Since the nature of the jaredprins.com blog has changed, I decided to remove all of my posts on Kung-Fu and Tai Chi. Instead of continuing these classes, I now follow my own personal exercise routine. This is more flexible to my weekly schedule.
That said, I did not want all of my posts to go to waste, so I've aggregated them into this one document.
I've missed the last 2 months of kung fu. One of my programmers had to quit his work on a project so that threw me in a loop. I haven't had much time to go to kung fu. But things are lightening up.
I will likely go back in mid-September. One of my main goals will be to bulk up and get a more toned body. I've already begun by waking up earlier and doing a 30 minute workout, along with eating more and healthier.
It will be interesting to see how I can make new posts in Kung Fu. It's one thing to write about the techniques, but another thing to focus on the application of techniques. I know there will be a few things to write about, such as Cham Kiu - a form that green belts and higher learn to practice our shifting.
But how does one write about sparring? I'd more just be writing reminders to myself about what to watch out for. For example, a brown belt kindly reminded me to keep my thumbs tucked. I have a tendancy to let them stick out. An attacker can grab them and snap them off :(
I was also told to keep my arms up. They tend to drop a little bit. Though it's probably due to me being tired...
I think the amount of posts on Kung Fu will drop, but I'll make sure I replace them with other things. I have a couple websites launching in the next few months I can write about. I'll also be taking up Dragonboating this summer again so I can write about that.
Well, I haven't written for awhile. I do have some news - I finished the wooden dummy portion of my kung fu test for green belt a week ago or so. My last day as an orange belt was April 9. I only had 1 green belt test. We went over the first 1/3 of Cham Kiu.
In the White and Yellow belt we learn Monkey Form 1 and in Orange belt we learn Monkey Form 2. Monkey Form helps work on our stance. In Green belt we work on Cham Kiu which is to help us work on our shifting. We begin to apply shifting into our techniques.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to attend class for an entire week. I had work to do last Wednesday night, and this past long weekend (due to good friday and easter monday), I was down in Calgary visiting family.
Tonight I will be able to attend class.
Another of my fellow orange belts also finished his test for green belt. Congrats to Randeep who is also now a green belt!
We also did 3 of the Chi Sau attacks - Lan Sau, Double Lap Sau and Wing Chun kick, and the step-in neck grab. It felt good to be back to where I ended off in Kung Fu. It's exciting, because it means I get to do more sparring type exercises (something we call problem solving).
Which reminds me, my first green belt class and I got my butt kicked from my black belt instructor, Lance. Wow, was problem solving difficult. It's not like riding a bike, you can't just remember how to do it then do it. Techniques can be remembered, but the sensitivity is something that has to be built up again. So in that regard, it's like I've never been a green belt before.
You can view my green belt test results. Everything was labelled as "Very Good" except for Endurance as well as Speed & Power which were marked as "Good". I would have to agree with this marking. I think there is always room for improvement on speed and power. As for the endurance, I definately agree that I can improve there. Lately I've been jogging part way to class (it usually takes 20 minute walking fast). Hopefully this jogging will increase my endurance.
And with summer here, I hope to break out the mountain bikes and build up my endurance on the trails as well. w00t!
[tags]Green Belt Test, Endurance[/tags]
A number of classes ago, we worked on an interesting exercise today called 4 Gates. In your fighting stance, do a double Pi-Qu, move to Jerk sau (which I am sure is not the chinese name), then double Jum sau, and finally to double Jut sau.
I am not sure exactly how the technique would be applicable during a fight. I am assuming down the road I will learn that.
[tags]Pi Qu, Jerk Sau, Jum Sau[/tags]
I've been missing a number of classes in the past few weeks. I can really see it from the decrease in posts on this blog. It's not that I've become lazy though! Lately I have been working a lot of overtime at my job. Add that to the fact that I also run a web application development company with 2 large projects on the go.
With my green belt test coming up, I've been practicing Monkey Form 2. For awhile there I had one movement that I couldn't for the life of me figure out what came next. I kept jumping into Monkey Form 1 of all things. I began imagining myself doing the form in my mind. Wow, did that I ever help! I've forgotten just how much it helps to imagine yourself doing the techniques. Although I am sure it can be done, I don't think it is efficient or good enough to simply practice the technique physically. Practicing in your mind is also important.
