day 185: all about movement

concepts:

• movement
• multiple degrees of motion
  
• tension and looseness
• smoothness
• level
  

lessons:

• chang quan (chao quan)
• bagua forest palm
  

i returned to the usual schedule this week, since i was feeling back to normal. i ended up not attending kyudo on Saturday, since there was a cultural event sponsored by the Thai Consul General in Los Angeles that i felt compelled to attend (a friend of mine was associated with the show, and it was the kind of show that does not appear that often--if ever--in Los Angeles).

chang quan (chao quan)

the Friday chang quan lesson marked a progression to chao quan, which is the 3rd form and follows pao quan. Sifu had me do a few iterations of pao quan to start class, working with me on some points to refresh my memory and refine my movements. he said that i could work on refining pao quan on my own, since he felt i was at a stage with the form that it is now largely about repetition and practice to emphasize the major elements. he reminded me that i needed to focus on developing the "flavor" of chang quan, and that to do this i needed to follow the points of the acronym he had given last week:

• smooth (as opposed to the tai chi "slow")
• long
• even
• deep
  

after working on pao quan for the first part of class, Sifu said it was time to move onto to chao quan. he introduced chao quan by reiterating the curriculum's progression of forms: 1) tantui, 2) pao quan, and 3) chao quan. to review, he noted that tantui focuses on the basics of stretching the body (muscle and connective tissue), improving balance, and increasing coordination. pao quan works on developing dynamic movement to apply the chang quan techniques introduced in tantui, and also accentuates overall extension, smooth flow between techniques, conditioning, and coordination. chao quan, in contrast, challenges the practitioner to develop better transitions (i.e., staying smooth through even more challenging sequences) between techniques, and to constantly adjust direction, pacing, and states of hard and soft.

Sifu noted that chao quan is what most people identify as chang quan, or long fist, since it is the form utilized by wushu competitors in tournaments. he cautioned, however, that the chao quan utilized for wushu is NOT the traditional chao quan, and that while many of the techniques and their sequence may be the same, the appearance is very different. unlike wushu, traditional chao quan if performed in a way that reminds the practitioner of the techniques--and more importantly, the physics involved in them. as a result, the intent of the traditional practitioner can clearly be seen as distinct from the wu shu competitor.

Sifu continued by observing the context of chao quan in the traditional curriculum. he noted that for jia men chang quan (islamic long fist), it composes the 3rd form. however, some styles of long fist have as many as 5 forms, with each form intended to teach differing sets of principles and techniques. Sifu asserted that you don't need so many forms, and that with islamic long fist, the principles still managed to encompassed in just 3 forms, making it unnecessary to have any more.

Sifu then led me through the initial movements of chao quan. as we went through them, he emphasized the following points:

• movement--with chao quan, you have to think in different directions, not only on a horizontal plane, but also vertically and rotationally
• multiple degrees of motion--chao quan utilizes all degrees of motion (horizontal, vertical, rotational, angular, in all ranges, directions, and magnitudes). as a result, in chao quan you can see the seeds that were picked up and utilized to form the basis of other later styles (baji, piqua, tai chi, bagua, etc.). as a result many of the chao quan movements should be very familiar to anyone who's learned these other styles.
• tension and looseness--even more than pao quan, chao quan requires a looseness in the body, and constantly asks the practitioner to shift back and forth from states of tension and looseness.
• smoothness--just like pao quan, the practitioner has to be smooth in transitioning from one technique to another. however, in chao quan, this is made harder by the greater level of complexity in the movements and transitions.
• level--i have to be sure to remain level, since i have a tendency to move up and down (vertically). Sifu has pointed this out to me before (i.e., in bagua), and it's something i'm working on. it's a bad habit, since any up-and-down action usually means a lowering or raising of the center of mass, which makes it easier for the opponent to get under your center of mass and break your structure.
  

we'd started a little early (before 4 pm), since we'd both arrived at the park in light traffic. as a result, we finished early, sometime a little before 6pm.

bagua forest palm

Saturday morning was a continuation of forest palm. we began with a review of what we'd done, taking some time to help some people who'd missed last Saturday to catch up. after this, Sifu took us a little further into the form. he allowed us to practice this while he worked with the baji students, and then returned and asked to see us do the form individually.

i'm feeling somewhat comfortable with what we've done so far, since so many of the movements are coming from 64 palms. the only difference is that the directions are different, with forest palms constantly changing into different directions, which is different from 64 palms, which largely limits itself to directions along the perimeter of a circle. having said this, i should point out that today we came to a juncture where i'm definitely having to work harder to remember everything we're learning, and having to spend more time strengthening my memory of what we've done.

we ended class when Phunsak and Ching-Chieh left to visit her acupuncture therapist (he decided to try it today, and so was carpooling with her). the rest of us went to lunch.

day 184: a somber time

concepts:

• softness

lessons:

• forest palm
• kyudo
  

this post will stay on the trends of the previous 2 posts in terms of brevity. i'm starting to feel better in terms of my recovery from the food poisoning last week, but not so much that i'm up to devoting as much time writing as i ordinarily do. also, i had to cancel the chang quan lesson last Friday, since i was still feeling weak at the time, and so will omit that portion of this post.

at this point, i should note that this week things were pretty somber. Sifu started class with the announcement that had already been posted via email and the Yahoo! group--one of Sifu's students from his time in Boston, Jim Lavoie, had passed away earlier in the week after a long battle with cancer, leaving behind a wife and 2 young children. Art had brought a condolence card for the group to sign, and Sifu said we were also taking donations for the family. Art was quite affected by things, as were a number of other people, and altogether it made for a pretty subdued day.

forest palms

Sifu advanced us further into forest palms, teaching 2 additional segments of the form, with the 1st following announcements and the 2nd near the end of class after we'd had a chance to practice the 1st. in addition, he also gave us some time to help some people who'd missed the previous class to catch up. that, and it also let me work at a slower pace and rest up--i wasn't at full speed, and just wasn't ready for any strenuous activity today, with me having to stop at numerous points to catch my breath and restore blood flow to my head.

after watching me for awhile, Sifu noted that 1 good thing about my sickness was that it had finally made me soft...a little too soft. he said that i was doing things better, except that now i was allowing my wrists and hands to become soft, and devoting much of my focus on them. he said that i should instead put my attention on the elbows and arms, and to do so in relation to the rest of my body. he reminded me to think about my body as a single unit--a unit that is not hard, nor rigid, but instead flexible and elastic, that can turn, twist, bend, flex, and compress in a way that stores and releases energy (kind of the way a spring compresses and releases, or jello compresses and then bounces).

we finished class with a somber collection of donations and final messages for the condolence card, and then went to a typical post-class lunch that was a little more sober than usual.

kyudo

i went to kyudo class, although my energy levels were running a bit low. i decided i'd stay until the end of the formal class, which is usually around 8:30, and then go home to rest. i arrived early enough to help clean and set up the dojo, which i see is the usual custom for students in a formal martial arts school. i'm starting to become better with names, since i now know more of the regular students in the class--Jackie, Gene, Trini, and Star, who all appear to be the junior students, and Leslie, Matt, Aaron, Marcus, and Doc, who appear to be the more senior students.

this class, Sensei suggested that i start incorporating myself into the formal practice of the dojo, and to work my way into things. he said he'd help me out with the practices, as would other students. this is just as well, since i'm still largely clueless about a good number of things, and still trying to figure things out--at this point, my attention is consumed less by the spirit of the art and more by the learning of the formalities of practice. there's quite a bit, and i can see why it takes awhile.

things were a little rough today. not only was i following the pre-shooting meditation and walk-through, but Sensei also had me do a passive run-through of actual shooting (i.e., join a group of archers, and go through the act of shooting, but without holding a bow or an arrow). there was a bit of information overload, and it probably didn't help that i wasn't at 100%. hopefully i'll do a little better next time...although, i suppose, every beginner is a little rough at the start, and so i should expect this. but at the very least, i hope to be operating at a healthier level next week.

just as i figured, my energy levels pretty much started dipping after 8pm, and i asked Sensei to excuse me from the remainder of the session. i felt a little guilty, since ordinarily i would stay to help clean things and disassemble the dojo equipment, but Sensei recognized that i was not doing so well and let me go.

day 183: more push hands

concepts:

• hwa
• na
  

lessons:

• chen push hands
• kuen wu erlu
  

again, i'm still feeling sick, so this post is going to be short.

chen push hands

we spent this Sunday continuing chen push hands. this time, however, Sifu had us progress to the next stage in push hands, with the switch being an emphasis on hwa and na jing. in push hands, this means using the exercise to try and position yourself to launch an attack against the opponent. this requires that you not only sense the other person's actions (ting jing), but also redirect their action (hwa jing) and then control them in a way that you are positioned to attack (na jing). this involves a transition between states of no force and force.

