day 198: another day in the life of...

concepts:

• turning
• expansion
• skeletal structure
  

lessons:

• bagua fist form
• kyudo
  

things went a little bit better this week in the memory department, although i was still assembling my mind by the time the weekend arrived.

we began this Saturday with some review of the bagua forest palm, to help a few people catch up and to give the rest of us an opportunity to refresh our memories. Sifu used this as a pop quiz, having each person in class take turns leading everyone else through the form. i did okay, although i took the form a little slow just to make sure i avoided any mistakes.

bagua fist form

we spent the remaining class time working on the fist form. Sifu went through what we had learned last week, taking some additional time to demonstrate the applications. he then went a few moves further into the form, again focusing on the applications.

in all actuality, the majority of class today involved applications, with everyone taking some time to practice using the techniques and get a feel for the correct body mechanics involved in applying the proper physics.

this actually was a little bit more difficult than it first seemed (it always is), particularly with one move (suspiciously similar to techniques Sifu had shown me in the bagua leg form and in long fist) that involved turning the body to facilitate a throw of the opponent (the key, just like the other times Sifu had shown me, was to make the turn with the body as a unified structure...which is consistent with the bagua fist form's emphasis on visualizing the entire body as a single fist). Kieun pointed out the technique was almost identical to one in kali (an indonesian martial art), and demonstrated it for Phunsak and me (it is similar, with the major distinction being the addition of a joint lock).

this took quite a bit of practice. but i think people managed to get everything down by the time we ended class.

kyudo

kyudo this evening was denoted by 2 major things:

• there were many more people than usual (21 tonight, which is a big increase from the numbers i'd seen last month, which had been more around 10-12); and
• people seemed unusually tense, with everyone seeming to share a certain level of stress (why, i don't know...i found it a peculiar temporary mass psychosis, of the kind my father has always claimed can be observed in human society)
  

the major focus tonight (at least for me) was a continued education in the idea of expansion from the body's center to properly draw the bow. Sensei had me and Phunsak follow Aaron through an iteration of the kyudo sequence from the beginning (entering the dojo), to shooting (on the line), to leaving (withdrawing from the line and exiting the dojo). afterwards, he pointed out to me the need to adjust my posture, and to get a feel of extending my arms and legs outwards, since this serves to align the skeletal structure of the body properly (in my case, the shoulder blades and spine...common issues Sifu identified a long time ago, and which he's been having me address).

Sensei also emphasized that drawing the bow is really an act of skeletal (and hence, structural) operation, and less an act of musculature. this makes it easier to draw the bow, and also allows the practitioner to do so in a way that is smoother and more stable, and hence more accurate. of course, this requires good posture and extension of the skeleton (arms, legs, girdle, spine, etc.) to properly employ the required physics.

we finished later this evening, but largely because i think there were so many people involved tonight.