day 239: elbowing in

concepts:

• polishing
• misdirection
• distraction
  

lessons:

• bagua elbow form

today marked the return of Ching-Chieh from her trip to Taiwan and China. she brought back some goodies for Phunsak and Sifu (copies of new book about Grandmaster Liu Yun Qiao's philosophy, apparently written by one of his students who died a few years ago). since she'd been gone for so long, she missed all the work we'd done on elbow basics. we backtracked a little and went through all the of the basics (Sifu said there were 14 drills, but Eric and i counted more...20?) so she could at least see what they looked like.

bagua elbow form

once we finished with the elbow basics, Sifu took us a little further into the form. he led us through a few repetitions, and then asked to see us do it from the beginning. after a few iterations, he seemed to think there was a need for some polishing work, since he had us go back to the beginning to show us a number of corrections in our movements.

this was convenient, since it also allowed us to revisit some of the applications. Sifu pointed out that to some degree there was some room for variations in the form, but only to the extent that the variations were expressions of different techniques. each of the techniques depend on what the practitioner is intending to apply, and so this makes the movements a reflection of yi (intent). here too, there are limits, in that the expression of yi requires correction execution of technique, and correct execution of technique requires some very subtle movements--movements which in the context of the form don't seem important, but in the context of applications are.

Sifu went back to some of the initial movements in the form (partly for Ching-Chieh's benefit, partly for ours) and demonstrated variations in each of the movements. in doing so, he noted a number of specific movements which seemed minor but were actually quite important. in particular, he highlighted that these movements (some involving the yin hand, some involving the yang hand, some involving a switch from yin to yang hands) were actually doing the following:

• misdirection--shifts in yin and yang movements can be done intentionally to mislead the opponent into thinking you are intending one action when you are really setting up to do another. furthermore, you can do this to incite the opponent into moving in a way that actually helps you execute a certain technique.
• distraction--some movements are supposed to go to the eyes or the head, not necessarily with the intention to strike or even make contact, but simply to just distract the opponent and disrupt their focus just enough to allow you to enter their gates and initiate your techniques.

Sifu demonstrated these principles with a number of different movements in the form, and showed how they could be combined or mixed with strikes, joint locks, and pressure point attacks. he then had us practice working on these principles with a selection of the applications in the form, letting us see how different applications can result from a single movement.

this was a bit of an eye-opening day. not so much because of the above principles, but because i started to see some of the physics at work in some of the movements, and could see that different applications are deploying different physics to produce different results, and that so long as the physics are employed correctly you really can express your yi (and thereby express yourself) through the applications. i could also see that this means that you don't have to think about things in terms of individual techniques (i.e., with individual techniques corresponding to specific results), but more in terms of just your yi.

Sifu has mentioned this in the past, and has always reminded us to avoid thinking about things in terms of individual techniques, with the argument that in a real fight you won't have time to think about techniques, at least in terms of remembering them and choosing them. instead, you'll only have enough time to react. because of this, it's important to be fast, and it's much faster to simply move based on yi, and to let the applications come from that. the trick, of course, is that you understand how to use the physics well enough that your yi can be expressed effectively as applications. this can be tricky--but once you get it, it is much easier than remembering techniques.

i see this in terms of an analogy to language. techniques are like a vocabulary of words. you can learn a lot of words (techniques), and become good at understanding a language (martial art). but to actually master a language, to the extent that you can adapt and use it freely, quickly, appropriately to respond or relate in meaningful ways to the world around you requires that you have an intuitive feel of how to mix and match words. to do this requires that you understand the grammar (physics), which provides you with an understanding of how and why and when language (martial art) works, which then guides your ability to find and use words (techniques). and once you get the grammar (physics), you'll find that you can adapt any word (technique), and create any combination of words--in fact, you'll be able to generate new and different combinations completely unique to a given situation...but which will work in ways uniquely effective for that situation.

which to me indicates what it means to be a master. poets master language in ways that let them communicate messages and meanings beyond the ordinary meaning of words--ways that ordinary people don't understand looking at individual words. similarly, martial arts masters are able to generate expressions of combat beyond the ordinary execution of techniques--expressions that ordinary people can't understand looking at individual techniques.

Sifu went to work with the baji students, and we spent the rest of class experimenting with the applications and exploring the physics. we finished late for the usual post-class lunch, but today was worth the extra time.