Sifu also commented that in order for us to get the full benefit of this exercise, we needed to utilize our entire bodies--not just arms and hands, but also start trying to engage our bodies and legs in contact with the opponent. in addition, he also said we needed to start varying the range and scale of our movements, so that it was not just circles of a fixed radius, but varying paths of varying shapes of varying sizes in varying directions.

this added several layers of complexity, and was quite a challenge to adjust to. i wasn't quite comfortable with this, and i think it's going to take some time to get used to this.

kuen wu erlu

we finished the day by starting the kuen wu erlu form. this is essentially the 2nd level of kuen wu jian, and differs from the 1st level in that it incorporates power. Sifu reviewed some of the basic history, noting that while the form originally came from elsewhere, the 2nd level incorporated some of the power issuing concepts taught by Li Shu Wen in his baji/piqua and spear training, and was meant to make kuen wu jian more effective for fighting. we went a few moves into the form, and practiced these a few times.

day 182: many many things

concepts:

• directions
• formality
  

lessons:

• pao quan applications
• bagua forest palm
• kyudo
  

i've been quite sick this week, either because of food poisoning (some bad fish) or because of a virus that's been having its way on campus. either way, the symptoms have been digestive issues, intense nausea, diarrhea, high fever, and severe weakness. as a result, i haven't been inclined to take time to do much of a write-up regarding last weekend, and this post and the next are going to be pretty short.

pao quan applications

my pao quan lesson this past Friday was a continued refinement of the form, but with a fair amount of time devoted to reviewing applications. there were a number of applications that i realized we hadn't covered, and Sifu said we might as well make sure to go through everything. in addition, he also showed me alternative applications for some of the techniques.

he observed that a lot of them were obvious to him, to an extent that he often doesn't think it's necessary to show them, but that he forgets that for people without a background in martial arts it all is largely obscure. he also noted that because there were different applications possible in the various techniques, that there were several different acceptable variations in the movements associated with them in the form--but that the variations were okay only so long as it was apparent that the person doing the form understands the applications in the variations.

bagua forest palm

this Saturday we continued forest palm. we began with a review of what we'd learned to date, both of the form and the applications in it. we then went about another 8 moves further into the form, and spent the class refining our movement.

Sifu observed that one of the major ways forest palm differs from xiao kai men and 64 palms is that it utilizes different directions. xia kai men and 64 palms work either in line or on a circle. in contrast, forest palm breaks away from both and involves constant change in direction, with movements moving continuously in directions that match neither a line or a circle. Sifu commented this is a reflection of the form's emphasis on teaching you how to use bagua in any direction at any time, and is part of why it is useful in learning how to apply techniques against multiple opponents, who invariably attack from multiple directions at once.

kyudo

the kyudo lesson today featured 2 other beginners besides myself. as a result, Sensei Beal took us as a group and introduced us to the basic 8 steps in the kyudo form, emphasizing breathing and timing in relation each of the 8 steps. following this, he had one of the senior students (an older Japanese-American man everyone calls "Doc") teach us the basics of kyudo stepping (which looks and feels suspiciously like bagua stepping) and rising in and out of a sitting posture.

today was a bit of a lead-in to the very basic elements of kyudo and showed me just how formal an art it is, with clearly defined requirements for each component in the art extending from sitting and meditating to walking and posture, never mind shooting and setting up the bow. it's very different from the kung fu, which is much more performance and applications-driven, but i suspect this is why kyudo has the suffix "do" (which is the Japanese word for "way"), since it is a refined art form dedicated to making an elevated aesthetic and spiritual experience of what traditionally was very much a performance-driven martial art.

in essence, from what i can see, kyudo isn't about being practical, and isn't meant to be such, whereas the kung fu i've been learning is, and you can see the difference in what is taught--and neither is better or worse than the other, but they are nonetheless very much different in this way. of course, this should not be taken to say that one is "prettier" or more spiritual than the other, since i see these aspects in both, but it is to say that one makes it a point of emphasis more so than the other in terms of the focus of teaching...at least, for this stage in my training.

day 181: chang quan, forest palm, & kyudo

concepts:

• smooth
• extension
  
• connections
• power, without fa
  
• zen

lessons:

• pao quan
• forest palm
• kyudo

i'm changing the organization of these blog posts slightly. typically, the headings always listed "concepts" and "forms," with the "forms" giving the list of section headings and sections in the blog post. this week, however, i began taking kyudo lessons, which is the japanese art of archery, and so something that is not really a form that can be readily listed with the others being taught. as a result, i'm stepping one layer back upwards in the taxonomy, and using that as the new organizational device for blog sections, so that the new section headings will be "lessons," which i see as providing more flexibility in organization that can fit the differing styles and forms and subjects that i'm learning.

i see this as being the direction for the foreseeable future.

pao quan

the pao quan lesson today worked on refining the form, and also finishing off the final moves. i still have a number of lingering issues, but i think the situation is manageable in that the process of refinement is ultimately about addressing 1 issue at a time.

beyond this, however, i also had an extended discussion with Sifu regarding some of the concepts that he thought i needed--not just in terms of chang quan, but in terms of my martial arts in general. he noted the following:

• smooth: Sifu said that at this stage of my development i should focus on doing the form smooth. similar to the acronym SLED he gave to the tai chi class (slow, long, even, deep), he said i should do the same thing, but with the "s" being smooth. currently, he said i tended to have a lot of stop-and-go movements, with the rhythm of the form being broken. this is an issue, in that it throttles the power generation in the techniques, since it stops momentum and suppresses range of motion, both things which are necessary for the techniques to work.
  
• extension: i'm working on being consistent in the extension of my movements, but it's still inconsistent. thsi is an issue, since a lot of the techniques in pao quan require a certain amount of follow-through to be effective, and the follow-through is only possible by extending fully into the techniques. Sifu said that focusing on smoothness in my movements would go a long way towards alleviating this problem.
• hwa, na, not fa: Sifu commented that i was focusing too much on injecting fa jing (explosive energy) into the movements. but in doing so, i was skipping over the other aspects of jing, particularly hwa (receiving and redirecting) and na (positioning and control). similar to tai chi, chang quan requires the sequence of ting, hwa, na, and then fa jing--i should note this makes sense, seeing that tai chi originated from chang quan.
• connections: Sifu also warned me to not ignore the connections between the techniques. if anything, the connections are even more important than the techniques themselves. the connections serve as transitions enabling the practitioner to carry over energy--and hence power--into new directions. they also serve to integrate ting, hwa, and na jing into movements, setting the practitioner into positions to generate fa jing. as a result, they are necessary precursors to produce effective results.
  

i should observe that at this point we ended up going into a much more general conversation about the nature of power generation in martial arts--at least, TCMA. it began when Sifu noted that power generation in kung fu does not require fa jing, or explosive energy. in fact, kung fu can actually be effective without it altogether. we touched on a number of points:

• his perspective is that power exerted by the body is really an application of physics. in which case, there is more than just simply explosive action. instead, proper positioning and direction of force along certain paths of motion (i.e., ting, hwa, na) can serve to disrupt and breakdown an opponent.
• this is why he says that movements in techniques should not be directed at the opponent, but should actually be directed through the opponent--because it means that your movements are acting to disrupt and breakdown the opponent's structure. in essence, this means that you have to follow-through, which is why extension is important, since you have to train the body to fully extend through a range of motion to ingrain the follow-through into your body's memory.
• because power can be generated through a variety of ways, fa jing is really just an option. it's not necessary. if anything, it's just a bonus.
• power generation, in a martial arts context, has to be constantly available. in other words, the movements need to have set you up to exert power at any moment. this is necessary, since in a combat situation you have to be able to react to anything your opponent(s) may do. this is why it's important to focus on smooth and continuous movements, with connections that flow seamlessly from one to the other, since this means you are maximizing your ability to apply force in any direction in any time based on whatever you think is necessary to address an opponent's choice of action.
  

