day 271: back into things

concepts:

• extension
• borrowing energy
• center
• vector (force & magnitude)
  
• earth & sky
• structure
• opening
  

lessons:

• bagua leg form
• kyudo
  

so i made it back to the regular class today for both kung fu and kyudo. i'd been swamped over the past few weeks with grading, prepping lecture, and training for Ironman Utah. but i got past the grading, managed to mostly finish prepping, and dropped out of Ironman Utah to make it to my brother's wedding. as a result, i now suddenly have more time, which hopefully translates into spending more time on other pursuits--like kung fu and kyudo.

bagua leg form

it appears that in the time i was gone the class finished off xiao kai men and proceeded to the bagua leg form. Kieun and Phunsak told me that the class had gone through the leg basics very quickly (1 day!), and they'd already had 1 class on the opening portion of the leg form. i'm guessing that this is a continuation of the curriculum for the newer students--although, it appears that some of them have missed parts of it. still, we had some returnees (Martin, who's coming back after several months, and Steven, who had to miss a few weekends) for whom this is new, and the timing is good for them in terms of learning the form from the relative beginning.

this is good actually, since while i can remember the leg form there are segments of it for which i'm uncertain regarding application. that, and the theory in the form is also something that's always worth reviewing.

Phunsak took us farther into the form while Sifu was helping the baji students, and then Sifu came back to lead us through the applications. he made the following comments regarding where we were:

• extension: a lot of the movements in the leg form are exaggerated to the actual application in a real fight. Sifu said the exaggeration is meant to show us the nature of the physics in the movements, and indicate the intent we need to be exercising in the actions in order to deploy the physics.
• borrowing energy: Sifu said that some of the movements appear to be brute force actions. but he said that this is a inaccuracy, and that they actually employ energy borrowed from the earth and sky. he demonstrated that we borrow energy from the ground by positioning our bodies to create a structure that utilizes and propagates reaction forces from the earth. he said we can also similarly do the same thing in terms of creating structure that appear to propagate forces from the sky--they don't literally do this, but by having the intent to do so it aligns the body in a structure that conveys more power. the idea, Sifu observed, behind both earth & sky is that the body structure is such that it aligns the center with the vector going from the source of force (reaction force or otherwise) to the opponent, and hence allows your body to become a clean line of transmission of the force vector.
• force vector: for the full force vector (remember: a vector is both magnitude and direction) to go into the opponent, you want the body to align with the vector direction so that it can carry the full magnitude of force--this means the power is not just the power made by your own muscle actions, but the power coming from the exploitation of basic Newtonian physics (note: improper alignment of body structure "breaks" the force vector--hence the term "broken energy"--and stops the Newtonian reaction forces from being carried through you, leaving only your muscular power as the remaining source of force).
  

we spent the remainder of class time working on these concepts, with varying degrees of success. i find it hard to grasp this, since sometimes i'm trying to feel out things that i've never felt before, which makes everything a process of trial-and-error.

we took a longer post-class lunch today, since it turned out to be Eric's birthday (a big one...but i'll spare him the publicity) and a homecoming of sorts for Martin (who apparently was gone involuntarily due to an injury).

kyudo

kyudo this evening was focused primarily on me preparing my yumi (bow). i hadn't had time to do it before, so i'd decided to devote attention to it tonight. it was a bit of a project, since the string had to be adjusted to the proper length, then the nocking section had to be reinforced with string and glue to fit my arrows, and i also had to let everything cure. this ended up consuming all of the free shoot for me.

i did manage to achieve some shooting. Sensei worked with me a bit, saying that i needed to open up more in my draw and release. he observed that i still wasn't getting extension, and that i had to expand out from my center through my spine to get the requisite extra extension. he covered this later with the entire class, and advised us to expand until it opened our chest. the opening isn't supposed to be too much, but he noted it does need to be there, since it serves to push out the body structure into the bow and then follow through to the release of the arrow. in fact, Sensei observed, if done right, the opening actually causes the release of the arrow--and at does so at the proper moment: the moment of maximum of expansion of the body structure.

we finished a little late tonight, which gave the glue on my string time to dry. i didn't have enough time for a trial run with my yumi, but i figure this is something i can do next class.

day 270: moving with the spear and reviewing chen pao quan

concepts:

• movement
• center

lessons:

• spear
• chen tai chi pao quan

i skipped kung fu and kyudo for Saturday, March 20. i made it for Sunday morning, March 21, so this post applies to that. it was just me and Chieng-Chieh, since Phunsak was at a seminar.

spear

Sifu had us spend time on spear moving basics. so far, the drills we've been doing have been from a stationary position, with the feet largely immobile. today, Sifu showed us some initial drills for spear with footwork.

the footwork was similar to others we've learned when training for sparring work: linear footwork, 1st with a shuffle-step with the front foot initiating, then with a shuffle-skip with the rear foot iniatiting; circular, following bagua stepping; and finally what Sifu translated as a "gangster" walk or Ching-Chieh labeled as a "duck waddle", with the body moving in a see-saw movement as the weight shifted with each footstep. with each step in each drill, you're supposed to time thrusts with the spear in a way that the footwork helps generate power into the spear thrust.

Sifu also noted that in the moving spear drills it's important to keep the center down, so that it moves parallel to the ground rather than up-and-down, and that we also work all spear movements from our center, so that the feet and the body serve to move the spear. this proved to be a total body workout, and quite a bit more strenuous than i'd expected--for all that, Sifu said it's better than simply relying on your arms, which get tired far more quickly than your legs or body.

chen tai chi pao quan

we had enough time to work on chen tai chi pao quan. Ching-Chieh is still catching up, so we spent the remainder of class working on review of what we've done to date--which is just as well, since i hadn't had any time to practice at all in the past 2 weeks, and i needed the review as much as anybody else. i think we're starting to get it better, but i really do need to start spending more time practicing. hopefully i'll get the time now, but i'll have to see.

day 269: post & 2-person xiao kai men

concepts:

• pressure
• post
• 2-person

lessons:

• xiao kai men
• kyudo

this post covers March 13. things went off the deep end the past few weeks in terms of workload. so i've missed a few classes and missed a few posts. i'll try to catch up here. you'll have to forgive the terseness of the posts.

xiao kai men

we continued with xiao kai men. today Sifu had us start with post training for the form. essentially, you do the form, except that you do it against a stationary post, with the post serving as an imaginary opponent. this means you have to adjust your positioning and change the orientation of the postures in the form so that it's constantly against the post. Sifu said to do this with varying degrees of pressure against the post. he cautioned that in reality you wouldn't strive to constantly apply pressure against an opponent, but rather instead change depending on where you were in the arrangement of ting, hwa, na, and fa jing. still, with the post, you try to work with pressure, with the goal of training yourself how it feels to apply techniques against a solid body/mass.

we spent the 2nd half of class doing the xiao kai men 2-person form, which basically means 2 people doing the form against each other in a symmetric application of each of the techniques. Sifu said that this takes training a step further, training you to learn how to find spacing and how to fit your body against another person.

i ended up skipping the post-class lunch today, since had to rush home and pick up with exam grading.

kyudo

news this evening: my bow arrived. i now have a brand new bow. 13kg draw weight. of course, the catch is that i need to string it. originally i thought this would be straightforward and that i could do this during the free shoot after the tea break, but it turns out that it's more intensive, since the string length has to be adjusted, then treated, and then wrapped to fit the arrow nock. i decided to exercise wisdom and postpone this to another class.

shooting went well tonight, with Sensei saying that i'm getting better. he advised me to continue working on the draw, saying that it's simpler than i'm making it and that i should concentrate on inserting my bone structure inside the bow rather than on expanding my arms out. he observed that drawing the bow is about applying proper body structure.

we ended up eating out as a class afterwards, and went to a diner for a late dinner.

day 268: continuing chen pao quan

concepts:

• power
• explosion

lessons:

• chen tai chi pao quan

i missed class Saturday, March 6 for both kung fu and kyudo, since i was grading. as a result, this post applies to Sunday, March 7, which i managed to make. this is going to be a very brief post, since i'm trying to catch up after several weeks of overwhelming work.

chen tai chi pao quan

it was just Ching-chieh, Phunsak, and me today. Sifu had us work on the chen pao quan form. it's been some time since Ching-chieh had been learning this, so we back-tracked to the beginning and focused on reviewing the form for today. we went a little bit further, but not much, just enough to reach the 3/4 mark of the form.