[tags]Monkey Form 2, Monkey Form II, Monkey Form 1, Monkey Form I, Kung Fu[/tags]
Well, my green belt test has been delayed for a few days. It's moved from March 27 to April 3.
I get tested for my wing chun kung fu green belt on March 27. The test involves:
Once I pass this test, I'll be back to the level from where I left! It won't even be a year since I started Kung Fu. In fact, I'll probably be testing for brown belt shortly after 1 year of being in Kung Fu.
Since Yut=1 Yee=2 and Sam=3, an exercise we did in class called Sam Sing (and we were told Sing means Star) means we were doing the Sam Sing (3 stars) exercise. It helps us to practice our stance and a bit of shifting speed. It requires 2 people to do this exercise.
They face eachother, one moves left to the left bow and arrow stance and the other moves right to do the right bow and arrow stance. As they enter bow and arrow stance, their torso's move past eachother slightly. The person doing the left bow and arrow will use a right arm lower gan, while the right bow and arrow will use a left lower gan. The lower gan's connect. On the leg that is bent, shift to face the partner and enter cat stance. The lower gan's switch to tan sau's, then they strike against eachother as lower gan's.
From cat stance, the leg with only 10% wieght on it will slide forward to enter bow and arrow stance. The exercise repeats.
It's a good exercise for stance and also helps to train the mind to coordinate your body.
It's 3 "chunks" of movements: bow and arrow stance lower gan, cat stance tan sau, lower gan, repeat.
It has been weeks since I last wrote anything. Truth be told, the past little while there hasn't been many new techniques learned in Kung Fu class. I suppose this makes sense because when you enter a new belt level, you are constantly learning new things but then you reach a point where everything becomes practice.
One new technique we have been practicing lately is Pi Qu. Pi Qu is like a Bon Sau but your forearm, instead of being somewhat parallel with the ground, is at a 45 degree angle from the ground. Your hand should be somewhat in front of your face.
In this specific exercise, we did double Pi Qu, one wrist on top of the other, and an opponent would do a hammer fist or a punch. When the next punch comes, you block it but put your other wrist on top of the other wrist (alternate which Pi Qu is on top).
From there, we would proceed to do an outside gate Lap Da.
It is important to remember to roll your arms like in Bon Sau. This ensures you don't need as much strength to deflect the opponents attack.
When you switch which Pi Qu arm is on top, don't pull your hand back - it is too time consuming and energy inefficient. A better way is to just roll the one hand around the other arm. Basically keep your forearms connected as you switch.
I've been wondering if Double Pi Qu is meant for when you are unsure of exactly how the attack is coming - sort of like Bon-Tan or Double Gan.
When the punch comes, it doesn't matter which arm is on top of which for the Double Pi Qu. What mattered during this exercise is that we alternated the top arm.
My arch enemy visited me in Kung Fu class today. It goes by the name of Stress and causes me to tense up during certain techniques. This is especially true during my Bon Sau. A good Bon Sau blocks and then exits. By exit I mean to get out of the Bon Sau position into another technique. I find it difficult to relax my Bon Sau once it does its thing. I keep it tense, and so I am slow to react to an attack.
Today we did same side Bon Sau as the opponents punch, then the opponent would do Gum Da, and you counter with a Lap Da using the same hand as the Bon Sau.
Boy oh boy did I find this difficult. It was a brown belt who pointed out I was too tense. A fellow orange belt pointed out that another issue I have is that I bring my Lap Sau too far back. I lose that distance between my Lap elbow and my stomach/chest.
I believe it was this combination - tensing up and performing a poor technique - that really made things overly difficult. For the stress part, that is something I have to learn over time. Maybe some meditation training will help. For the technique, I think I figured out my issue with that on my way home in the car.
I think that between the Bon Sau being pushed down by the Gum Sau, I need to do a Bil Sau which then turns into a Lap Sau. I was trying to go from Bon to Lap right away. Basically, the Gum pushes my Bon elbow down, but my wrist should stay in the same area of space. They basically only push my arm into question hand! From there, I can easily apply the Lap Da.
The harder issue will be to relax. Time and time again, my greatest enemy is myself.