i asked Sifu if these apply to other styles--i could see that they are consistent with chang quan, tai chi, and bagua, but was curious about other styles like baji, which is renowned for its fa jing. he responded that you can visualize the power generation in baji as being like a firecracker, with the fa jing being the explosion. in contrast, he noted that power generation in bagua is like a smooth running engine--it doesn't appear spectacular or impressive, but you still risk serious injury if you allow yourself to be put into contact with its moving parts.

beyond this, however, he asserted that there are serious misconceptions held by many people about martial arts, at least in regards in TCMA, and specifically for northern TCMA. he reiterated his belief that one of the defining characteristics for northern TCMA is the consistent use of all jings: ting, hwa, na, and fa. even with baji, he said it is a misnomer held by many that baji quan is exclusively about fa jing. he demonstrated a few baji moves for me, and pointed out that in each one there is a sequence of ting, hwa, and na that precedes the fa jing. going further, he showed how the baji moves could still be effective without the fa jing.

he extended the demonstration by showing a few bagua movements for comparison, and then pointed out that while bagua may appear to be a converse of baji, in that bagua emphasizes ting, hwa, and na jing, it still allows fa jing to be exerted anywhere in its movements. he pointed out that the more advanced stages of bagua actually incorporate fa jing into bagua movements, particularly the fist and arm forms. an intelligent practitioner, he argued, could actually learn 64 palms, xiao kai men, or even mother palm, and see how fa jing could be utilized within them.

i asked him if this is why so many people find power generation in bagua so difficult, because they can't understand and utilize the idea of using appropriate movements (i.e., specific force in specific directions following specific paths) to apply the energy (i.e., angular & linear momentum) and the physics (i.e., kinetic & potential energy, center of mass, etc.) of action. he affirmed this, and said this is in part because it's very difficult to see, and so hard to grasp. but he noted that it was the same thing with baji, since it is so subtle and occurs so fast that people frequently never recognize that it is there.

this means that all styles--at least, with northern TCMA--express both hard and soft elements in their advanced stages. their curriculum may follow different sequences in terms of which elements are taught first, but in the end they all incorporate all aspects of hard and soft, and integrate all forms of jing.

Sifu then returned to the notions of smoothness and connections. he said that in his opinion the earlier stages of any curriculum of any style, at least in northern TCMA, should focus on developing smoothness and connections in movements. this serves to set the stage, or base, that allows a practitioner to exert fa jing at will--and the key words are at will. in essence, you don't have to exert fa jing the same way or the same time as anyone else does or anyone else shows...in fact you don't want to do this at all, since your decisions to generate power, via fa jing or any other method, should really be a function of what is going on in combat, and what you choose to do in relation to your opponent. in essence, it all depends on what your opponent is doing.

Sifu finished by then discussing the historical order of the various martial arts he knows, so as to provide some context as to the development of thinking regarding the concepts we'd covered. bagua is the most recent, and reflects a fairly sophisticated level if thinking that exploits the insight that power generation can be done through the physics of movement, rather than explosion. tai chi is older, and shows an earlier expression of the principles that were expanded in bagua, and you can see that tai chi really was the product of martial arts practitioners who took long fist and modified it to focus more on concepts of ting, hwa, and na jing--even though they would then keep the option (just like bagua or any other northern TCMA) of using fa jing within it if a situation called for it.

baji/piqua are slightly older, and came from a different source than the others, but you can still see that the people who developed it were following a line of reasoning that still worked with the same concepts used by the other styles.

chang quan is the oldest, and expresses all the concepts at the most fundamental level. having said this, Sifu noted that it is still just as difficult to grasp, since so many of the movements don't clearly demonstrate ting, hwa, na, and fa jing, or the nature of the techniques and the transitions connecting them. there are many nuances, and unfortunately many people have either never learned them, or they gloss over them without realizing their importance. Sifu observed that it's unfortunate that so much of modern wushu works with chang quan, since it has served to distort chang quan and given a very skewed image of it to the public.

of course, the oldest by far is shuai jiao, since it traces back before the start of the Christian calendar. and in many ways, it's also the most basic, working with the most elementary concepts of the human body. but it precedes the development in understanding and reasoning that began with chang quan and which was picked up by the later styles.

Sifu commented that it is somewhat useful to travel to China to visit with people who have preserved these styles, since you can clearly see the progression in thinking in the original versions. this is why he said so many people recognize the martial arts practiced in the Muslim regions of China, because the Muslim Chinese tended to preserve their martial arts very well, and so allow you to see the thinking of the styles as when they were originally conceived. he cautioned, however, that the number of practitioners who preserve the older traditional styles is decreasing, since so many of them are old and hence in the process of dying off. this makes it harder to see the original TCMA. it doesn't help that the newer generation of practitioners has been influenced by modern wushu, which has done little to preserve the traditional versions of TCMA. Sifu said this is why it's important that any TCMA practitioner visiting China schedule time during their tours to meet with the old masters and see their martial arts, because chances are they won't be around for long.

this was the end of the session, and Sifu said that the next time we'd work on refining my movements, and then also work on alternative techniques in the form.

forest palm

Sifu scheduled this saturday as the start of forest palms. he had us practice 64 palms side B for awhile, and then led us through the initial movements of forest palm.

by way of introduction Sifu noted the following:

• forest palm assumes that the practitioner is already well-versed with a large number of concepts and movements, and so is reserved for more advanced students who have a firm grounding in the earlier stages of the bagua curriculum
• forest palm develops the components of bagua that apply to confronting multiple opponents at once--2, 3, or more. to do this, practitioners utilize dummies consisting of wooden poles, sometimes as many as 8, and do the form weaving in and out and among the wooden poles to mimic the actions undertaken against the corresponding number of opponents.
• the techniques in forest palm feature further variations in applications compared to xiao kai men or 64 palms, even though they may appear similar, and so can serve to demonstrate a larger array of interpretations
  

we went about 8 moves into forest palm, and spent the bulk of time working on the form and learning their applications. we finished with this, and went to lunch.

kyudo

Saturday evening marked my 1st kyudo class. i seriously considered skipping this today, since i was feeling a little tired. but i figured i had committed to this, and that it would be good for me to follow through.

the kyudo dojo is held at the Japanese Cultural Institute in Pasadena, and is run by Sensei Rick Beal, who it turns out is also a zen monk. from what i can tell, based on initial impressions, things are somewhat informal but also very formal--there is no set curriculum following a specific timetable that people follow, either in terms of each class or their long-term development; there is, however, clearly defined rituals and steps in terms of sutras, the kyudo forms, dojo practices, and opening and closing activities.

originally, i had meant to attend last weak, but Sensei had informed me that last week they held no class, and has asked i wait until this week. for today, as a make-up, it turned out they had an extended session starting from 3pm and going until their usual finishing time around 10pm (note: the usual class time is about 5:30-10pm).

for today, i spent the class observing, and having conversations with some of the other students as well as with Sensei. we ended up talking quite a bit about zen, and spirituality, as well as the nature of breathing, the nuances of the japanese kyudo bow, and the coordination of body movements (particularly the spine and dantian) to facilitate the actions involved in movement (including, but not limited to, using a bow).

i have to say i enjoyed this. it's definitely a change of pace, and in many ways a much more reflective endeavor. it's a good way to end the day. i'm glad i went, and i can see this becoming a regular part of my schedule...i just have to keep doing it. but i think this is something i can manage.

quarterly summary - Q3, 2008

this quarterly summary is WAY late. no excuse. i've just been so busy that i completely forgot about it. this one is going to be short, because things are still pretty hectic. as always, this follows the previous quarterly summary (reference: quarterly summary - Q2, 2008).

original goals

as given in the last quarterly summary, the objectives for this quarter were:

• continue attending class
• continue practicing during the week outside of class
• continue learning applications
• work on qi-gong
  
• refine pao quan, and maybe (if time permits) start learning applications for chang quan
  
• refine the bagua leg form
  
• refine yang & chen tai chi long forms
• continue learning push hands
  
• refine kuen wu jian yilu, and start learning erlu and the jian shu basics
  
• keep learning the nuances of theory to better understand its applications
• prepare for full-speed full-contact fighting at the Las Vegas tournament

summary of events

with respect to the curriculum, this is what has been covered this past quarter:

• refinement & applications, 64 palms: palm changes 1-8, A & B
• continued jian shu basics

other things this quarter that were not in the curriculum:

• prepped for the Las Vegas tournament

evaluation

i'm somewhat satisfied with the progress on the goals for this quarter. i started my search for a tenure-track job (yes, i am a professor), and also had to start work as an adjunct professor. which made for a very big increase in my workload. this reduced the amount of available time i had, and so resulted in the following situation:

• continue attending class: things were a little so-so. i made all the weekend classes, but dropped the week classes at UCLA (personal reasons...you'd know if you knew me)
  
• continue practicing during the week outside of class: this was a little spotty as well, as there were a few weeks i had some injury issues and had to rest
  
• continue learning applications: this is a given
  
• work on qi-gong: spotty. definitely spotty. didn't have as much time with this as i would have liked. but hopefully i'll be able to devote more time to it over the winter.
  