Sifu corrected my punches in the form, saying that the punches needed to function as a rebound of the foot-pounding. in the form, there are several times when you pound both feet simultaneously into the ground. superficially, they appear to be a technique separate from the subsequent actions, and can function this way as their own application.

Sifu, however, noted that for the times they are followed by the punch that they serve to as an initial act of power generation, with force going into the ground and then immediately coming back through the feet, which we then need to exploit to assist the power of the punch. this means that punch has to be applying power rebounding from the foot-stomps.

Sifu also reminded me that the punch does not go straight out, but actually is supposed to have a slight curvature down. in effect, the punches are not just punches, but extensions of the body meant to drive a person down.

we worked on this for the remainder of class, and concluded with that for the day.

day 267: qi-gong, TCM, & xiao kai men

concepts:

• chan zieh jin
• center
• yangqao/yinqao
• yangwei/yinwei
• renmai/dumai
• qongmai
• daimai
  

lessons:

• bagua qi-gong
• bagua xiao kai men
  

this post is a little late, largely because i've been swamped with work. so again, things are going to be a little terse.

i should also make an addendum to the last post (day 266). one of the things i forgot to mention that in discussing absorbing/projecting using the fingers in our conversation on chen tai chi, Sifu had noted that this leads to the deployment of chan zieh jin (spiraling energy) in the movements, since the act of focusing on the little finger and ring finger to absorb energy and focusing on the middle finger and index finger to project energy naturally creates a twisting action as you alternate receiving/retracting and directing/extending your body and limbs.

i asked Sifu how this differs from the chan zieh jin in bagua, since the styles look so different. he said that with chen tai chi the silk reeling energy is employed more in terms of structure, in that the practitioner applies it through their own body against an opponent. bagua, in contrast, is more systemic, in that chan zieh jin is taken not just in terms of spiraling energy in the body but also spiraling energy in the system of free bodies (i use the phrase "free body" in terms of the engineering/physics concept) created by your body and the other opponents' bodies around you, where the goal is to apply concepts of spirals to engage opponents, find or create openings in their gates, and exploit them. he noted that this is why he uses the concept of "vortices" in teaching bagua applications. he stressed the differences are relative, in that both chen tai chi and bagua do similar things with silk reeling energy, but that chen tai chi is more structural chan zieh jin and bagua is more systemic.

bagua qi-gong

Sifu had us review all 3 levels of bagua qi-gong. when we finished, he gathered us together for a brief discussion as to some of the purposes behind qi-gong. he said that qi-gong is about learning how to cultivate and utilize qi (or chi). typically, this is taken as a medical function, since it is seen as constructive to individual health. he also said, however, that there are martial purposes behind this.

picking up from his comments from last week, he said that in martial arts it is crucial to maintain your center. this helps you to remain upright and creates a platform to counter opponent actions and to launch attacks against them. he demonstrated how a focus on your own center can make a person dramatically harder to destabilize, utilizing various applications against Feng and Phunsak to show how the effectiveness varied depending on whether they were focusing on their centers or not.

the issue, however, is to be able to maintain this focus on the center while in the chaos of a fight, particularly when the opponent is doing everything possible to break your center. he said this is where qi-gong comes in, since it teaches you to keep your mind on your center (he noted that in qi-gong, you're expected to constantly think about your center), and hence provides training on how to maintain and utilize your center. over time, via qi-gong training, you can go from having to consciously concentrate on your center to having it be something subconscious and automatic, so that it's not as susceptible to external disruptions.

he went on to note that eventually, as you become better, you learn about the multiple centers in the body and learn how to manipulate them. these other centers are also vulnerable to disruption. he demonstrated the same applications as last week (i.e., the ones for "wind blowing on the water") where simply waving a hand over certain parts of the body dramatically alters the effectiveness of the technique, and said that the reason such actions work is that they're disturbing the other centers in your body and thereby destabilizing your structure. he noted that it's possible to explain this using Western concepts (i.e., disruptions to the autonomic response systems of the body, distractions to mental focus, misdirection, etc.), but that we can also understand it in Eastern concepts, particularly since it fits with the use of qi-gong to help train our bodies to deal with such issues.

bagua xiao kai men

we finished the day with xiao kai men. Sifu introduced us the following concepts in relation to the form:

• yangwei--the part of the body that opens/extends in a given movement
• yinwei--the part of the body that closes/retracts in a given movement
• yangqao--the outer line of the leg running from the hip to the outside of the foot
• yinqao--the inner line of the leg running from the crotch to the inside of the foot
• qongmai--the line that runs vertically along the ribs
• daimai--the line that runs horizontally along the waist
• renmei--the line that runs vertically along the front of the body from the groin through the bellybutton and sternum to the top of the head
• dumai--the line that runs vertically along the back of the body from the top of the head down the spine to the groin
  

Sifu said it's useful to think of these while doing the form, since it helps to direct our intent (yi) and hence guides proper application of energy (he also interchanged the phrase "force vectors"). he noted that these are terms seen in TCM, and are described as meridians, but that they have martial aspects in that they indicate the more effective trajectories to project power.

Sifu had us do xiao kai men focusing on these lines, doing the form in a line, then in an X pattern, then in random directions, and then along a circle. i've never done xiao kai men like this before, since i joined him after he had taught this last time, and so this was all new to me. this was constructive, since i'd always felt i'd missed out on some of the deeper aspects of xiao kai men.

by this time it was getting late, and the rain had started to come down hard. Sifu ended class with that, and said he'd see us next week.

day 266: a quiet sunday

concepts:

• Eastern v. Western concepts
• statics, vectors
• thermodynamics
• energy
• gathering, projecting
• fingers
• chin na
• centering
• pulling along the pillar
• lifting the spine
  

lessons:

• chen tai chi pao quan
• kyudo
  

i missed this past Saturday class. i had a tough week of training for Ironman (the race is in May, and so i'm entering the peak of the training cycle right now), and needed some extra sleep time for recovery. i made the Saturday night kyudo class, and i made the Sunday class--although it appears that no one else did, since it turned out i was the only one who showed up Sunday.

chen tai chi pao quan

Alex stayed a little after his Sunday morning private lesson (it precedes the usual Sunday morning class), and we ended up talking about chen tai chi. Alex had some questions regarding the lexicon of TCMA in Eastern v. Western terms (e.g., "chi" or "energy" vs. "center of mass" or "vectors" or other physics-related terms).

we've had extensive conversations on this before, with varying different perspectives coming from different people inside and outside our school. i have my own take on this--that the phenomenon that practitioners of martial arts study are well observed and to some degree understood, but that ancient (and Eastern) cultures described and analyzed them using concepts of their time, whereas modern (and Western) cultures utilize the concepts of our time, which is science.

