day 308: snake and tai bird

concepts:

• timing
• sending
• handgrip
  

lessons:

• hsing-yi
• kyudo
  

so i missed last weekend, meaning i had to do a little make-up work this Saturday. it wasn't too hard, but it did mean a little extra work to make sure i caught up to everyone else.

hsing-yi

the morning was actually wet, with light rain, forcing us to meet in the picnic pavilion. it also shrank the practice space down, so things were a little claustrophobic. Sifu began by showing us the Shanxi tai bird (the tai bird is a relative of the ostrich, and is actually extinct, so now figures more in Chinese mythology and history).

you can reference the video here:
Shanxi tai bird: http://youtu.be/SyuQoOdgsfw

Sifu's comments on this were as follows:

• this is a short-range technique using a wide entry to lead into a kidney/rib strike. as such, it requires legwork to move into the correct range. the first step needs to be well-defined, and cannot afford to be trivial, since it acts to close the distance to the opponent.
• the power doesn't come from the arms, but rather from the center of your body. as a result, the legs have to function to drive your center into the opponent. the arms are an auxiliary source of energy.
• do not extend the arms. the elbows should be close to your body.
• the entry is not a block. the opening of the arms are supposed to receive the opponent's attack lightly, so as to avoid giving any signals as to what you are doing.
• in opening the arms in the entry, you have to commit to the movement and extend outwards. imagine sending energy out through the hands. the intent is to get the opponent's attention and have them follow your hands out into space, so that they lose track of your attack to the kidneys/ribs.

we practiced this for a bit. while the form itself is simple, the application is a little tricky. there's a timing issue in terms of redirecting the opponent's focus and moving in to strike. there's also a spacing issue in terms of knowing how much space is needed to mislead the opponent and how much space is needed to strike.

i asked about last week, which covered snake. snake was more complicated, and so i ended up spending more time on it. you can reference the video here:
Shanxi snake: http://youtu.be/KJMDBkvl7GA

here, too, there is a timing issue, and this proved to be the hardest part. Sifu said that the typical instinct with the punch in snake is to have the power come off the front foot. in Shanxi snake, however, the power comes off the back foot. this is why the form has the practitioner stomp the back foot in time with the front snap punch, since it reminds you where the power comes from.

i found this counter-intuitive. it definitely is not instinctive. Sifu said that for now we can work on this methodically, by using a 1-count to mark the initial step and the 2-count to be the combination of the snap punch and rear stomp. eventually, he says we need to make it fluid, since it's important to close the distance to the opponent quickly.

he also noted that the stomp isn't actually necessary. the principle is to use the reaction force off the rear foot to drive the snap punch forward into the opponent. the stomp is just to remind us of this, and hence is more a training tool.

kyudo

kyudo had a large turnout today. holy cow! i counted 20 people altogether, meaning we had 4 rotations through the 5 makiwara.

i was able to pick up from the weekend off without too much trouble. this time, however, i noticed some issues with the glove hand, in that i was more aware of the tension in the hand. Sensei's talked about this in the past. the glove hand is actually supposed to be light, and it is not supposed to grip the string. instead, it's meant to just hold the hand in place so that the string fits into the nock of the thumb. in other words, the string stays because it's in the nock, not because it's being gripped.

this makes a difference, because it makes it easier to draw and release. by avoiding tension in the hand, you're able to get more expansion in the draw. also, the release comes from the natural motion of the hand as you expand out from zanshin, and does not require any action from the hand. the benefits are that 1) you're able to get more draw, and hence more energy into the arrow, and 2) eliminate the hand as a source of disruption to the arrow's flight path.

i was able to ease up some of the tension as the evening wore on, but i think it's going to take a little bit of work to fully address the situation.

Sensei ended up spending some time on giving a lesson on tenouchi. he's taught it before, but he felt it necessary to remind everyone how to grip the bow. we're actually not supposed to grip the bow, but avoid tension and hold it lightly (see the theme here?). this also took a little time for me to work on, and something i know is a work in progress for me.

i finished the evening off by having Eric take some pictures of me shooting. this was so i could get a sense of where i am. it's also ostensibly to have some pictures to show to my relatives so they know what i'm doing, since they haven't heard of kyudo before. i'll post the pictures on this blog eventually when i have some time.