etc.), can have multiple applications, and so each movement can be associated with multiple, differing techniques.
i suspect there is also another reason Sifu wanted us to review the 2-person sets: Ching-Chieh and Phunsak are supposed to performing the 2-person forms for the Baltimore tournament, and have not been able to meet for practice to date. considering that Ching-Chieh is going to be gone for 2 months for June and July, this doesn't leave much time to practice the 2-person sets for the tournament.
i should note that watching Ching-Chieh and Phunsak perform clearly displayed just how much the dynamics of the 2-person set can change depending on the participants. having partners of differing dimensions (height, reach, weight, etc.) affects the aesthetic nature of the 2-person set in terms of movement and appearance, since differing practitioners have to adjust movements according to the dimensions of their partner. with 2 partners dramatically different in dimensions, the 2-person set can appear awkward. however, Ching-Chieh and Phunsak are similar in size, and this resulted in a much more aesthetically balanced and smooth moving 2-person set. i suspect that this is probably the reason Sifu wanted them to compete in the forms at the tournament.
after this, Sifu announced that he wanted to record everyone (both baji and bagua students) doing a form solo. it could be any form that we knew, so long as we did it before the group solo. he had brought along his digital camera, and said that he wanted to record each of us for his records.
i think people were stunned. for sure, nobody expected this.
i have to admit that as much as i was surprised, this didn't really shock me. i've noticed Sifu has a habit of administering pop quizzes on people, and have warned others in the class whenever i sensed the time for one coming on. but i will say that i was intimidated just as much as everyone else with the thought of being recorded for posterity.
Sifu joked that he was going to save the videos, so that in the future he can show future students (his and maybe ours) just what we looked like when we were starting out, and that way give future students hope that things might get better...or, alternatively, he could just post the videos on Youtube for everybody's entertainment.
ha ha ha. yuck yuck yuck.
i ended up doing all of 64 palms, side A. only thing was, i messed up palm changes 6 & 7, so it wasn't a clean run and it didn't look very pretty. but we'll see how it looks...besides, that's the nature of a pop quiz: you find out what you know off the top of your head, and it often is never very pretty.
ha ha ha. yuck yuck yuck.
pao quan
class wound down while Sifu recorded each student doing a form of their own choice. during this time, i asked Phunsak to show me a little bit more of pao quan. Phunsak led me a little bit further into the form, and then asked me if i wanted to go all the way to the end since we were so close to it.
i was a little reluctant to do this, but Phunsak said he was going to be gone next weekend and so if i wanted to get through the form that this was as good a chance as there would be within the month of April. i figured i might as well, and we finished it through.
i don't think my pao quan is very clean, particularly the last parts of it. obviously, this can be rectified with practice. but i think it's going to take quite a bit more than usual to smooth things out, since i've learned it in discontinuous stages. if i'm around during the summer, i think i'm also going to see about getting some private consultation with Sifu to polish the form and also learn the applications--to date, i haven't really learned any of the long fist applications, and i figure you don't really know a martial art if you don't know the applications in it.
once Sifu finished recording everybody (well...it wasn't everybody, Phunsak was naturally excused, and a few students, like Laura and Ching-Chieh, managed to beg out of it), we finished the day and went to lunch.
No comments:
Post a Comment