day 160: evaluation day

forms:

• bagua 64 palms

this Saturday began with a run-down of who was going to the tournament and some talk as to group transportation. the plan--at least for now--seems to be getting 2 vans to drive out to the Vegas on August 29 (friday) and returning August 31 (sunday). this is subject to change, since there seems to be some curiousity about getting a charter bus (which unfortunately needs more than the 15 of us to be made cost-effective), using a train (not sure if this is possible), or flying.

bagua 64 palms

Sifu had this be an evaluation day. he gave everyone time to practice 64 palms, and then had each of us perform the form individually in front of the class for evaluation. this time, however, in contrast to last week, he showed us opening and closing movements from bagua forest palm that he wanted added to the form.

originally, he just wanted us to do 64 palms side A, but i asked to do both side A and B as a personal challenge. i went ahead and got John Eagles to record me doing it, since i wanted to get a sense of where i'm at in the form. i tried to address my issues from the last time, concentrating on extending into the actions and moving more smoothly between techniques, but still found some sticking points.

you can see the video of me at the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqzDzQY_9F0

Sifu's comments on my performance was as follows:

• palms 1, 2, 3, and 7 are coming along
• palms 4, 5, 6, and 8 need some more work in terms of making the techniques more clear and having the yi (intent) behind them expressed more clearly
  

in addition, looking at the video, i can see that i'm still all angles and lines, and that i'm still not moving in fluid, free-flowing circles. in addition, i'm not moving with power at the times i should be, or shifting into softness when i should be. that, and i think i still express a lot of tension in my musculature and bone structure, and so don't really seem to have really gotten a sense of yin.

after we finished, Sifu then did the same thing with the baji students. we finished the day with this and went to lunch.