• refine pao quan, and maybe (if time permits) start learning applications for chang quan: this is something i spoke with Sifu about, and we decided to put this off until after the Las Vegas tournament
  
• refine the bagua leg form: bleah. did not do this at all. i know the form, but i've only managed to put in a couple of practice sessions on it.
  
• refine yang & chen tai chi long forms: ditto.
  
• continue learning push hands: we did a little of this, but the bulk of time was spent prepping for the Las Vegas tournament
  
• refine kuen wu jian yilu, and start learning erlu and the jian shu basics: ditto
  
• keep learning the nuances of theory to better understand its applications: ditto
  
• prepare for full-speed full-contact fighting at the Las Vegas tournament: this was the bulk of time
  

observations

my comments can be summarized as follows:

• tournament: there ended up being a conflict between the beginner sparring and the jian shu. Sifu had told me the jian shu was the higher priority in his opinion, since it was the first time it was being held as a formal component in the tournament, and so i decided to withdraw from beginner sparring and help out Alex as a judge. this turned out to be a good move, since we ended up actually being short-handed on jian shu judges, and found ourselves with absolutely no time other than just running the tournament.
  
• the future: well, now that i have a gig as an adjunct professor, i'm actually overflowing with work, and am very busy. but i'm lucky, seeing that the economy has seriously hurt a lot of people. and being an adjunct buys me time while i look for a tenure-track job. so i get to keep up my studies in the martial arts.
  

objectives for the future

somewhat the same themes, but just some changes:

• continue attending class
• continue practicing during the week outside of class
• continue learning applications
• work on qi-gong
  
• refine pao quan, and maybe start learning applications for chang quan
  
• continue learning bagua
  
• continue learning tai chi
• continue learning push hands
  
• refine kuen wu jian yilu, and start learning erlu and the jian shu basics
  
• keep learning the nuances of theory to better understand its applications

i should also note i'm thinking of taking a kyudo class. it's japanese archery, and not entirely related to anything i'm learning now. but i've always had a curiosity about japanese archery, more as a spiritual exercise, and it turns out there is a place in Pasadena that teaches it. so i'd like to give it a try, hopefully starting with the fall classes at UCLA and USC.

rock and roll.

day 180: a different push hands

forms:

• push hands, tai chi

this is a super short post.

we focused on push hands today, but a different variation. Master Chow was visiting from Hong Kong, and had decided to pay a visit to the class. Sifu decided that since we were working on the Chen-style push hands that in the lineage of Du Yu-ze, it would be useful to compare with the push hands used in Master Chow's Yang tai chi. this was meant to provide a comparative analysis, and thereby provide some perspective as to the nature of push hands and how it is used by differing schools of tai chi.

we spent this Sunday working with Master Chow. after warming up with several repeitions of the Chen long form, Sifu had Master Chow show us the very basic 2-person push hands he teaches in his school.

i have to say it is dramatically different from the push hands Sifu teaches (either the Chen or Yang), even though the purpose is the same: teaching ting jing. Master Chow's version remains largely in a horizontal plane, and has both partners remain stationary, with the only movements coming from changes in stances, turning of the waist and hips, and the adjustments of the upper body. having said that, i should note that some of the applications involved in his push hands are still the same, and so still consistent with what we're learning.

we consumed the class with this, and then joined Master Chow and his family for lunch.

day 179: ongoing refinement, and further into pao quan

concepts:

• forward

forms:

• 64 palms, side B
• pao quan
  

this post is going to be a little short, since i'm a little bogged down with work. but this past Saturday was largely a continuation of what we've been doing before, so there isn't too much to add other than just note some ongoing instructions.

64 palms, side B

we continued with our refinement of side B, following the same pattern as last week of Sifu reviewing our forms after some practice. Phunsak had apparently suffered an injury in judo, and so wasn't available to lead us. John Eagles took that duty, and we worked on palms 4-6, and then went on to review palms 7-8.

Sifu asked to see our side B, palms 1-4. with my rendition, he noted that i was doing the 2nd half of palm 2 the same way i was doing the 2nd half of palm 6, which is actually wrong. he said the techniques are different, with the 2nd half of palm 2 involving smaller circles in a slightly more vertical plane, while the 2nd half of palm 6 is much larger in motion and more on a horizontal plane.

pao quan

the pao quan lesson from Friday carried me about 80% of the way through the form. things went a little bit faster, since i was getting a better feel for the general nature of chang quan and could extend its flavor further. Sifu ended up spending more time going through the applications, explaining what each move was.

as an experiment, Sifu went into a pattern were he quizzed me on what i thought a particular technique's application was before he'd actually shown me. turns out i was wrong most of the time. Sifu noted that he could see the applications when first learned it, but that this was because he had come from a martial arts background and already had an understanding of what techniques, targets, and options were possible for certain kinds of movements. this gave him an intuitive sense to understand a martial arts style.

for someone like me without such a background, it's much harder to see the applications in the movements. it doesn't help that chang quan is a lot like bagua in that a lot of the techniques are hidden, and not meant to be easily determined just from viewing.

we could have finished the form Friday, but i think it was better to hold off on the remainder until next week.

day 178: refinement side B cont'd

concepts:

• dynamic bow-and-arrow
• memory
  

forms:

• 64 palms side B
• pao quan
  

we had a surprise visitor, with Andre making a return. he apparently wanted some help reviewing the miao dao, so had shown up with his weapons. we ended up having a conversation regarding miao dao purchases, particularly after he saw the one i bought in Las Vegas, and especially after talking with Phunsak about a potential order.

64 palms side B

Phunsak ended up working with Andre on the miao dao, so we had John Eagles take over leading the group through 64 palms side B. we repeated the practice pattern from last week, reviewing each palm change in a line. during a few breaks, i also took the opportunity to review side A, since it suddenly occurred to me that i was starting to mix a few of the palm changes from both sides with each other (something not desirable, and definitely an issue)...it's quite funny how memory works--if you don't keep testing it, it can fade and deteriorate with surprising alacrity.

as a surprise, Art also arrived, bringing with him Phunsak's bagua dao. it is a monstrous sword, shaped like a 2-handed sabre, but extending a full 5 feet. it's quite heavy, and not something you're going to use with the dexterity of a smaller weapon like a jian, but very much a lethal weapon in that it could easily cleave through a large animal (like a horse or a cow). i was shocked to see it.

Art's arrival with the bagua dao essentially provided an excuse to end the class, since by this time we were nearing noon. we took a few extra minutes when Andre asked to review the kuen wu jian form, and i joined him and Phunsak to do a few iterations of the form. after this, the entire group went to lunch.

pao quan

regarding chang quan, i had my second private session with Sifu on pao quan yesterday. we went back through the section that i had learned the 1st day, and then went further to about the halfway point of the form. the focus was on refining the movements and understanding the physics of each technique.

i was a little perplexed by the initial walking section, which involves a duck-like walk with the hands upraised (similar to the arm position in bagua's big bird). apparently, the walk is supposed to be a progression of bow-and-arrow stances forward, with no up-or-down movement and the forward momentum generated from the extended rear leg pushing off the ground. this seemed to pose all sorts of vexing coordination issues for me, and i ended up having to take some time to really focus on this.

this lasted about 2 hours, at which point my mind was hitting the saturation phase, and i was relieved to end things for the lesson.

day 177: moving push hands

concepts:

• movement
• force
  

forms:

• chen push hands
• chen hwa jing drills
• chang quan
  

this Sunday was another small crowd, with 6 people total. since people showed up at various times, everyone was in various stages of warming up or reviewing forms when Sifu arrived.

chang quan

Sifu took the opportunity to check my chang quan, correcting some lingering issues from Friday. he had me work on this awhile while he looked over Phunsak and John Eagles (Phunsak was teaching John the yang tai chi long form), Josan (who is refining the chen tai chi long form), and Jonathan Shen (who is continuing on mantis).

i managed to remember more of the form today, and so had some more confidence in going through the part i'd worked on this past Friday. of course, i found i'd also promptly forgotten a couple of points i'd gotten that day, and so had to work on them a bit to make sure i retained them. but the movements felt more natural, which i take as something positive.

chen push hands

Sifu eventually started our chen tai chi lesson. he started by having us perform a series of tests, wherein some of us were positioned to form obstacles, and the rest were asked to walk towards the "obstacles" and navigate through them. the catch was that this was to be done with eyes closed.