About 3 years ago I went back to school at the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension for Website Development diploma. Classes were Tuesday and Thursday evenings and all day Saturday. I did this for about 8 or 9 months until graduation. Every class I'd park in the same spot on the street. You were allowed to park there on weekends and weekdays after 6:00pm. Otherwise, you'd need a permit.
Saturday's class rolls around and I needed to drive to make it in time. I parked in this area because all other streets were packed with parked cars. Little did I know, they had changed the signs since I was in school. You had to have a permit to park there, no matter what time.
When I got back to my car, I had a nice $40 ticket.
What really angers me is that ALL the other streets around there haven't had their signs changed. Why is it just this street that is different? They must find that this trickery increases revenue....
I spent $40 to make it to class on time. I haven't paid the ticket yet though. Maybe somehow there is a loophole...
I am sad to report that I will no longer be taking Tai Chi push hands. I learned a lot and it has helped me a somewhat with Kung Fu, but for now, I can no longer take the class.
My work demands a lot of time from me, and I've also decided that if I am going to be spending an extra night per week doing martial arts, I'd rather focus on practicing Wing Chun Kung Fu rather than something else. Maybe in the future I will take it again.
So that's it for my Tai Chi posts in this blog. From now on, it will be kung fu and technology posts only.
Last class was good. I was a bit late though, so missed the first 15 minutes of exercise. However, I was running for 20 minutes to get there so at least I was all warmed up. I made it just in time to do some stretches.
We worked on Gum sau a lot. Opponent throws a punch, you do outside gate Jum sau (is there even an inside gate?) then, as thought the persons arm is a slot machine handle, you just pull it down a bit to do the Gum sau. You clear a path to let the other hand punch.
Gum da is not a Jut da. There is no "rolling" back. It is also not a lower Gan da which slightly sweeps the person's arm to the side. It is simply meant to cover their arm and possibly clear a bit of a path to allow for your attack. There is not much force used to cover. Should you feel the person try something with that hand, you should be ready to counter and attack.
I should also add that Gum da is not a good block if you are taller than your opponent. Don't sacrifice footing or a good stance just to try and go a Gum da. Just do a different block to begin with.
We also worked on the Jum sau then switch with Bil sau and do a Lap da. So your partner throws a punch, you do a Jum sau, then immediately switch arms by coming up with the Bil sau (or question hand) allowing you to do an easy Lap da.
Above all of the things that we practiced, one thing stood out in my mind. In Green belt and above we practice "Problem Solving" which is like a mild sparring. The goal, however, is not to hit, but to control your opponent. Sometimes I forget this and I find I constantly think of getting myself into a position where I try to strike the other person. It was good to be reminded of this lesson. The goal is to control your opponent.
Kudos to Lance, our black belt teacher, for reminding us of that important fact.
I'd also like thank Chris, another black belt, for getting us through the entire Monkey Form II (Monkey Form 2). Finally, we were able to zip through the first 25 moves and do the remainder of the form - which contain the more challenging movements in the form. Even though it was a bit rushed to get through it a couple times, it is good to struggle and wrestle with it.
One of my favorite lines in Batman Begins is when Mr. Wayne tells his son, Bruce (a child at the time, who just finished falling down the well shaft), "Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up." I find when we struggle and purposefully allow ourselves to make mistakes, we learn better.
The last 3 or 4 classes involved a lot of practice doing the double gan. We've been practicing it 2 different ways.
The latter is useful as it allows for one to switch from being outside gate (tan and palm strike) to being inside gate (double gan).
I find that these are very helpful techniques and can be applied in real life situations. So a big thank you to our Sifu and Black Belt instructors for teaching these techniques!
Todays class was a bit slower paced (aside from the exercises). A number of people never did the double gan. But that's OK. I focused on helping my partners learn the techniques more than practicing them myself.
Other than that, I don't have much of an update for Todays class.
Well, we had a nice 2 week long Chrismas break from Kung Fu class, but now it's time to get back into the groove. Time to work off all the candy and chocolat and cookies. Today's class, which I'm leaving for in 1/2 hour is going to be tough. They usually work us pretty hard after a holiday.
With class starting up, I'll be able to write posts again.