Sifu said that to some extent there are analogues between Western scientific terminology and Eastern traditional ones. but he cautioned that Western concepts sometimes fall short, and that it's thus useful to be able to understand Eastern ones. he asserted that the reason Western terms are sometimes insufficient is that Western science hasn't really gone far enough to study martial arts, and hasn't really understood all the phenomenon that TCMA practitioners have observed and learned to use.

Alex says he thinks that the Western scientific lexicon is capable of describing TCMA phenomenon, but that it just awaits scientifically trained personnel willing to study TCMA in detail. he noted that some of the demonstrations employed by tai chi experts can be explained by statics and vectors, and that a basic understanding of engineering can reveal how seemingly mystical demonstrations can work and not work.

Sifu agreed with this, but said that we have to go beyond statics and vectors to really explain all the TCMA physics, particularly since Newtonian physics doesn't really cover all the permutations of energy that drives so much of TCMA. i observed that there's some potential regarding thermodynamics, which utilizes a different perspective on energy than the Newtonian translation of potential/kinetic energy equations. Sifu and Alex concurred, noting the concepts of enthalpy and entropy seem to be applicable to some of the conceptions of energy transfer related under TCMA.

this transitioned into Alex's next question on chin na applications, particularly on connecting internal TCMA principles into chin na techniques. Sifu said you can see internal TCMA ideas in chin na, and showed us some basic techniques while describing what was happening in terms of internal TCMA dynamics. Sifu pointed out how you can see that there are stages of energy gathering where you receive the opponent's action in a way that it is absorbed into your center, and there are stages of energy projecting where you then return the opponent's action in a way that destabilizes your opponent's center.

in discussing this, Sifu stressed the positioning of the hands, and showed how a subtle shift in the right way in the hands can change an action back and forth between energy gathering to energy projecting, and how a subtle shift in the wrong way can lead to catastrophic failure. he noted that the ring finger and small finger are for energy gathering, and that the index finger and middle finger are for energy projecting.

i asked if this related to 5-element theory, and Sifu said that 5-element theory helps explain what is happening. under 5-element theory, the index and middle finger are wood and fire, where fire complements wood, and the ring and little finger are metal and water, where water complements metal. he added that this ties into qi-gong, in that it reminds you on where to focus your actions.

Sifu then continued by mentioning how all this relates to our center. he said that even though we think about energy gathering and projecting through our fingers, our intent (yi) still has to be in our center, so that we can sense energy going into and out from our centers. he had me and Alex try different techniques, 1st with us not focusing our minds on our center then with us focusing our minds on our centers. the techniques were more effective with intent placed on our centers, requiring much less effort and involving much more stability.

this was a real head-scratcher to me, since it's not something easily explainable by basic physics. Sifu said that this probably indicates the subconscious (e.g. autonomic) nature of our minds, where even though we're not consciously aware of the subtle changes in body dynamics with appropriate yi, they still occur and do just enough to convey the physics through our body. Sifu added that this is why internal martial arts practitioners who believe that an understanding of these kinds of internal mechanics are enough to be effective fighters have it wrong--to understand the internal mechanics is one thing, but to actually express them requires that you have a body capable of doing so, which is why it's still important to be physically fit, since you have to have the instrument by which you can maximize the gathering and projecting of energy.

Sifu then went on to mention that this is why in a fight it's so crucial to be able to disturb the opponent's center, since it impedes their ability to master energy. he observed that this again is where Western scientific concepts struggles to explain what is happening.

he showed us an example where he utilized techniques that, while they did nothing physically, still served to disrupt the opponent's yi and thereby disturbed their center. Sifu labeled this as like the wind blowing on a calm surface of water--the wind does little to the water itself, but is still enough to send ripples through the water that breaks its mirror-like quality. he asserted that a phenomenon like this in Eastern terminology would be identified as "disrupting the qi" or "disrupting the energy" while in Western science there wouldn't be anything comparable. he argued that a better way to describe this is via Western psychological concepts, which would identify this as a situation where the body's reflexive systems were exploited to shift the body's structure just enough to break the center.

by this time Alex had to leave, and it left me and Sifu to continue the conversation. Sifu asked me what i wanted to do with the remainder of Sunday class time, and i decided that i wanted to try and apply all the principles we'd talked about this morning to the chen tai chi pao quan form we'd covered to date.

Sifu took me through the form, and as we went through, we identified what stage was energy gathering and what stage was energy projecting, and thus at what points the hands had to shift from emphasizing the ring/little finger to the index/middle finger.

he also took me through some of the applications, identifying how energy gathering and energy projecting can be manipulated to improve the techniques. he noted that straightforward gathering and projecting can work, but that sometimes opponents can sense simple applications of energy and will reflexively resist. in these situations, Sifu said it's useful to let the energy go in and out of the center (e.g., let it bounce back and forth between the opponent), which confuses the reflexes of the opponent enough to break their center.

i asked if this is why some chen tai chi practitioners shake when they do their forms. Sifu said yes, but that unfortunately many of them don't understand the purpose behind shaking, and they exaggerate it thinking it's just an appropriate expression of mastery when in reality it's serving to destroy the practitioner's own yi on their own center--and hence destabilizing their structure. he said that historically the shaking was taught to remind practitioners of how they could utilize gathering and projecting energy to disrupt their opponent, and so was supposed to be done in the forms just enough to help teach students the principle, but not to the point that it broke down your own center.

Sifu continued working with me, refining my movements, until we'd gotten to the point where we'd finished in previous classes. we decided to stop there, and wait until everyone else returned to the Sunday before proceeding any further.

kyudo

even though kyudo occurred Saturday night before the Sunday class, i'll put it here since it's the customary location most of you are familiar with.

i found that things this evening were strangely easier than they've been in the past. i don't mean regarding kiza or seiza--i've always struggled with these, and i have the feeling that i always will. but the handling of the bow and shooting the arrow was remarkably easier.

i was using the 14-kg bow this evening, and for me this has always been a struggle to draw. tonight, however, things didn't feel anywhere near as difficult, without anywhere near the same level of struggle. i was almost shocked.

i do know that i had modified my form tonight, putting a much greater level of attention on how i was lifting the bow when initiating the draw. tonight i focused on holding my hands out aligned with my centerline, visualizing that my hands were following a pillar that ran along my spine. i also concentrated on what Sensei had stressed to me before, which was straightening my spine and releasing the tension in my lower back by lifting my neck straight up. together, these 2 things greatly reduced the level of effort i had to apply in drawing the bow, and helped me maintain a much greater level of stability in the release.

i actually felt like i made some progress tonight, and put in some extra practice during the free shoot just to confirm that i really was feeling what i was feeling.

we finished class a little late, but it was no big deal since a group of us went out to eat afterwards. i'm looking forward to the next class.

day 265: pre-class and qi-gong review

concepts:

• fight fundamentals
• gi-gong: gathering, projection, moving
  

lessons:

• bagua

this will need to be another short post regarding Feb. 13, since i'm still trying to unbury myself from work. although, there's not that much to report, since i skipped kyudo class again and the kung fu class was largely a review of bagua qi-gong.

pre-class

Kieun led the pre-class session this time, and we focused on basic fight fundamentals. we met at 9:30. the bulk of time this morning was on fitness exercises and some basic punch/combination drills.

bagua qi-gong

Sifu had us review bagua qi-gong, saying it was a good time of year to start working on it (apparently, qi-gong is better during the winter and spring, and less so during summer and fall). he also said it's good to revisit it now that we've gone through more of the advanced bagua lessons, and reconsider it in light of what we've learned.

we went through level 1 qi-gong, which is largely focused on qi accumulation. Sifu led us through this, quizzing us on which animal, organ, and 5-element theory was related to each one. he reminded us as to the connection of all these to each other. he also showed us the breathing sequence for each. he noted that it's not necessary to have low stances on this, but rather to maintain a loose, albeit stable, structure through all the movements. he also stressed that we need to focus on our dantians throughout each of the qi-gong exercises.