Sifu had us do 3 exercises with this: 1) walking forward with eyes closed towards a partner about 10 meters away, with the goal of stopping within a foot of them, 2) walking forward with eyes closed towards 2 partners standing an arms-length from each other and 10 meters away, with the goal of walking through the arms-length gap between them, and 3) walking forward with eyes closed towards 3 partners with arms-length spaces between them and 10 meters away, with the goal of initially walking towards 1 gap, and then changing direction about 2 meters away to the other gap.

the results were mixed. we all found ourselves accomplishing this with varying degrees of success.

Sifu said this was a demonstration of a "sixth sense", in that it is possible to utilize an additional sense to detect the positions and actions of other people, even when you can't see or hear them. Sifu said that this isn't really so far-fetched, in that it's really just the employment of bio-magnetic sensitivity--something which animals (e.g., birds) use all the time, and something which humans (just like any other animal) have. the problem is that humans, particularly in modern times, have been taught to distrust or ignore their bio-magnetic sensitivity, and so have to be trained to know and use it.

Sifu stressed that the purpose of push hands is exactly this. he said push hands develops ting jing, but that this didn't just involve sensitivity in terms of the usual 5 senses (i.e., see, feel, hear, smell, taste), but also sensing bio-magnetic energy. this is the reason why he wants us to do push hands with our eyes closed and with as little noise as possible, so as to force us to rely on other senses (i.e., our "sixth sense"). this way, we'll develop it, and be able to use it to sense our opponent's actions.

finishing with this, he then had us resume the chen push hands, building upon last week by asking that this time we incorporate footwork. essentially, it's push hands, but done while stepping backwards and forwards with either foot of either partner's choice.

the goal of this is to increase the complexity of the exercise, with either partner free to adjust stance and foot positioning as well as orientation of hands. in essence, it adds additional variables to push hands in the form of lower body work. the motive, however, is still the same: to develop ting jing, but with your sensitivity not just in the hands and arms, but also in sensing the opponent's lower body movements.

i worked with Phunsak on this, and we ended up having a marathon moving push hands session, with no breaks. in addition, we increased the complexity level, with me experimenting with the integration of bagua footwork and Phunsak utilizing varying levels of speed and force and acceleration/deceleration. this was a bit of a challenge, particularly since i had my eyes closed, and required a lot of concentration. we kept this up until Sifu told us to stop, which wasn't for quite some time.

chen hwa jing drills

next, Sifu gathered us together and reminded us about the tai chi principle of "4 ounces of force redirects 1,000 pounds." this is a pretty well-known principle, and one closely tied to push hands. Sifu, however, said that there were other drills we could and should use to develop this specific skill.

for today, he introduced us to the very basic drill. it involves 2 partners facing each other in relaxed postures. one partner serves as the "attacker" and tries to reach out to push the other partner, who is the "defender." the "defender" tries to redirect the attacker's push, but not by using direct force-on-force confrontation, but instead by trying to locate the spots on the opponent's arms where they can use minimal force while still deflecting the attacker's push. the deflection needs to be in a direction that renders the attack harmless to the defender--either up, to the side, or down. in addition, the attacker needs to act in a random fashion, so the defender doesn't know where the attacks are coming from.

the objectives of this drill are to 1) develop the ting jing "sixth sense" to read and detect the attacker's actions, and then 2) follow the ting jing by applying hwa jing in an easy, effortless manner to neutralize the attacker's actions.

we worked on this for the remainder of class, exchanging roles and changing stances. Sifu said this was a good warm-up exercise, and that he'd like to see us use this to start every class, since it works the foundational building blocks of tai chi fighting skills.

by this time it was around noon, and both Sifu and Phunsak had planned to attend Master Su's (not Su Yuchang, but Su Fu-Zing--sic?) in Long Beach, which was at 2pm. so we closed class to go to lunch and allow enough time for them to get to Long Beach.

day 176: memory is a tricky thing

concepts:

• nuances
• looseness
• balance
• extension
• memory
• explosiveness
  

forms:

• 64 palms, side B
• chang quan
  

things seemed to start pretty late today, which was ironic considering that i thought i was struggling to get myself to class. i've started having private lessons with Sifu on Fridays in chang quan, with the 1st session yesterday. i'll post summaries of these sessions with these Saturday posts, since i don't think they warrant independent write-ups, particularly since Sifu wants to concentrate on refinement of my chang quan and also cover combat applications.

people straggled in slowly. for a good portion of time, the only people present were Siwannda, John Eagles, and me. while we waited, we ended up spending most of our mutual time talking to a prospective new student, Gloria, who initially visited back in June but then went away. she seems intent on giving an extended try to class, and had a fair number of questions, most of which i deferred to John and Siwannda. John took it upon himself to show Gloria the bagua stances, taking her on a brief lesson through each one.

Sifu and Phunsak arrived later, but Phunsak was having some stomache issues (i still think it was a case of food poisoning from some bad sushi he had the previous day--Simon even noted that Phunsak made the mistake of eating a spicy tuna roll, which was invented to allow use of old tuna...i'd trust Simon on this one, since he's a sushi chef). as a result, Sifu asked that the bagua students take it upon ourselves to continue refining side B while he went to work with the baji students, and said he'd return to evaluate us.

64 palms, side B

we went through each of the palm changes for side B, following the same pattern as last week. this time, however, since everyone was feeling more adventurous, we also experimented on doing it in a circle. Eric bowed out of this, and dedicated his attention to helping Gloria with some bagua basics.

when Sifu returned, he watched us again for evaluation. i did a little better this week, but largely because i could remember the individual palm changes a little better.

we finished class with this and went to lunch.

chang quan

the private lesson yesterday was a bit involved. the plan is basically to work through chang quan, since Sifu believes that 1) it will help rectify a lot of issues i'm having in bagua (and elsewhere), 2) help me get a better sense of the origins of a lot of northern chinese martial arts (and thereby put a lot of what we're learning in historical perspective), and 3) provide a more simplified aspect of northern chinese martial arts combat applications (compared to the changes in approach introduced by later styles like tai chi, bagua, etc.). since the class curriculum is pretty set, and i appear to be the only one of the newer students interested in this, we agreed to make it a separate teaching session.

it turns out i'm not the only one getting private lessons--Tommy is getting additional instruction in spear and fight training (i.e., drills and bag work). he was finishing his lesson when i arrived, and stuck around to see what i was doing.

i asked Sifu if we could start from tantui, particularly the combat applications, since i've never gotten them. but he said this is something that will come out in the process of learning pao quan, and so it would be more efficient to just refine my pao quan for now.

he began by noting that the pao quan in chang quan is NOT the same as the pao quan in chen tai chi quan. the pao quan in chang quan is actually a different ideograph (i.e., character), and the pronounciation involves a slightly different tonal variation. unfortunately, because so many chinese students were illiterate and so many of them became sloppy with the pronounciation, the 2 forms became confused with each other. it didn't help when the styles were introduced to Western cultures, wherein the 2 forms both received the label "pao quan" even though they are very different.

Sifu wrote the characters for each down for me (although i didn't save them...at some point i'm going to have to ask him to write down the Chinese characters with accompanying English translation for EVERYTHING--it would clear up a lot of confusion and i suspect resolve a lot of ongoing debates floating in the Western world). he showed that the pao quan in chang quan is actually translated into "running fist," and thus reflects the training purpose of the form, which is:

• help students develop dynamic power
• indoctrinate students in the need to constantly move while fighting
• teach students how techniques are supposed to work in a state of constant motion
• develop overall fitness levels

in contrast, the pao quan in chen tai chi quan is translated into "cannon fist," and is more indicative of the form's focus on introducing students to a way of generating greater power in tai chi techniques.