I've noticed in Kung Fu class we do a lot more exercising with punching near the end of class. It's about time. I find a number of classmates do not punch properly. I even catch myself punching poorly at times. It seems that the last 5 minutes of class are devoted to some sort of punching exercise for strength building.
Often my fist is not lined up with my forearm. The back of the hand should be flat with the rest of my forearm. If not, it is a great way to break my fist if punching something.
Push-ups on the fists are a great way to drill the shape of the punch into your brain.
It gets pretty funny in class. Our muscles get so fatigued that our technique is completely thrown out the window. At least there is still the benefit of building up strength and endurance with punching. Over time, we should all be able to do more and more.
A bit thanks to Sifu for implementing this in class.
Sunday we had a dummy class. I was paired up with a black belt for a bit and he taught me a lot. In regards to the Tan sau, I always thought for the longest time that the proper way to do one was to press forward. This is a very force on force type of action though. The purpose of Tan sau is to redirect, like most techniques in Wing Chun.
I remember being told that the blocks are outward forces. They come from the center line and push out. Now I am understanding that, yes, they come from the center line, but the goal is to redirect.
I am reading a book right now, the Wing Chun compendium. The pictures in it suggest that the force is outward and not redirecting. The guys palm is perfectly in line with his center, as is the elbow. As I discussed in a previous post, if the elbow is in that far, it becomes very vulnerable to being pushed against your body and thus being trapped. The wrist/forearm could be pushed so that the elbow gets stuck in the persons gut and then the person has limited movement of that arm. Very dangerous. Elbows should be at the sides.
Now maybe this just means that once the Tan sau is performed, you should not stay in that position, but do something else. I find this hard to believe. The ultimate goal of Wing Chun is to defend or protect yourself. However, we are taught to not leave our Bon Sau elbows up, as you are vulnerable. But I think this more refers to your rib cage being open, not so much that your elbow is vulnerable to being controlled by an opponent.
Anyway, I will continue to reflect on this in future classes. The main point about the Tan sau is that it comes from the center line and redirects the force. So your forearm does go out slightly like the windwhield wiper, but that is only due to the action of turning your palm face up. As the Tan sau comes from the center line, it looks like a Jum sau. You do a slight sweeping movement with the forearm, face the palm upwards, and it is now a Tan sau.
It becomes especially powerful when we learn to incorporate shifting. We do not shift at the orange belt level. We start in green belt.
In regards to the Bon Tan, if the punch coming at you is very strong, you use BOTH the Tan sau and Bon sau to contact the arm and deflect it. The Bon sau is there to backup the Tan sau should it not be strong enough. With a weaker punch, the Tan sau should be effective, thus leaving your other arm to perform attacks.
From the Tan sau, a person can do a Lap da. The Tan sau arm does a Lap and the Bon sau arm should glide up the attackers arm and strike. Keeping in contact with the other persons arm will help you sense any changes in case they try and attack or get out of it.
If the punch is a bit higher, a Pie Qu can be performed. From there, you can do a Lap with the other hand, much like the Bon sau Lap da in yellow belt.
Doing the orange belt dummy techniques was good. They came back to me fairly quickly. I truly wish I had a wooden dummy of my own now... Maybe I will get one from Santa this year? :P
Anyway, it was a great class. The challenge is to remember all of this, practice it, and make it second nature.
What an awesome class today. We had a good workout for the legs and arms, we also were able to do some problem solving with higher belts.
Class started with doing a "Bon Tan" technique. Your opponent punches and you block with the outside gate Tan sau and do a Bon sau with the other arm. The Bon sau is meant to be both a backup if your Tan sau is weak, but you can also easily do a Lap sau and strike the opponent with a Sat sau type of move from the Bon sau.
We then moved into sticky hands Chi sau and problem solving. Higher belts were asked to pair up with lower belts. This was the awesome part. I learned a lot today. Some of the things I want to make note of include:
One thing really frustrated me today. I was paired up with a higher belt who did a number of things, I believe, incorrectly. I'll call this person Clarice to hide the identity.
Clarice was quite forceful with her Chi Sau frame. She was almost pushing my arms in or out, this way or that. So to counter this, I have to put a little strength into my Chi Sau. She would then do an attack and tell me I am pushing too hard. Well heck, a yellow belt could probably attack just as well because with all that force I am giving Clarice, I am practically telling her how to attack me and with which technique to use.