Sifu had Phunsak and Art lead us through levels 2 & 3 qi-gong. level 2 is focused on qi projection, and ties each of the qi-gong exercises to the bagua stances, with each bagua stance serving as the projection of qi. level 3 is moving, and involves walking in a circle for each qi-gong exercise. Sifu noted that level 3 qi-gong is really just the 8 mother palms, except that each exercise is done on its own circle. Sifu pointed out that 8 mother palm is really just a moving form of qi-gong, teaching you how to move with a stable dantian while constantly gathering and projecting qi.

we spent the remainder of class going through this, working on the finer points of movement, breathing, and yi (intent) for each of the qi-gong exercises. we finished around 1 and went to lunch after.

day 264: setting directions for Saturday class

this post relates back to the previous weekend of Feb. 7. i didn't attend class Saturday morning, and so i have nothing to post for Feb. 6. Feb. 7 was the Sunday class, i managed to make that. thing is, nobody else did, and it ended up just being me and Phunsak with Sifu.

we decided to not cover anything new, since we figured that even if we did, we'd have to go back and redo everything for everyone else who showed up next time. instead, Sunday turned into a discussion as to plans for classes going forward.

the general plan appears to be that we're going to start having a "fundamentals class" that precedes each Saturday morning class. i'm using the quotes, because this isn't going to be a formal class, in the sense that people are going to pay and Sifu is going to teach. rather, the "fundamentals class" is going to just be about a 60-90 minute session run by Phunsak and Kieun every Saturday morning before Sifu's formal class. Phunsak and Kieun are going to teach on alternating Saturdays, with the "fundamentals class" focusing more on basic fight fundamentals (e.g., strategy, principles, body mechanics, etc. at an introductory level--basically, for people who've never been in, much less seen, a fight in their entire life).

Phunsak and Kieun have argued before that much of what Sifu teaches assumes a pre-existing level of understanding regarding fighting. unfortunately, most of the people in the class don't have this, simply because they've never actually been involved in a fight of any kind on any level. Sifu concurred, noting that in the modern era people "have become too civilized." he was joking, but he was making the point that people just don't have the basic grounding that most martial arts students in the past would have had regarding what actually happens when you get caught in a fight and find yourself hitting and getting hit by a hostile opponent entirely intent on doing you harm.

the plan is to start on Feb. 13, and to continue from there. attendance isn't mandatory, but simply available for anyone interested. Phunsak and Kieun already have an idea as to who is going to attend and who isn't, but they're not saying. i guess we'll see.

day 263: finishing the arm form

concepts:

• power
• applications
  

lessons:

• bagua arm form

i'm going to keep this post really short. i'm inundated with an avalanche of grading that i need to do. so apologies to everyone who might be expecting more.

regarding last weekend (and this Saturday as well), i skipped kyudo class to deal with the exams for my classes. i also had to skip the typical post-class lunch. it even appears i'm going to have to skip the kung fu as well until i get the grading done.

i did manage to make last Saturday's class, albeit very late. i managed to arrive just in time to join everyone in finishing the arm form...yes, we did finish the form. Sifu had us demonstrate the form individually so he could critique us 1-on-1. he corrected a number of movements i had, advising me to stay a little closer to the body with some and extending farther on others, with the purpose being to better direct power--either to redirect incoming power or to project power.

we also spent some time reviewing applications, with sifu stressing to us that we need to remember that applications can be combined in different sequences, and mixed and matched in different ways, and hence we need to be careful to 1) avoid employing single applications (e.g., executing 1 application and then stopping), or 2) avoid fixed progressions of applications (e.g., logical, step-wise combinations). Sifu reminded us that it's important to try and maintain a continuous fluid pattern moving from 1 application to another, with movements following a random unfixed seamless path following 1 technique (or simultaneous techniques) after another.

we finished class around 1 pm, and i ended up hurrying back to get to work.

day 262: more elbow and San Diego tournament

concepts:

• direction
• release
• light contact
• hanari
  

lessons:

• bagua arm form
• kyudo
  

i'm a little late posting this. this covers the Saturday before last--January 16--and not this past weekend. this past weekend we went to the San Diego tournament, and so skipped the usual Saturday session.

bagua arm form

the lesson was largely straightforward, with the time spent going further into the form. we did, however, spend a fair amount of class going through applications, either reviewing some applications from before or trying to understand some of the new ones. there continue to be nuances that are elusive, and while the techniques can work without them, the techniques definitely are a whole lot easier with them.

some general points from this Saturday:

• direction--the direction of the techniques is crucial. by direction, i'm referring to the force vectors where they are aimed. a subtle shift can make a major difference in terms of the result. i think this is because the force vectors have to be applied properly, with "proper" being anything that counters and utilizes the opponent's actions with minimal struggle by you. as a result, you have to understand the opponent well enough to know what they are doing and what they intend, and then respond with the appropriately placed force vectors.
• release--Sifu stressed this on a number of techniques. he said you can't continue to follow an entry with a continuous progression in power. this makes it too easy for the opponent to recognize your plans and respond with an effective counter-measure. he asserted that instead you have to sometimes employ a slight release sufficient to disrupt your force vector, but that does so without disrupting your power generation or opening avenues that leave you vulnerable. the release serves to break the opponent's tracking of your movements, and hence makes it harder for them to know what you are doing.
• light contact--Sifu added that we can't go in hard all the time. instead, it's sometimes important to go in soft, with a light touch in the entry, so that it helps disguise our intent and actions. he cautioned that what we do (hard or soft) depends on what the opponent is doing.
  

the latter part of class was devoted to reviewing the arm form, with everyone doing several iterations to help us remember the form.

kyudo

kyudo was a bit of an event this evening: i shot using my own dojo arrows. hooray! it felt a little different shooting without the dojo arrows. it sounds strange, but it lifted my spirits.

i am still learning the proper technique to shooting. today, Sensei told me to focus on hanari, which is the slight extension cross the chest/upper back that occurs when you reach out laterally. the effect is that it extends the shoulder and shoulder blade put, putting the body structure inside the bow--which is what you're supposed to do. i tried my best to work on this, but it's somewhat of a challenge given the context of drawing the bow.

