day 248: splitting and joining elbows

concepts:

• splitting
• joining
  

lessons:

• bagua elbow form
  
• kyudo
  

this past week has been a little busy with some research proposals that took up a fair amount of time, so i'm afraid i'm going to be posting some shorter entries this time.

bagua elbow

we had some people back this week who had missed the prior sessions on the bagua elbow, so we backtracked a little bit to help everyone catch up, as well as to re-familiarize ourselves with some of the movements to help us start learning the applications of the last part of the form.

Sifu had us start off with the bagua elbow basics (moving). we did a slightly better job remembering them this time, although the issue now is trying to get everyone to remember the names--since there aren't any, leaving everyone to use their own, it's hard for everyone to agree as to what we mean when we use a term (it may make sense to us, but nobody else).

we ended up having some lighter moments, with Kieun and Ching-chieh pulling out their respective notebooks to compare terms, and everyone settling into a "battle of the names."

we eventually reviewed the form, particularly the last part. by that time Sifu had returned, and after watching us perform the closing stopped everyone to clarify some confusion regarding the intent of some of the movements.

in particular, he went through the applications at the end, especially one that resembled a technique from the fist form. he commented that while it looked like the same technique, it was actually different, with a different entry (closer, so that the lead shoulder checks into the opponent's body) and with a different intent (this time going through the elbows). the result is the same--a throw--but the physics involves a 2-step process of first splitting the elbows (to open the opponent up) and then joining the elbows (to send the opponent away and down). from what i could tell, the idea is to use the elbows to take the opponent's space, so that you literally displace their volume and force their mass to fall.

Sifu stressed that in order for this to work you have to focus on the elbows. if you instead project power through the hands or forearms, the tendency is to project power forward, which can disconnect the power of the hands and arms from the power in the legs and body, reducing the forces generated and producing more of a pushing movement. this can work, but not as well as if the power is projected through the elbows, since this creates more of a twisting motion that integrates the entire body to send the power from the legs and torso through the elbows, with the force vectors sending the opponent turning away and down.

we worked on this application for awhile, although i backed off a bit, since i got a little tired being the practice dummy.

kyudo

Phunsak joined me for kyudo tonight, and we stayed the entire session. the class was curtailed a little bit, since the Pasadena Japanese Culture Center's annual fund-raising bazaar was the next day and we had to set up the tables for the morning.

shooting has gotten better for me as of late. i still have a number of problem areas to work on--Sensei has made these very clear for me, but i'm at the point now where there's a greater comfort level and i feel that i'm able to concentrate on specific things to resolve (as opposed to last year, when it seemed like everything needed fixing, leaving me constantly overwhelmed). that, and i'm actually getting a feel for sending the arrow into the target.

i spoke to Sensei about whether i should get a bow, and he gave me some advice as to what to look for. i may place an order soon, although i want to take a little time to research what i want. that, and i want to itemize what else i should get as well--dojo arrows, string, and perhaps spare clothing. and i am sure there are others who would like to join in an order with me. we'll see.