Come on, this is not the point of Chi Sau. Chi Sau is sensitivity training. I was paired up with a black belt today. His Chi Sau frame was not stiff or forceful. It was very loose. But every time I tried something they were able to avoid and counter with ease.
When starting with Clarice, she would stand at a slight angle to my center line, giving herself the upper hand right off the bat. Well of course I won't be able to do my techniques properly!
And when I was able to do a technique, most of the time Clarice would not even let me finish. I'd start a technique and BAM they'd counter and strike. Um, isn't class about learning? Isn't learning about taking advice and also giving it? If I can't learn the techniques - what they feel like from start to finish - I can't learn properly.
I feel like if I get paired up with Clarice again, I'll just take a break instead. Because here is the kicker. It's not that you are not learning. It's that you are actually learning incorrectly if you are unable to perform techniques properly or from start to finish.
I should clarify that I don't just mean I have to finish my technique properly. It's that I actually want to get beyond initiating the start of the technique. It's like as soon as I move, Clarice counters. I can't do diddly squat.
If you are like "Clarice" and have stumbled across this page, I'd like you to know some things:
Regardless of the above issue, I still loved the class and I hope we do more of that.
I think it was also really good for the white belts. They were able to learn a few advanced things. Another benefit to the class is that it gets people excited about future classes and their future in Kung Fu. It keeps them coming back. This customer retention is definitely good for Sifu.
The last 5 minutes of class involved pushups and lots and lots of chain punching. It's nice to have Sifu push us like that once in awhile. Sometimes I think people let themselves get too lazy.
Ahh, that was a good class. It was nice to learn something a bit more challenging. Today we worked on different Chi Sau fighting techniques. It's some of the basic yellow belt techniques of Tan da (inside and outside gate), Fuk sau jut da, and Pak da while doing Chi Sau.
It came back to me fairly quick, all that was required was a small refresher by watching the instructor show us the moves.
A lot of these attacks come from the switching between Bon/Tan or Lower/Upper Fuk during Chi Sau. I suppose it makes sense because if you have a good Chi Sau (ie. your Fuk sau's, Tan sau, and Bon sau are well formed and performed correctly), then they should not be able to get past those blocks. If this is true, it suggests that transitions are the weakest link in Chi Sau.
This tells us many things:
(I am reminded of the lesson we see in the "Batman Begins" movie where Bruce Wayne is on the Ice with Ras Al'Gul (though at the time Bruce did not know his teacher was Ras) and Bruce seems to have one. Ras states something like "You have sacrificed sure footing for the upper hand" then taps the ice and Bruce falls in. Bruce had stood on a weak spot for a striking position.)
If the goal of Chi Sau is sensitivity training only, then the above are not too important. In class we use Chi Sau as a starting point for Problem Solving (sparring) and so the above points become very important.
My assignment will be to see if the above points have a ring of truth to them. This will probably take some time, but I am looking forward to it.
We also did Monkey Form 2 in class. It takes off where Monkey Form 1 ends. Apparently these Monkey Forms come from a Shaolin style of Kung Fu. I did not know that until today.
It was interesting to do Monkey Form Two. I could kind of remember it, but it was still almost like learning it for the first time.
As for moving on to Green Belt, I probably won't be moving as quickly as I did from White to Orange. I won't mind being kept in Orange belt until all other Orange belts are tested. There is lots to learn at this level, and I want to ensure I know it well.
A couple Satudays ago in Kung Fu class I was thinking a little bit about the overall idea of fighting. Martial arts, there are so many of them, and each one has these specific techniques that involves attacking someone or defending yourself from someone.
It just made me realize how people hurting people has been with us throughout time - giving different races enough time for these martial arts to evolve and grow. Such thought, care, and study has been devoted to these techniques. Wether it's devotion towards the study of attacking or defending - it remains devotion toward the study of violence.
It's sad that we need to learn these techniques to prevent from being hurt or killed or to defend others from the same fate. At the same time, without the bad and cruelty in life, the good things in life wouldn't seem as good anymore.