Sensei told me it's not as complex as i'm making it out to be, and i should relax more. i figure this is something i'm just going to have to resolve through practice.

day 261: coming back to spear and pao quan

concepts:

• drills
• 3-d
  

lessons:

• spear and pao quan

i almost missed class this Sunday because 1) i overslept (jet lag is always worse going east than west), and 2) my car battery went out and i had to make an emergency stop at Pep Boys to replace the battery (easy enough to do yourself, but it still takes time). but i made it in time to join everyone else for spear and pao quan. similar to yesterday, we ended up having to backtrack a bit, since most everyone had missed a significant amount of time.

spear

we took time to review the drills we've done to date (moving the spear so that the tip traces paths in crescents that respectively face with the open portion left, right, up, and down), and to do them both solo and in pairs. we then spent time working on a new drill that had the spear tips following long paths that resembled a "J" (uppercase) facing left or right.

Sifu reminded us that we can't have the spear tip follow these patterns on a 2-dimensional vertical plane. he noted that this has become a common mistake, with modern textbooks on spear showing this. he argued (and he referred back to past discussions we've had where he had shown us the modern and original textbooks) that the older textbooks clearly showed that the patterns are supposed to follow a 3-dimensional path, so that the spear tip traces the drill patterns, but also moves forward or backward (i.e., towards or away from the opponent).

this proved to be an added level of difficulty to the other drills. this is because what we did today required an extra level of control--something that's hard when you're already finding it a challenge to move a long wooden pole 2x your own height (and the funny thing is, in ancient China, the actual military spears were much longer than that...which makes we wonder just how much time the ancient soldiers had to spend training to master this weapon).

pao quan

we dedicated the 2nd half of class to pao quan. it's been awhile since we've worked on this (including vacation time, i count 4 weeks for me, possibly longer for some other people). i had to go through the part of the form we've covered several times just to get my bearings back. this ended up consuming the bulk of the time. we managed to get a little bit farther, but i think that for today it was enough of a challenge to our memory to just solidify what we have. hopefully we can get back to the swing of things the next Sunday class.

day 260: back from a vacation

concepts:

• rust
• timing
  

lessons:

• bagua inso
• kyudo
  

i've been on vacation for a little while, which is why the blog posts have been absent. i took a family trip doing little other than hiking, sightseeing, and eating, and just came back this past weekend. in terms of kung fu, this means that i'm suddenly a little rusty, as i've forgotten some of the things we've been covering recently.

i should also note that i was in error. this year, there was no holiday break, and we continued to have classes over Christmas and New Year's while i was gone. my understanding was that a number of other students were also out, and so only a handful people stayed for the holidays. this was a bit of a shame, since it also happened that Master Su Yuchang, a disciple of Liu Yun Qiao and also instructor to my teacher, has been visiting in recent weeks and stopped by to contribute to class. given his experience and depth of knowledge (which is vast), i think anyone who was present received a special treat.

bagua inso

i was not the only one who missed a good chunk of time, and so this Saturday ended up being largely focused on reviewing the arm form we've done to date. we went beyond the point where'd i'd left, but didn't go any farther than the point covered by people who were here over the break. Sifu also went through and showed us some of the applications, which i suspect was also probably a review of what everyone had covered.

having said that, it was still a bit concentrated, with all the material of about 2-3 weeks (depending on when people had gone on vacation) being compressed into 1 class. there's going to be a little bit of adjustment getting back into the groove of things, and i think there's going to be some extra time necessary to get back to a comfort level with the movements.

kyudo

the situation was largely the same with kyudo. the weeks off had made me a little rusty--not so much in terms of remembering what to do, but rather when. my timing was off at various points, and there was a lack of comfort with the movements that came from inactivity. i think here as well there'll need to be some time to get back to the swing of things.

i should note that my dojo arrows arrived today. quite sexy. i actually tried them this evening for the first time. it's strange, but it actually made me feel better to be using arrows that i could call mine. i think part of it was that i was able to specify what i wanted in the arrows, and hence participated in their design. another part of it was that i felt i was using something that i could call my own. none of this, of course, makes any difference in terms of shooting, but it's a good morale boost. can't wait until next time!

day 259: starting the arm form

concepts:

• stances

lessons:

• bagua arm form

i skipped kyudo this evening, since i was prepping for a long bike ride on Sunday and had to meet up w my riding buddies Saturday night. to be honest, the bike ride was on my mind most of the day, since it was a distance that i haven't done in awhile (90 miles), and it affected my concentration a bit.

Sifu gave us reminders about the seminar next weekend, and then had us warm up w the moving arm basics as well as stances.

bagua arm form

after spending some time reviewing the moving basics & stances, Sifu began teaching us the arm form. we went about 8 moves into the form, and then focused on correcting technique. since a lot of the arm form techniques involve power projection, and since power comes from the lower body, we took a fair amount of time making sure we had the correct match of stances and upper body postures. Sifu also showed us the applications, emphasizing where the power projection was.

from what i saw, the arm form movements are very close to the arm basics, and in some respects look like a serial connection of the arm basics with transitions tying each of the animal movements together. Eric also added that the arm form movements form the basis of the weapons forms for deer horn knives and tiger hook swords, demonstrating some of both weapons forms for the short section of the arm form we'd covered--and what he showed looked almost identical to the arm form.

by this time it was after 1pm, and we called class to an end.

day 258: nothing like rigor

concepts:

• stances
• control
• timing
  

lessons:

• chaang (spear)
• pao quan

this Sunday was largely straightforward in terms of the agenda, but definitely higher on the scale of rigor. by the time we finished today the muscular discomfiture had found new locations: the deltoids and trapezii. and just like the feelings in the abs, the soreness was within the deep muscle tissue in places i'm not familiar with. the spear is definitely a uniquely strange exercise in muscular exploration.

chaang

before Sifu arrived, Jo-san led me and Ching-chieh through stances. from there, we worked on the basics we've done over the last few weeks (i.e., holding the spear in 60-40 stance and moving the tip in circles and crescents). Sifu arrived at this time, and had us work through all the drills, having us focus on control, with the control coming from the dantian and kua instead of the hands or arms. for all this, it still works your deltoids and trapezius, and in ranges of motion that you don't ordinarily do in modern life. after awhile, i could definitely feel them.

once we'd finished, he then had us work in pairs. at this point, he had some of the new students (who are from his CSULB class, and have been coming to the Sunday lessons, originally to work on jian shu) join us to try the spear. Sifu showed us some new basic drills, which went from holding the spear in a high position to a more forward one. the issue here was timing, since the shift in the spear had to be timed in a transition from reverse bow-and-arrow to 60-40 stance. we went through these, and then switched off w the new students (they don't have spears of their own) so that they could try the exercises out.

pao quan

Ching-chieh had to leave, but we decided to fit in a little work w pao quan before she left. we reviewed the form we've done so far, with Sifu polishing some of the bigger errors in our movements. he then showed us a little more of the form, and demonstrated some potential applications in the movements. by this time it was getting to the end of class, so we wrapped things up until next time.

day 257: touching base with bagua qi-gong

concepts:

• gathering
• projecting
• moving
• extending up
• tanouchi
• push and pull
  

lessons:

• bagua qi-gong
• kyudo
  

i should note here that Sifu is hosting another seminar over Thanksgiving, this one going 2 days and covering shou bo (responsive hands). day 1 will be beginning shou bo, and day 2 will be advanced. the seminar is at the CSULA campus 9am-5pm on Sat. & Sun., Nov. 28 & 29. if anyone has questions or needs info, contact Art Schonfeld (aeschonfeld@aol.com).