Sifu then said that the version of chang quan he's been teaching is jia men chang quan (Islamic long fist). he knows others (emei, or plum flower, and taizu being among them), but he teaches jia men since 1) it's the standard introductory style taught in the Wutan curriculum, and 2) it contains a very clearly defined progression in the curriculum, with the basic-level tantui fulfilling a very specific set of objectives, the intermediate pao quan aimed at a different and distinct set of goals, and the advanced chao quan directed at its own unique purposes.

from there, he started me directly with pao quan, first asking me to perform as much as i could remember. he stopped me about a quarter of the way through and said this was a good portion to work on for the day. we went back and started from the beginning, with him showing me the refinements for each movement. he also demonstrated the combat applications, and pointed out why the details were so important.

my notes on this are as follows:

• nuances. there are a LOT of nuances. as much as chang quan is often perceived as "simple" or direct relative to other styles (like bagua), i'm seeing a lot of subtleties--and they're all important, since Sifu showed me just how much a difference they made in terms of the effectiveness of the techniques.
• looseness. chang quan requires a lot of suppleness, but not of a kind that means absolute relaxation. it calls for a constant transition in and out of states of relaxation and tension.
• balance. more so than tai chi, i'm seeing that it really tests balance. of course, this may be that pao quan is a dynamic form, and so involves being balanced while going from states of movement to stillness. but it's a new experience.
• extension. i have a bad habit of not extending my legs in certain movements. it's very apparent in pao quan, and i'm having to really think consciously about this. Sifu said this was one of the reasons he wanted me to learn pao quan, since he figures it will help me eliminate this habit.
• memory. my memory of pao quan is a little spotty. i had to struggle to recall some of the movements at certain points. but i figure this will be resolved through practice.
• explosiveness. pao quan calls for a lot more explosive movements than i'm used to. i'm having to adjust to this, particularly in terms of how the explosive movements are generated (some of it is plyometric, which i'm very familiar with, but some of it involves explosiveness generated from the feet, which i'm not so familiar with). but this too, i think i can pick up pretty easily with enough practice.
  

this consumed the entire session. we stopped about 1/4 of the way through the form. which was just as well, since my mind was getting saturated. there's a lot to remember--particularly in terms of the nuances. of course, the solution to all the above is pretty straightforward: practice, and lots of it. the issue is actually doing it.

Tommy actually stayed all the way through. we wrapped things up, and set the time as a regular slot in the calendar, meaning i'll be doing this every Friday. i'm looking forward to it--it feels like i'm learning history, and history is actually kind of fun.

day 175: things about the circle

concepts:

• circle
• energy
• focus
  

forms:

• 64 palms, side B

we had a number of people out this Saturday due to vacations or work, leaving the bagua group with just 4 of us (Phunsak, Ching-Chieh, John Eagles, and me).

Sifu started with both baji and bagua groups together to go over the plans for classes this fall, and also reminded everyone to settle the bills from the trip to Las Vegas. Phunsak said he needed to send out a reminder email, particularly since we haven't yet figured out just how to divide up the costs of the van ride to and from Vegas (made more complicated by the fact that i used my credit card, but neither i nor Phunsak rode the van back from Vegas). i figure we'll get it sorted out eventually, so no worries.

64 palms, side B

Sifu instructed Phunsak to lead us through a review of 64 palms, side B, and said he'd come back to evaluate where we were at. Phunsak decided to review the line forms of side B, and we took a fair amount of time going through the palm changes, working through 8 iterations of each palm. it turned out that there were a few confusing points for everyone, so it worked out to go through the review for all of side B. in particular, palms 4 and 6 still seem particularly vexing, since they both have different versions that we've learned.

this took awhile, and it was sometime before we were ready to have Sifu return. when he did, he had us perform side B individually in front of class, and then took time to make observations. since we're just starting to refine side B, he gave us the option of doing side B in a line or in a circle. i chose a circle, not so much because of the challenge (although, i admit, this was definitely the seductive side of it), but more because i've been practicing side A in a circle so often i figure i might as well stay consistent.

i struggled to remember side B at a couple of points, but managed to make it through. Sifu made the following comments for me:

• my eyes are wandering. this is a persistent problem. Sifu says he suspects it's because i'm still trying to remember the forms. still, i need to work on keeping my eyes focused on an imaginary opponent in front of me (in the case of 64 palms, this would be towards the center of the circle)...and my eyes shouldn't just be fixated on the center of the circle, but should be holding a general focus that also encompasses the surroundings beyond the center and outside the circle.
• the energy in my movements is currently being constrained within the circle. Sifu says this is a mistake in bagua--the circle should not be seen as the perimeter marking a boundary of activity, but more just a path you are following. as a result, your intent and your force vectors should be aimed within the boundary of the perimeter, but should instead be free to move in any direction in or out of the circle. in fact, it should be free to move in any direction at all....Sifu reminded me that bagua involves the creation and manipulation of whirlpools (vortices) upon which force vectors are to be applied, and that these vortices will take any orientation and any direction and any magnitude, and so as a result are only limited in the sense that they involve your body and your mind (which essentially means no limit at all) and follow you as you move along the circle--and just because you are moving along the circle doesn't mean that the vortices are confined to it; it just means that they trace their origin to your path, which happens to be along a perimeter of the circle.
• open. i need to be more open in my movements...and not just linearly, but in rotational movements as well.
• i need to practice the forms, so i can remember them better, and recall the intent behind their movements without having to think about them.
• i am not moving smoothly between techniques or palms. Sifu noted that this is crucial, in that part of the power generation in bagua comes from moving (i.e., dynamic) energy (which i take to mean borrowing the momentum...which requires a force vector with a sustained or non-zero magnitude, and hence smooth continuous motion). he noted side B really challenges this, and so is meant to help train this aspect of bagua power generation, and that i should treat it as a tool for helping me improve this.
  

regarding the second point, i asked Sifu if this means that the circle is really just a teaching tool to help practitioners understand the meaning of direction (and changing direction) and angles (relative to an opponent), and so has no other function in terms of instruction. he said in part the use of 64 palms in a circle is intended to do this, but that the use of circle walking in bagua is also meant as a larger framework to tie the bagua curriculum together, with basic components like mother palm and xaio kai men being taught via circle walking just as much as more advanced elements like 64 palms and forest palm, thereby giving students a starting point upon which they can gradually add and layer the components of their bagua education in a coherent, logically apparent manner.

additionally, Phunsak also noted that circle walking also had another role in terms of qi-gong, with the qi generation during circle walking being dramatically different than static or linear qi-gong. Sifu agreed, and said that this is another reason why circle walking is such an important component in the bagua curriculum.

Sifu also provided some additional background regarding side B, saying that it did not always exist, and that there are questions as to whether the original bagua taught by Dong Hai Quan had a side B (with the dominant viewing being no). the side B currently taught by the North American contigents of Wutan is one that was developed by Adam Hsu and Sifu sometime around 1982. there is another side B version developed earlier by Damon Hwang, and which is taught in other Wutan branches, but Sifu says it is dramatically different in appearance and movements. Sifu also noted that all current branches of bagua (Yin, Cheng, etc.) teach their own versions of side B.

Sifu pointed out that while all styles of bagua have their own unique side Bs, they are all consistent in that side B is meant to be a partner component to side A, wherein each palm change in side A has a corresponding palm change in side B. this means that any 2 partners can demonstrate the techniques in 64 palms by pairing off with one partner being side A and the other being side B, and then having both partners perform a palm change (palm change 1, palm change 2, etc.). this fulfills several different goals 1) it helps practitioners see the intent behind the techniques, 2) it helps practitioners get a sense of the movement and spacing in the techniques, and 3) it helps practitioners get a feel for the bagua fighting style, at least in terms of seeing its principles in action.

regarding the version of side B he teaches, Sifu said the hope had been to try and create a corresponding match to side A that 1) matched side A in intricacy, 2) matched side A in attack/defense/counter-attack, 3) matched seamlessly with side A in technique, 4) forced the practitioner to face situations challenging free-flowing movement (relating to my prior observations regarding power-issuing in bagua, this is crucial...in bagua, a lot of the power is built of free-flowing movement. reference: ), and 5) developed skills for issuing power in a variety of situations in addition to those taught by side A.

we eventually wrapped things up around 1, and took off for a post-class lunch.

day 174: the Sunday plan

forms:

• push hands, chen

we had an even lower turnout today compared to yesterday, and i think it was a continuation of the post-tournament hangover. i arrived early and was eventually joined by John Eagles and Phunsak, who were followed by Ching-Chieh and Jay. Sifu came and waited for a few minutes, but after a while decided we should just go ahead and start.

we began with a discussion of the plan for the Sunday classes. since the summer and tournament are over, we're returning to the schedule of class every other Sunday to go along with the regular weekly Saturdays. Sifu said his original plan was to continue with chen tai chi, in particular going into chen push hands and then moving onto pao quan. he also said he wanted to teach miao dao. however, he was willing to take alternative suggestions, since he was already providing private instruction in other areas to other students (apparently, Tommy and Simon are learning long spear).