In the case of this class, we were learning moves to defend ourselves from head locks. Our teacher told us that sometimes we may need to fight dirty. Go for the eyes, the throat, the groin... Whatever it takes to get away.
It sucks that we have to learn ways to maximize the pain we inflict. Anyway, if I get any more philisophical I may just throw up. The fact remains, bad people exist, we need to learn to protect ourselves. Welcome to reality.
I was finally tested for my orange belt. 4 of us were tested and from the sounds of it, we all passed with flying colours. The test is not over yet. We still have a wooden dummy portion which happens today in 1 1/2 hours. I am confident it will go smoothly.
It will be nice to put on the orange belt. The yellow belt techniques came back to me fairly quick, so I wanted to move on.
Only one more belt and then I am back where I left off!
Monday's kung fu class was killer on the legs. We did one-legged squats (squat all the way to the ground on one leg, keep foot flat on ground, and stand all the way up). I learned I am out of shape. It took only about 25 squats per leg to incapacitate my legs. They were jello for the rest of the class.
Even worse was walking to work today. I sometimes walk or take the bus. Today the plan was to take the bus, but I thought I'd tough it out and walk. Big mistake! Going down the 40 or 50 steps on my route and up the steep hill was next to impossible. I thought for sure I my legs would buckle or give out from under me.
Even now, almost 20 yours later, my legs are still jello. I am for sure taking the bus home today...
Oh, and no way am I going to Tai Chi tonight. These legs wouldn't last one minute.
As for a quick update, I don't know when I will be tested yet. Wednesday or Saturday I am hoping.
Last Wednesday's kung fu class through me in for a spin, literally. For whatever reason, about 40 minutes into class I got really dizzy. Drinking water and splashing cold water onto my face did not help.
It could have been left over jet lag, but I have a feeling it was more the case of me not eating enough veggies. My diet has been out of sync since we got back from vacation.
So I only did 40 minutes and then had to have my wife pick me up. No way was I going to walk the 20 minute trek feeling dizzy. Campus security would pick me up and mistaken me for a drunk :P
I feel better today, and I am looking forward to class this afternoon.
Oh, and I should be getting tested next week!
My classmate stumbled across my website recently. He said that when he searched for "monkey form one", my site was the first to come up. I could not replicate the high ranking though. He must have used a variant of "monkey form 1" and I can't figure out what it is.
I'll have to try to remember to ask him. By searching "Edmonton Monkey form 1 [or 'one']", my site comes up 1st on google.ca. I am also not sure if he used google.ca or google.com and even if there is a difference in rankings between the two.
Anyway, it is nice to see a high ranking with my site. Pat on the back for me. :)
I came across this great article that explains page ranks. Check it out. http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html
Monday's class was my first kung fu class in 2 weeks. I was supposed to be tested, but they want me to take a few more classes to get back into the swing of things. They also like to test in even numbers, and the guy I was being paired up with did not attend class. I will find out tomorrow when I will be tested. Hopefully it is next Monday.
The class was good though. There were 2 things that I learnt which I want to make a note of. The first thing is that I have a bad habit with my bon sau lap da. When I stop a punch with my bon sau, and use my other hand to do a lap da on the opponents punch, I tend to grab their wrist right away. Big mistake! I remember all of my instructors telling us not to do that. I was very disappointed in myself to learn of this. Thanks to the orange belt who figured out what I was doing wrong. The proper way to do it is to use the back of your hand to slide their hand down and then turn your hand to grab their wrist just before you pull them a bit to the side. I've probably been doing it wrong for years now!
The other thing I wanted to make a note of was that when doing outside gate tan da, the tan should connect to the oppenents arm somewhere 3 inches below the wrist. No higher and no lower. Also, if doing an inside gate tan da, you need to really gauge your distance to your attacker. Compared to the outside gate tan da, you will be a bit further away from your opponent for the inside gate block. Otherwise, you are too close to your attacker.
Oh, I just remembered another thing we reviewed, and that is our stance. In guard stance, we should be 55% of our weight on the back left and 45% on the front. Also try to not lean forward or backward - sit on your stance. A number of people (and I caught myself a few times) lean their upper body when they throw punches or perform blocks - this is very dangerous!
Happy kungfuing.