bagua qi-gong

we went back to bagua qi-gong today. picking up from last week, Sifu had us start with a review of the 8 animal basics in the arm form, but then said he wanted to let us see the connections with the mother palm and bagua qi-gong. he led us through bagua qi-gong, levels 1 & 2, and then discussed the theory behind it, including 5-element theory, yin and yang elements, animals, breathing, and intent. we've had this before, so i won't go into detail here. but he in relation to the material we've been covering recently, he made the following points:

• the 8 animals in the arm form are an extension of the 8 animals in bagua qi-gong and mother palm, and so another variation in terms of expressing bagua principles contained within the 8 animals.
• bagua 3rd-level qi-gong is really just mother palm. Sifu said they were really the same thing, and the reason why the mother palm is considered a moving form of qi-gong.
• bagua qi-gong shouldn't be confused w the qi-gong in other styles (e.g., tai chi, baji, etc.). the theory associated with bagua qi-gong is different from the others, and so doesn't really translate well. the qi-gong for each style is specific to the style, since it ties into the theory and principles within the style itself. as a result, it's misleading (and prone to error) to try and mix the theories of one with another.
• in response to the question i had from last class as to whether the 3 levels of bagua qi-gong have any connection to the concepts of jing (ting, hwa, na, fa), Sifu said that they really shouldn't be connected to each other. the bagua qi-gong is just a reflection of principles in the qi-gong, and the theory related to it is independent of the concepts of jing.

we went through each of the 8 animals in bagua qi-gong, reviewing level 1 (gathering qi), level 2 (projecting qi), and level 3 (dynamic qi), and then tying it to mother palm and the arm form basics.

kyudo

kyudo this night was run somewhat differently. typically we spend the first 90 minutes before the tea break going formally through the shooting line, following the form strictly. tonight, however, Sensei truncated the formal shoot, since he felt we needed to discuss some issues that he saw everyone sharing as a group.

in particular, he led us in detail through the following:

• extending up--proper draw of the bow requires expansion of the body into the bow, but this requires that you extend up through the spine. Sensei said that typically people mistake this to mean that you have to stand up straight, and invariably leads to people standing back and looking upwards, which does little to lead you to expand your body frame. instead, you're supposed to imagine that your spine is being pulled up through the crown of the skull, so that instead of leaning back you stand up straight, and instead of looking up you actually look ahead, with the chin tucked slightly down and in. because the extension is through the spine, with the head still looking level, you naturally expand the body frame--and if this is done in proper timing with the draw, you expand into the bow.
• tanouchi--people appear to be grasping the bows too tightly. Sensei said that that the hand should be loose, so that the bow can rotate freely through the form, from beginning to end. this can be encouraged by lining up the cuticles of the bow hand, and aligning the edges of the bow handle with the lines in the hand. the looseness of the hand is necessary to allow the bow to move freely through the draw and after release, since it prevents you from fighting the bow as you shoot.
• push and pull--these need to be done together during the draw, with the pull on the string being done at the same time as the push through the bow. Sensei said that in fact, you shouldn't see any difference between the 2, since the focus should be on expansion of the body into the bow. if done correctly, the expansion occurs not just through the body but also the limbs, with the elbows moving in opposite directions at the same time. Sensei said that he has seen people shoot quite successfully going through a sequence of push and pull during the draw, but that it is much better to simply expand into the draw.
  

we finished a little late tonight, with the free shoot going long. it was just as well, since i had a lot of practice to get in. Sensei mentioned to me that i should consider going to the Sunday morning shoots at Rancho Park, which i took as his confirmation that i was ready to move on to range shooting (at Rancho Park, the distance is 28 meters)--something which is an additional challenge to the short-range makiwara shooting we've been doing in the dojo. i haven't been able to make it before, since i've been spending Sundays either attending Sifu's class or training for Ironman. but i'll see if i can get a few Sundays in at Rancho Park sometime.

day 256: connections in a loop

concepts:

• stances
• basics
• mother palm
• bagua qi-gong

lessons:

• arm form
• gong li (seminar)
  

i came into this weekend a little sore. i've started the training for my next Ironman race, and this past week was a build week (meaning an increase in training intensity and volume). i needed some more rest time, so i skipped kyudo this Saturday to get some sleep.

i should also note that this Sunday was the gong li seminar, which covered training methods. i won't go into details on it, since there was just too much to really adequately cover, and also because it's something that people paid to attend, so anyone who wanted to learn about gong li should have gone to the seminar.

arm form

we spent the initial part of class finishing off the arm basics for the animals. we began by reviewing the ones we'd done to date: dragon, big bird, hawk, unicorn, and monkey. since Phunsak, Kieun, and Ching-Chieh were gone for the day, i ended up leading the drills for these.

while we did this, we also helped Shin with some stances, since it provided some good review for the rest of the class. i had some issues on these today, since my legs were still a little sore, but it made for good review, particularly in terms of connecting the animals with the stances--it suddenly dawned on me that when done in a dynamic way, you can feel the power in the stance in terms of the direction of the power projection, with the animal posture dictating the direction. in essence, you can feel the vector (remember, this is a physics term: magnitude and direction). in so doing, you can sense the yi (intent) in the animal.

once we'd finished the review, Sifu took us through lion, snake, and bear. these were relatively simple, and it didn't take too long to go through them. he then went on to the second part of class, taking time to discuss some of the theory behind the animals in relation to the rest of the bagua curriculum. Sifu noted the following:

• the animals in the arm form are correlated with the animals in mother palm and bagua qi-gong, and in so doing provide linkages helping the practitioner understand the linkages between the various areas of bagua
• the animals in the arm form are often taken to show 8 various forms of power projection, while the animals in mother palm are often taken as showing 8 various forms of entries. but since each animal applies for both (e.g., the lion for mother palm correlates to the lion for the arm form), this is supposed to tell the practitioner that the 8 animal movements can be adjusted to match whatever intent, or yi, the practitioner has in mind.
• the way to adjust the yi of an animal is suggested by the arm form basics, which involve the practitioner changing yin-yang distribution of movements (i.e., you change the yi of the animal by changing what action is yin force and what action is yang force).
• the animals in the arm form also relate to the animals in bagua qi-gong. as a result, you can see some of the qualities in the animal movements by translating their expression in qi-gong compared to their expression in the arm form. the yi in the qi-gong involves the utilization of organs and limbs, while the yi in the arm form involves the utilization of power. this can be seen as indicating what actions of the organs and limbs are necessary to project power for the actions of each of the 8 animals--and by extension showing the practitioner how the organs and limbs should be used to generate power in any form of body movement.
  

i took this to mean this is where bagua qi-gong has an additional layer of meaning, in terms of having combat applications in addition to its health applications. the animals, to me, seem to follow a form of Boolean logic, with the animals acting as a logic operator to extend concepts from qi-gong to the arm form, and hence from health to combat. i think it's the commutative property operator, but i'm not sure.

i asked Sifu if this means that the levels of bagua qi-gong associate with varying levels of power projection. bagua qi-gong has 3 levels: energy accumulation, energy projection, and dynamic energy manipulation. this seems very similar to the actions in the arm basics, in that it seems like each of the animals can be adjusted to receive an incoming strike (energy accumulation), project power against an opponent (energy projection), or redirect an opponent's actions (dynamic energy manipulation).

