day 197: starting the bagua fist & returning to kyudo

concepts:

• chan si jin (silk reeling)
• body as a fist
  
• entrance count
  
• over the mountain
• shooting form
  
• non-federation styles
• unified whole
• sighting
  

lessons:

• bagua fist form
• kyudo
  

today (Saturday) was the 1st day back for both kung fu and kyudo, and only my 3rd workout of any physical kind since coming back from the winter break. meaning that it was a transition back into the training mode--and a little bit of a kick in the pants to get myself into gear.

bagua fist

things started slow today, with people clearly taking their time getting into the park. Sifu waited as long as he was willing, and then instructed us to go ahead and start class. he had Phunsak lead us through tantui as a warm-up, and then review the bagua forest palm a few times.

after he returned from working with the baji students, Sifu said that he wanted to start the bagua fist form today.

he gave us a brief background, saying that the fist form is taught after forest palm in the curriculum because it is considered as containing more nuances, particularly with regards to internal dynamics not readily apparent from an external observer but which are critical to the movements in the form. in addition, it is also taught later in the curriculum because it is a challenging form to remember, with approximately 92 moves--a significantly greater number than forest palm or 64 palms.

with that, we began with the initial movements in the form. Sifu stopped after each move to stress the nuances in the technique. he pointed out that while externally the movements resemble those from other Northern TCMA styles (i.e., chang quan, baji quan, etc.), internally there are radically different dynamics. in particular, true to bagua principles, there is a constant emphasis on chan si jin (silk reeling)--even in movements that appear linear. Sifu identified and detailed the body mechanics necessary to integrate chan si jin, with many of the actions coming from the spine, driving both into the ground through the legs and outwards through the arms. Sifu stressed the following:

• the importance of visualizing the twisting component of our body mechanics, not just in terms of individual limbs, but the entire body as a whole, so as to extend the chan si jin physics throughout our body
• the importance of visualizing our entire body as a fist, which helps to 1) unify all elements of the body into a single structure, and 2) thereby project more power
  

we spent the remainder of class practicing the form, and experimenting with the chan si jin body mechanics. Sifu said it would take some time to learn the physics, and that we shouldn't hurry the form. he suggested that it would be helpful if we practiced the form like tai chi--slow, and gently, with the focus on feeling our way through the movements and silk reeling to better understand how to produce it.

we finished with the usual post-class lunch.

kyudo

kyudo today was quite eventful. Sensei had the beginners (there were 3 of us) work on the steps in the entrance sequence, the shooting form, and on technique.

following the regular chanting of the heart sutra and meditation period, Sensei asked Aaron (one of the advanced students) to help us on the entrance sequence into the dojo. we had worked on this a little before, with Sensei having shown us the 1st person in line entering the dojo on a 9-count sequence and the following people in line entering on a 5-count sequence. this time, however, he wanted Aaron to let us practice, and point out some more details.

we practiced the entrance, with each person taking turns serving as lead or followers. Aaron also added a number of pointers:

• the leader's count-9 (the point when the leader formally steps forward into the dojo) is supposed to be the next person's count-1 (the point when the person steps forward to bow before entering the dojo)
• after the leader's 9 count, each successive person's count-5 is supposed to be the next person's count-1
• the leader's path into the dojo is a clear progression of lines and 45-degree steps. however, as the line progresses down the row of archers, the path becomes more curved
• inside the dojo, as the line moves along the firing line, every person is supposed to be synchronized in steps (i.e., everyone steps forward with the same foot at the same time), with only a slight delay between each person (i.e., the leader will be slightly ahead of the 2nd person, the 2nd person will be slightly ahead of the 3rd, etc.)
  

following this, Sensei had us actually take turns in the shooting line, following other archers and going through the entire shooting form. for this time, however, we held no bow or arrows, but instead were supposed to just focus on acclimating ourselves to following the line and going through the entire shooting procedure. Sensei made some comments to me:

• do not squeeze back with the shoulder blades. the scapula aren't supposed to come together. this would be symptomatic of the back pulling the bow string to shoot. this is actually more difficult than the alternative, which is to push through the bow to shoot. this way is correct, and involves the shoulder blades flattening, so that they actually expand outwards, away from each other.
• it's important to stay soft. tension only makes it more difficult to exercise correct technique.
• it's important to visualize yourself placing your body structure through, or inside, the bow, since this helps to facilitate the form of pushing the bow out.
• one mental device is to think about "going over the mountain." Sensei meant this to say that the act of lifting the arms with the bow should involve an entire movement of the body, so that the bow-and-arrow, when viewed from the front (facing from the target towards the archer) or back (facing from behind the archer towards the target), traces an arc (hence, "rolling over" an obstacle). this helps to bring the correct body mechanics.
  

a lot of this Sensei has told us before. but we hadn't had to work with them in the actual physical performance of the form, and doing so let get some insight as to what is actually going on inside the body.

we spent the free shoot period with Sensei in a free-form question-and-answer session. Phunsak ended up asking the majority of questions. my questions were largely concerned with more fundamental aspects (e.g., practicing ki-za and so-za), as well as with the various alternative styles of kyudo--it turns out that the styles endorsed by the international kyudo federation are only a selection of the many kyudo styles that exist, which makes me quite curious as to what the other (non-federation) styles look like. based on what Sensei told me, the only way to see the non-federation styles is to actually go to Japan, since they're not very widely practiced (and in some cases are disappearing altogether).

Sensei also discussed the nature of shooting, and connecting it with breathing and driving body forces through our centers, with the effect of unifying all the elements of archery--the archer's body, the bow, the arrow, and the ground--into a single unified system...of course, to really make this a unified system, i suspect we also have to include the target and our own mind. once this happens, it is only natural that the arrow will hit the desire target, because at that point the arrow is the target.

Sensei also talked about the alignment of the target on the bow and the hand, noting that the nature of sighting varies according to the person, with some sighting so that the target is a half-moon on the left side of the bow along the top of the bow hand, with others sighting so that the target is obscured by the bow along the top of the bow hand, and others more sighting so that the target is a half-moon on the right side of the along the top of the bow hand.

Sensei noted that these were all more advanced concepts, and not things that we needed to worry about for now, and that we should just focus on the basics.

we finished there, and ended class by cleaning the dojo.