Phunsak, for his part, has his own list of things he wants to cover. for me, i'm pretty happy with the plan, so i had no objections. i think Jay was more interested in staying with bagua, but i sense Sifu is going to reserve that for private lessons. as for Ching-Chieh, she doesn't seem to have any preferences which way or another.

taking stock of the situation, Sifu decided to just go with his plan. he said we'd spend today just doing an introduction to chen push hands, and continue with this for a few weeks.

push hands

in his introduction, Sifu said chen push hands is somewhat different from yang, in that it stresses more movement in terms of the body and the feet. practitioners don't remain as stationary as they do in yang, working instead on moving about the partner across the ground with the goal of trying to probe and enter the other person's defenses (or, conversely, defending against the other person's attack). as a result, it is much more dynamic and much more active in terms of speed, direction, force, and placement.

i should note, however, that push hands--at least as Sifu has taught it--was never meant to be the static, fixed-feet, single-plane-of-motion exercise it has become so frequently these days. push hands was always supposed to be a much more free-flowing, free-moving, free-form, complex-range-of-motion activity. this is because it was meant to be a stage in the tai chi curriculum preparing a practitioner to use tai chi in full-speed combat, and hence was supposed to help train the practitioner for the chaos of a combat situation. there were different variations of push hands corresponding to different stages in the progression to full-speed fighting, with each variation following one another in a progressive series gradually leading the practitioner to develop the skills needed to use tai chi in combat.

in addition, i should also reiterate Sifu's admonition from prior lessons that the term "push hands" is actually a very misleading title, and very likely an error in translation. in particular, for the initial stages of push hands training, where the goal is to focus on ting jing (i.e., sensing) and hwa jing (i.e., redirecting or receiving), the better translation is "listening hands" or "sensing hands."

Sifu began us with the very basic chen push hands. to be quite honest, this seemed almost identical with the yang push hands he taught in the UCLA class. the only difference i could see was that today he went farther into the "random circle" movements for the hands, arms, and torso that were shown in his tai chi DVD. since i've seen the video, i was pretty familiar with this.

he had us review the basic movements taught in the DVD, with the assumption that we were far enough along in our martial arts practice that we could pick them up pretty quickly. after a few minutes of this, he had us start with basic partner drills. for today, he said we should focus on just sensing the other person's movements and redirecting them away while avoiding direct force-on-force confrontation. he commented that eventually the drills would involve actually trying to apply--and defend against--tai chi attacks in free-form movement, but that for now we should just keep our feet stationary and work on feeling out the motions of another person in close proximity. he suggested we try closing our eyes and just relying on our hands and arms to sense our partner's movements.

we worked in pairs, switching between left and right sides and then shifting the way we faced each other (i.e., instead of both partners having their right sides forward, 1 partner would be leading with their right while the other would lead with their left). we also switched partners, to get used to different people.

one of the things i noticed with this exercise is that you can get a feel for another person's personality and mental state from their body movements. i recall my grandmother telling me that you could learn a lot about a potential love interest by dancing with them, and learn from their physical movements if they had the kind of character and personality that would be a good match for you. i've come to suspect the truth in this over the years, and i could see a lot of similarities with today.

generally, in a free-form situation where people are allowed to follow whatever movements they choose, you can tell by their choices and way of executing those choices just who they are and what they are thinking. here's what i mean:

• movements that are restricted to only a few types of action in a limited range of motion tend to be indicative of someone lacking creativity--either because they are not creative or because they are scared to be so, or because they are distracted in their mind and unable to think freely
• a push hands partner that is responsive to changes in your movements (in direction, force, speed, location, etc.) indicates someone who is open-minded, and willing to experiment with new conditions, particuarly if they do so without resistance
• a person who responds instinctively with an immediate response of physical resistance (even if they then switch to soft receptiveness) suggests someone not as open-minded
• actions that are applied with a level of physical power throughout the range of motion suggests someone fixed in their mode of thinking--although, variation in that power can show some flexibility in thinking (i.e., creativity and open-mindedness), particularly if the magnitude of variation is great (i.e., goes from emptiness to firmness)
  

the trick here is to determine just how creative and just how open-minded a person is, and thereby actually reading something about their personality and character...which leads to the real trick, which is to then figure out what you are supposed to do about it.

i mentioned all of this to Sifu and he replied "of course." so i guess this is something that most practitioners seem to know. still, i found it interesting, since it let me see more of the personalities of the other people in the class. i'm going to have to continue developing this as we go further in push hands.

we finished the day around 12:30, and Sifu reminded us that the next Sunday class would be in 2 weeks.

day 173: recovery

forms:

• 64 palms side B

Saturday was a slow-moving day. turnout was a little low, and everyone was moving at a pretty leisurely pace. i think a lot of it was a post-tournament hangover, with everyone still recovering from the prior weekend trip to the Las Vegas tournament and the immediately subsequent disciple ceremony (more on this below). that, and i also think that everyone was in the process of trying to catch up on a lot of school and work that had been postponed because the tournament, meaning that everyone's mind was otherwise occupied.

i should note that Sifu and several other members of his generation in the Wutan organization (Masters Yang, Hom, Wong, and Su) conducted a disciple ceremony the previous Monday (Labor Day), with several senior students from Kurt Wong's school and our school being officially inducted as disciples into the Wutan system. it was a pretty formal ceremony, and a reflection of Sifu's plans to try and institutionalize Wutan Los Angeles as a formal branch of the international Wutan organization.

i would have taken pictures of the ceremony, but the battery in my camera died (booooooooo!!!), and so i have nothing really to show. i can say that it was typical of most ceremonies you see for induction into any organization, with formalities and oaths and celebration. but it was also different, in the sense that 1) it followed a lot of Chinese traditions, none of which i am familiar with, 2) it was in Mandarin (sic?), of which i know nothing, and 3) involved some secret lessons (well, sort of...it was not so secret in the sense that the doors were still open when they were presented, but it was still secret in the sense that everything was in Mandarin and so i didn't have a clue about anything that was said, raid, or fed). it was, to say the least, intriguing. i'll leave it at that.

64 palms side B

Sifu announced his plan to begin refinement of 64 palms side B. he wanted to wrap up the refinement of side A, and then spend some time on side B, which should consolidate everyone's form enough to enable learning forest palms. he instructed Phunsak to lead the review of side B, and then went to work with the baji and mantis students.

we spent the remainder of class on side B, doing several iterations of each palm (the usual 8 per palm) along a line. i took some time during breaks to also go through some of side A, just to refresh my memory.

most everyone went to lunch at the end of class, but i had to skip it today, since i had to meet a friend of mine at UCLA to have him show me the library system.

day 172: las vegas kung fu tournament

well, we finally had the big trip to the Las Vegas Kung Fu Tournament.

this was a first time for me, and i figured to just go and experience things. as a result, i didn't have any expectations.

originally, i was entered the beginner sparring competition and was also serving as a referee for the sword sparring competition, but i knew there was a conflict between the 2 and the chances of me being able to do both were pretty slim. this was all the more assured by the announcement that the organizers were going to try and have everything in 1 day, compressing the schedule. with this in mind, i'd pretty much made up my mind that if there was a conflict, i was going to referee the sword sparring, since it seemed to be a bigger event and something that involved a lot more people than just me (as opposed to just beginner sparring, which only involved me), and hence had greater significance that called for greater priority.