Sifu nodded on this, but added that we should start reviewing bagua qi-gong next week, so that we could get a better sense of the relationships between the qi-gong and the arm basics.

i didn't ask, but it seems to be logical that the inter-connection between bagua qi-gong and the arm basics regarding power and energy must relate to the other energy concepts we've had: ting jing, hwa jing, na jing, and fa jing. the problem is that ting relates to listening, hwa to receiving, na to control, and fa to projection. how these 4 concepts tie into the 3 levels of bagua qi-gong is something i am not clear on, particularly in terms of the 8 animals and the power utilization in the arm basics. i'll have to remember to ask Sifu about this next class.

gong li

i'll just note the topics covered in the gong li seminar: yubei gong (preparation), nei gong (internal, static & dynamic), ying gong (hard, static & dynamic), yangsheng gong (recuperating), wuji, hueng yuen, iron bridge, iron ox, and breathing.

day 255: spear and push hands

concepts:

• following
• control
• yin/yang
  

lessons:

• spear (chaang)
• push hands
  

we had some new students today, with some of the CSULB students coming to check things out. they did have spears of their own, so we ended up playing musical chairs, letting people work through practicing with the full-length spears.

spear (chaang)

we continued on with the basics, with Sifu having us try the 2-person drills. the idea here was to focus on control, with both partners facing each other with their spears in contact and tracing circles while trying to maintain contact. the drill involved leading and following (i.e., letting the other person follow you, or letting you follow the other person) while tracing a circle with the spear tip (e.g., either clockwise or counterclockwise).

the act of following was definitely harder, since it required that you have enough control that you can maintain contact with the other person. Sifu noted the following:

• initially it's easier to work in big circles, but that to improve control you need to try smaller circles,
• control is much easier if you follow proper technique, with the base hand (i.e., the hand holding the base of the spear) is connected to the kua,
• control is also easier if you maintain a low stance.

i'm starting to get a little better with the spear basics, but this was another level of difficulty. it takes quite a bit of concentration to maintain contact. good technique helps, but the concentration aspect requires quite a bit of energy, and proved to be the most demanding part of this exercise.

we worked in pairs, swapping partners and spears. this ended up taking most of class, since it proved so difficult.

push hands

the rest of the time we spent on push hands--not the typical one with static feet, but a more dynamic total-body one. apparently there is a drive to introduce a different competitive event at the tournaments, one related to push hands in terms of allowing people to engage each other, except with a goal of being more similar to actual fighting, with competitors able to engage and disengage, make throws, joint locks, and move freely about the ring. it's supposed to be different from sanda, which allows punches and kicks, or shuai jiao, which involves more constant engagement. Sifu is helping out with this, and is involved in the rules formation (it's still in the formative stages).

Sifu sees this as comprising one of the 5 events of making a well-rounded fighter: spear, sword, sanda, shuai jiao, and push hands.

i should note that the term "push hands" is temporary, since the phrase itself has become locked with the current perception of tai chi practitioners locked in static footwork. the event described here is meant to be much more expansive, encompassing any martial arts style. the ulterior motive is to allow practitioners to sense the yin-yang forces in a fight and to learn how to use them. the prevailing tai chi push hands does this only with the upper body. the hope is that wit this different version you can sense yin and yang in the feet and lower body, and then thereby also sense it in the way the encounter flows through space and time.

i worked with Jay on this. it's a very useful exercise in terms of training--i see it as a step on the progression towards utilizing TCMA in full-contact combat, since it helps attune your instincts and reflexes to applying a lot of the concepts, not just in terms of yin-yang, but also in terms of jing (ting, hwa, na, fa), whirlpools & vortices, tangents and vectors, spacing & timing, rooting & releasing, balance, and structure. it's also useful in that it lets you see how the principles are consistent regardless of technique, and hence regardless of style, and that ultimately everything is about principles and less anything else.

none of these are things i'm very good at, at least not in terms of real-time spontaneous application. in practicing with Jay, i can see that i'm still thinking my way through a lot of these things, and i'm not working on an intuitive level. this is something necessary, as it's only at an intuitive level that you develop the instincts and reflexes necessary for full-contact situations.

i did okay at times, but then i would reach stopping points, where i would understand the principle but either 1) not know how to apply it, or 2) apply it the wrong way. i told Sifu it's like i'm feeling my way through a maze, and hoping each decision leads down the right path in the maze, but every once in a while i make the wrong decision and wind up at a dead end. Sifu said that's the point of training: to learn how to avoid the dead ends.

something else that also became apparent is that my posture continues to be an issue, with Jay and Sifu noting that i still slouch, and while it's gotten better, it's still bad enough that it 1) puts my head within easy reach of the opponent, making me vulnerable to a lot of head strikes and grabs, and 2) disconnects the power from my center to my shoulders, suppressing the transmission of power from my legs through the dantian at my shoulders, throttling any further projection out through the arms--which is where its supposed to go.

this is something i'll have to really focus on to completely resolve. it's going to take a lot more work.

day 254: around the bagua wheel

concepts:

• dragon
• bird
• hawk
• unicorn
• bear
• monkey
• lion
  

lessons:

• arm basics

there was no kyudo this week, since Sensei canceled class to allow everyone to spend family time during the Halloween weekend. it was, however, a double day with kung fu, so there was still plenty to do.

i should also note that this upcoming weekend on Sunday, November 8, at CSULA is a seminar, with Sifu giving a 1-day study of training methods known as gong li. the details on given on the Wutan Los Angeles Facebook page, and were also distributed to the Wutan Yahoo! group. in brief, it will cover appropriate training methods to aid in the conditioning necessary for martial arts, with a focus on principles that can be transferred between different styles. anyone looking for more info should contact Art Schonfeld (aeschonfeld@aol.com ).

arm basics

the arm basics today continued with the animals. Sifu had us start with the dragon, and then led us methodically through 6. he noted that dragon had the greatest number of permutations, which is why he had us learn it first, but that the other animals were simpler and without as many variations. he showed us the movements for each animal, and then identified correlated the element and body organ from 5-element theory:

• dragon : yin wood : liver
• big bird : yang wood : waist & limbs
• hawk : fire : heart
• unicorn : yin earth : abdomen
• bear : yang earth : back
• monkey : yin metal : lung
• lion : yang metal : head
  

Sifu provided the following commentary on the above:

• the yin/yang designation provides clues as to the nature of the movement, as does the associated element and body organ, and so indicate the yi (intent) that should be associated with each. yin movements are inward, down, or away from the opponent, whereas yang movements are outwards, up, or towards the opponent.
• fire and water are the 2 elements which do not have yin/yang. this differs from Chinese astrology/cosmology, where they do, but in TCMA they do not.
• yin and yang actions for the drills with each animal can be switched or changed to create permutations, just like we did with dragon.
  

we stopped with monkey, although Sifu provided explanations for lion. we were out of time at this point, having spent class working through the arm basics for each animal from dragon through monkey. in addition, we were scheduled for an extra long lunch, since Sifu had called a meeting of the disciples to discuss some issues regarding the future. because of this, we called class to an end a little early.

day 253: really the inso basics

concepts:

• distance (long, medium, short)
• hard/soft (yang/yin)
• top of hand/side of hand/palm
• animals
• power projection
• meridians (rinmei, dumei)
  
