concepts:- refinement
- expansion
- center
- posture
- bagua elbow form
- kyudo
bagua elbow form
we spent today refining the form, with Sifu asking us to review the basics and the form we've done to date. this was useful, since we're still trying to get everyone caught up--a fair number of people have missed a fair number of classes due to a fair number of vacations over a fair amount of the past summer leaving a fair amount of work to catch up to a fair level of competence. and that's being fair.
after awhile, Sifu watched us go through the form, and then went through several sticking points that seemed to give everyone trouble. he pointed out the refinements, particularly over the more recent parts, and had us work on getting them ingrained into memory.
Phunsak eventually showed up, with a very large lump on his jaw from what we learned had been a punch from the previous evening. he was all right, although i suspected that he'd gotten a little bit harder than he let on, judging from his appearance as soon as he walked in--i suspected, and later confirmed, that he'd gotten a concussion (what can i say? once you've seen it, you know it).
Sifu then had Phunsak take us through the rest of the form. we didn't have enough time to go through the applications, but we had just enough to make it through the last of the form. i should point out that this isn't really the end...according to Phunsak, we now have to do the mirror version, and then we have to learn how to do it in a circle.
we made a video of the completed form, which you can see here:
kyudo
today was picture day at kyudo, with the plan to have people take pictures and videos of the class for the purpose of adding to the dojo's library as well as helping people correct their own form. Leslie brought an old-fashioned large-format plate-glass camera (!!!wow!!!), and Wilton and Terry brought their own SLRs. i had my hand-held digital, since i wanted to take some pictures for my parents.
tonight, incidentally, was a reminder about the use of the elbows. while the formal shoot was largely straightforward, the informal post-tea practice was a bit more detailed. Sensei made a number of corrections in my form, pointing out the following:
- my right hand is going down too quickly as i draw the bow. he said i will naturally stay up if i focus on expanding into the bow rather than pulling or pushing it. he said the expansion will happen if i put my effort into my elbows.
- the expansion of the elbows, if it is to be an expansion into the cavity between the bow and the string, is more effortless if it comes outward from the center. this goes back to previous lessons, when Sensei had said that the act of expanding into the bow is really an act of expanding outward from the center throughout the entire body, so that force vectors go through the legs into the ground and back again through the core out through the arms. when done right, drawing the bow is easy, but when done wrong, drawing the bow becomes a struggle--with the struggle, ironically, being really a fight against your own incompetence. in essence, proper action builds upon proper action, but improper action builds upon improper action; the analogy is that all things propagate throughout the system in a cascade radiating from what happens at the center.
- conveying the forces of expansion needed to draw the bow requires proper posture, with good posture serving to convey force vectors up from the ground into the bow cleanly and without loss of power. this is why it is crucial to develop good posture, with the head, neck, spine, and tailbone all in proper alignment.
Jean made some videos of me shooting, so that i could see what mistakes i was making. she made videos of me shooting 2 shots with the 14 kg draw weight bow, the 13 kg draw weight, adn then the 11 kg. i left right after she took the videos, since i had an early Sunday morning bike ride, but i look forward to seeing them when she's finished editing.
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