the tournament was hosted by Tony Yang and Nick Skrima. Tony is a kung fu brother of our Sifu, Jason Tsou. the tournament, while open to anyone, seemed to also serve as a reunion point for the North American representatives of the Wutan organization, with the list of masters including a roll call of Wutan flag-bearers: Su Yuchang (New York), Jason Tsou (Los Angeles), Tony Yang (Ohio), John Hom (Canada), and Kurt Wong (Alaska). they were only missing Adam Hsu, who relocated to Taiwan a number of years ago but used to be in San Francisco.

this was a bit of a revelation for me. even though this tournament was in its 1st year and hence had a smaller turnout relative to the other national ones, it still seemed like a big event. part of this was that i've never seen so many kung fu practitioners gathered into 1 location. another part of it was that i'd never seen such a diversity of kung fu participants. the tournament crowd covered a full spectrum in age and gender and race and background and styles and skill level. i spoke to a few people who'd driven or flown from as far as Alaska (from Kurt Wong's school) and Florida.

i took a few pictures so you can get a feeling of the visitors:
for Sifu and the other Wutan masters, i could tell this was really more a reunion, and thus a time to catch-up on news and events in their lives and share time with friends they don't get to see that often. the tournament was really a secondary thing. as a result, they were quite relaxed and seemed to be have a good time.

i had a chance to meet all of them, enough to get a feel for their personalities. Master Su Yuchang, who is the most senior of the group, doesn't speak very much English, so i had some difficulty talking to him, but he seems to be a very friendly individual once he feels comfortable around you--i've been told he's quite a socialite, and is renowned for staying up late into the night and early morning, and the little i saw this time confirmed this for me (i don't think i've stayed up past midnight in YEARS, perhaps decades, but Master Su seemed to do this with aplomb). Masters Tony Yang and John Hom also seem quite gregarious, with Tony Yang appearing to be the more outgoing personality, and the leader of conversation in the group. Master Kurt Wong turned out to be what i had expected, with a much more reserved personality (i've always believed it takes a certain personality type to live in Alaska, particularly as a teacher, and he fit it almost exactly).

this also gave me an opportunity to see Master Tsou in context...he's the only martial arts instructor i've had, so i've never really been able to have a feel for how he compares with others apart from people have told me. he's not quite as socially outgoing as Masters Su, Yang, or Hom, with a slightly more toned down edge. and his kung fu practice seems to cover more of the traditional asian medicine aspect compared to the others--with the exception of Su Yuchang, who i understand is an actual TCM doctor. in addition, he also seems to be in better health.

i wasn't able to take as many pictures or videos as i would have liked. because the schedule was compressed into a single Saturday, i found myself busy the entire day. as i had expected, there was a conflict between beginner sparring and sword sparring, and i had to forfeit beginner sparring to help out with the sword tournament. this was just as well, since it turned out that the sword tournament had 19 competitors (by far the most popular event of the entire tournament) and had a shortage of judges (even with me, we still had to rotate in Mike DiSargo and Sifu to help). that, and Sifu mentioned to me that because this was the 1st year for the sword tournament, he considered it more important than anything else we had going on and wanted to try and make sure it had a good debut.

i managed to make some videos during breaks, mostly of the events closest to the sword ring. you can see them for yourself.
kung fu kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyTHRfro_zI

women's sword: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXJWb54ThUA

women's sabre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACJEcDqKEQE

men's sword: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRamUBtClm8

i had wanted to take video of everyone from our school who was competing, but i missed out on most. Laura was in beginner forms, John Eagles was in 2 events (advanced forms and sword sparring), Jonathan Shen was in 3 events (advanced forms, intermediate sparring, and sword sparring), Simon was in beginner sparring, Phunsak was in advanced forms (solo, and 2-person with Ching-Chieh), and Richard was in sword sparring.

i ended up mostly taking video of the post-tournament Master's Demonstration, which served as the closing ceremony. Sifu did demonstrations of san cai and bagua 64 palms, and Phunsak did a 2-person demonstration with Ching-Chieh of 64 palms as well as a 2-person demonstration with Kieun of san cai jian. you can see the video of them, as well as the 1 video i caught of Jonathan, below:
Sifu Jason Tsou, 64 palms A & B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nABvS5e3O2E

Phunsak & Ching-Chieh, 2-person 64 palms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWaPRTUpsmA

Sifu Jason Tsou, san cai jian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPzsSjRbNQ4

Phunsak & Kieun, 2-person san cai jian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IBQAhHyoEM

Jonathan Shen, mantis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ9rMtqYQeM

one of the things i should note is that i got a real sense while being in the audience that my kung fu school, and my instructor, is really unique. i heard whispers of excitement and curiousity about bagua and san cai jian, with some people saying that it was important to record them because they were the kind of things people don't often see. i even overheard one person tell his partner to ignore all the other forms and to make sure to record ours, since they were more important and more worthy of video time on his HD video memory card. i could see that our school is much more traditional, and much more closely aligned to the fighting function of kung fu, relative to many others that were present, which were more modern and related to current wushu practice.

most of the other forms i saw were all shaolin-related. they were impressive, and definitely very showy and crowd-pleasing. you can see the videos i took:
shaolin weapons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COGzF4x-O24

shaolin rope dart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE0omJ7BwkA

would i go to a tournament again? well, this tournament is being held in Las Vegas again next year, and then the year after is moving to Tokyo. i'd like to go, and actually make an effort to compete. and for sure, i think it's important to try sparring, if nothing else to help motivate learning how to use kung fu as a martial art--Kieun mentioned to me that compared to other forms of self-defense, kung fu generally doesn't do anywhere near the same amount of person-on-person application training that other styles like boxing, judo, wrestling, etc. do, which i see as important in terms of actually being able to defend yourself.

the catch for me is that i'm in a bit of a fluid period in my life, since i'm looking for a tenure-track job and don't have a lot of stability. i'm also still committed to endurance sports, and my friends are saying that there's only so much time for us to get together (since everyone has family and careers that are pulling us away from each other) and that we should commit to doing an Ironman as a group--and all the ones they want to do occur at the same time as all the kung fu tournaments. i'm going to have to take some time and sort this out.

but this was a good experience, and i got to see a lot of things i didn't know before. it helped improve my perspective on traditional chinese martial arts, and learn more about the Wutan presence within it. hopefully i can go again...i'd really be interested in Tokyo, since it would give me an excuse to stay for an extra month and really tour a country i've always wanted to visit. we'll see.

day 171: final pre-tournament Sunday

forms:

• tournament prep

this was the final Sunday before the tournament, and we followed the same pattern as last Sunday, doing a few rounds of light sparring and then doing a few rounds of mock jian shu.

as a result, i'm keeping this post this short, since we didn't cover anything new and just worked on tuning up everything we've done before.

day 170: final tune-up forms

forms:

• bagua 64 palms

i'm writing this post about a week late, since things have been rather busy lately. but there isn't much that was missed, since the Saturday for this post (August 23) was largely devoted to finalizing the forms of those preparing for tournament competition: Chieng-Chieh and Phunsak in the 2-person category, and Laura and John in the individual women's and men's categories.

Sifu also reviewed everyone else's form while he was at it. he noted that while my form is improving, i'm continuing to stop and start my actions--in his words, i'm not "letting the power flow." this is a problem, because it throttles the power generation. he said i needed to be more continuous in my transitions between techniques, especially with anything involving a change in direction...which, unfortunately for me, in bagua pretty much means every technique.

i think i can see how i can rectify this. based on what he described, and reflecting back on conversations we've had in class, i think that the continuity in movement is important to power generation in bagua because it allows the practitioner to generate and maintain momentum. in other words, a lot of the power (but not all) comes from the momentum of the practitioner's movements, and hence requires that momentum be preserved--which, in turn, means that actions follow a continuous, smooth-flowing pace throughout all changes in direction and magnitudes of force vectors.

this adds to the power sources in bagua. from what i've seen to date, it means the nature of power issuing in bagua comes from a number of sources:

1. reeling silk energy, or the classic "chan si jin" (sic)
2. force vectors from muscular movement (what i consider to be my usual modus operandi)
3. alignment of skeletal structure
4. reaction forces driven through the body through the ground (Newton's laws of motion)
5. momentum.

out of these, i really only know 2, have started to figure out 1 and 4, have no clue regarding 3, and i think i can sort out 5.

but having said all this, Sifu said we'd work on this once we got back from the tournament.