• weapons
  

lessons:

• bagua inso
• kyudo
  

today was about working on the basics, or at least sorting them out.

bagua inso

we started this Saturday with a general introduction into the arm basics curriculum. Sifu said there are many arm basics, with drills for each of the following permutations:

• apparently, the arm basics ties back into the mother palms, with different arm movements correlated with each of the 8 animals. this means that for each animal, there is a single arm basic movement.
• for each basic arm movement, there are 3 permutations in terms of distance, so that the engagement range is long, medium, and short. long distance involves the entire arm, medium involves contact from the elbow out through the hand, and short from the wrist to the fingertip.
• with each distance, the basic arm movement can be done with a mixture of yin/yang, where the yin refers to soft action and yang is explosive action. a movement can be done with the forward action being yin and retraction being yang, with the forward action being yang and the retraction being yin, or both forward action and retraction being yang.
• for each of the above, the hand can be adjusted, so that the spiraling (chan sieh jin) energy is directed in different ways. the drill can end with the top of the hand toward the opponent, the side of the hand toward the opponent, or the palm toward the opponent.
• consistent with the rest of bagua, any of the basics using the right hand must also be done using the left hand, creating symmetry between the 2 sides.
  

Sifu also gave us some background behind the inso form and its purpose, noting the following:

• the arm form ties in with the 8 animals in bagua, and so exposes you to the characteristics and yi of each
• inso emphasizes power projection, with the energy derived from the movements (from the ground, through the body, via reaction forces and spiraling energy) being projected through the arms
• the arm form conveys power being through the dumei and rinmei channels, and so trains the practitioner to work the meridians
• the arm form is the basis of bagua weapons techniques, with all the bagua weapons forms and techniques relating back to movements in the arm form. as a result, education in the bagua weapons relies on understanding of the arm form.
  

once we finished discussing the above, Sifu had us commence with the inso basics for the dragon. this ended up consuming the rest of class. the number of permutations for just 1 animal is expansive, and i can see that this makes for a lot of variations in techniques and movements in bagua--independent of everything we've already learned in the other forms to date.

kyudo

kyudo this evening went fast, and not just because i had to leave early to prep for my morning bike ride. we had a smaller class (i counted 11 people total, including Sensei and 1 visitor), which with the 5 makiwara meant that we were shooting almost constantly. to slow things down to a pace more consistent with the form, Sensei had us grow in 3 smaller groups of 3-4 people (as opposed to 2 bigger ones of 4 or 5 each).

i'm continuing to become more comfortable with the form, and am able to concentrate on individual weaknesses now. this evening, i worked on what Sensei had told me last time: to try and extend my spine vertically as i drew the bow, so that i literally expanded into it. i noticed that in a paradoxical twist, the act of extending the spine vertically actually helps to drive force vectors through the legs into the ground even as much as it lifts the vertebrae upwards through the neck and the skull. i'm guessing this is what makes it useful in terms of drawing the bow, since it allows the force vectors from the ground to be harnessed through the body into the bow.

i also noted something else, in that i had been working on my elbows in the draw. i had noticed from pictures and videos of myself that i was dropping my right elbow too far forward, which resulted in me drawing the bow using shoulder and back muscles to pull the right elbow back. in addition, i had noticed that i was going into dai-san too far away from my head, which forced me to use my back muscles to pull the bow into me to let me pull the bowstring. this time, i tried to focus on letting the right elbow stay farther back, and to have the bow descend into dai-san closer too my head in a more vertical line. this made a dramatic difference in terms of how easy it felt to draw--i was using a 14-kg draw weight, which has been a struggle to use, but this time things were a little bit easier (easier so long as i kept to a very specific path, but which proved very difficult to feel out, meaning that i found myself waffling back and forth between easy and hard). this is a positive development, but the consistency is something that's going to require some work.

Sensei also added something else this time: waiting. he asked me to wait to release the arrow, so that it went at the right time. technically, from what i can gather, the right time is the moment of maximum draw, when the body is at full extension. but figuratively, there's a bit more, in that the right time also means the moment in your mind when you are completely still. this latter point is crucial, since it determines the stability of the body (the firing platform) and hence the accuracy of the arrow (the projectile fired from the firing platform).

i meant to leave at the tea break, but Sensei had brought several boxes of spare kyudo equipment from his garage with the goal of letting everyone see if there was anything they wanted, and his wife had arrived to help everyone sort through this. i stayed a little longer to pick out some items that i'd originally ordered from Japan--tabi, girikko (deer horn powder), bow string, bow string case, glove bags, bow coverings, and tabi. this was fortuitous, because it obviated my need from the order. i still have my order for arrows and a bow, and i have to say i am very much looking forward to the day they arrive...it'll mean that i really am taking another step into kyudo.

day 252: finding the dantian

concepts:

• dantian
• kua
• reaction force
  

lessons:

• chaang (spear)
• chen pao quan
  

this Sunday was a continuation of learning the dantian. and funny enough, i think i'm starting to get a better feel of what's supposed to be going on. Ching-chieh returned today, making it effectively her first day of spear training. we also had a surprise visitor in Jay, who had shown up for some review work (he's learned spear before in his shaolin training).

chaang (spear)

the spear is proving to be a weapon of some remarkable ironies and curious paradoxes. for a weapon that provides such a large extension of yourself, it requires a surprising level of subtlety to achieve full control. for something that it is so light, it involves an intimidating level of strength. for something whose danger comes from the tip of its point, it actually is reliant on the actions at its base. and for all of this to happen, the external manifestation of the spear's actions has to come from the internal operations of the practitioner's body. which means everything comes from the dantian...and to follow the commentary Sifu has made over the past few months, the dantian must be aligned with the center of gravity, since this provides the stability necessary to connect the force vectors from the center outwards--to the ground, to the legs, to the arms, to the spear, in a manner akin to the center and dantian acting as the railroad junction conveying power from one to the other.

there's a military analogy that a friend of mine in the marine corps once told me: to be able to send projectiles downrange with maximum speed and maximum directional control (i.e., the maximum velocity vector) you must have a stable weapons platform. i guess the spear mandates that the practitioner provide a stable platform.

we spent the better part of the morning working on basics, singly and in pairs, trying to master the movements using the dantian. i'm starting to get better, but it still requires quite a bit of effort.

something i noticed is that improving usage of the dantian is also improving the kua. they seem to be connected, with improvement in one producing improvement in the other, and the application of one requiring application of the other. this is necessary to be able to transmit and convey the force vectors into the ground, and to then receive and communicate the reaction forces back up through the body. with the spear, whether or not you are doing this correctly is really obvious, because any actions at the base are multiplied at the tip, and so really intensifies the level of effort and focus that are required by the part of the practitioner.

Sifu mentioned that with the dantian, we have to imagine that it's curling and uncurling in synchronization with the spiralling actions of the spear, and that it's doing so not just in 2-dimensions or on a single plane of motion but instead in 3 dimensions in multiple planes of motion. in effect, we have to see it curling and uncurling so that it traces an oval positioned at an angle that varies according to what direction the spear is moving.

chen pao quan

we finished class with a quick lesson on chen pao quan. Ching-chieh and Jo-san had missed varying parts of it to date, so we spent time getting them up to speed. as a result, we went just a little farther in the form, but focused on reviewing what we've covered so far. this only took a few minutes, since by this time was pretty much the end of the class.