I haven't posted any content about my latest Wing Chun and Tai Chi classes lately. I have jotted down a few notes of things I want to say about these past few classes, but they are sitting in a saved text file on my desktop waiting to be edited.
The reason for my lack of posting is that I have been frustrated with both classes - mostly with Tai Chi. In fact, my frustration in my last Kung Fu class was because it carried over from my last Tai Chi class. Not good.
I am finding it very difficult to do the Tai Chi techniques. I think it may be due to teaching style. I get a bit of theory in class as to why and how we do the techniques we do, but I don't get enough.
You see, in Tai Chi, we are supposed to put our legs, back and arms in certain positions. There are reasons for this. But what are thos reasons? What is the end result of learning the push hands stance? When we do push hands, why do some of the people in class really move there arms around and almost seem to grab? What is the objective of push hands? How should it feel when I do get it right?
The answers to these questions are not taught very clearly. Sometimes the answers are touched upon. I find I need theory before my body and mind can do what it is supposed to do. Is this a bad thing? Is it best to jump in and learn from doing? I guess the answer to this is different for everyone. I've never been a fan of jumping into things without careful planning and due diligence. Maybe to excel at martial arts, jumping in is the best way to learn? If that is the case, it just doesn't make sense. To do anything properly, don't people have to know why and what the results of doing something a certain way?
It's like human knowledge, why re-invent the wheel? It's not cheating, because you still have to do the work yourself. I still have to do the blocks, punches and stances myself. I want explanations for how I do the work, why I do it, and what will I achieve by doing it.
So where am I left? What do my last few posts tell me?
What I know for certain is that:
I was pretty frustrated in Push Hands last class. I have such bad habits. Actually, I should say bad habit, singular. I tense up everytime I do anything. In Kung Fu I do that during sparring, chi sau, balance trapping etc. In Tai Chi tonight, the teacher noticed I just wasn't getting it. He paired me up with one of the pro guys.
If you have read my previous post, I wrote about the push hands stance, at least from a beginners point of view. When we get into our "stance", we are holding a column of air/tension with our tore pelvis/legs and our body/arms. We need to hold those columns with our body.
Now today we combined that but instead of having our circular arms, we complete this circle with an opponent. You focus on their center point at their lower back. Your circle completes there, and when it does (if you can do it), then you can control your opponent.
I just couldn't do it! It was so difficult. It's not that I was super-rigid-tense, but I do end up putting a bit of muscle into it. We are not supposed to use muscle. It's strength through inner energy. If force came my way, I am supposed to let that column of air cushion it, but it was hard for me to do it.
The whole issue is this. I need more theory. I have too many questions about why things are done a certain way. How does energy flow through the body? What is the main goals we are trying to achieve? How will it feel when I do it right? The list goes on.
I'll touch more on this in my next post.
2 classes ago we really worked a lot on stance and frame. There are a number of things that I would like to note about what we learned.
Focus in this order:
This whole stance is about hugging a column of air. Your arms wrap around this column and legs are supported by column such that you are like a spring. There is mild tension from the column.
The force is able to flow between your back (center of gravity), hips, through the thighs to the knees. Keep your center balanced. When you move, your thighs stay the same somewhat. You don't want to lose your frame - at least not as a beginner of Push hands. I suppose when you are more experienced, you can feel and control the tension better. Anyway, as soon as you move the wrong way, you rish changing your focal point (fulcrum).
When you move a joint, it then becomes a focal point. Your focal point should be your center of gravity (stomach area), not the joint. Joints are weak and cripple under pressure.
Your arms do the same as your hips. Pretend like you are hugging a tree. Your fingers should point towards eachother so that your force can travel in a circle.
With your arms, if you move your shoulder, it becomes a focal point. All tension is gone, the strength cannot travel from your center through your spine, through your shoulder and into the arm.
Things that I found helped me, because I have bad posture, is not to strain yourself when you push out the lower back. My spine is very curved, so I can only go so much. Do as much as you can.
Try your hardest to relax but feel the tension. Relax ON your stance, sit ON your stance/frame.
We were also told to focus on an imaginary point below our center of gravity, on the floor, between your feet, and the more you relax and let your "denteen" (center of gravity) do the work (ie, let energy flow from it), the easier it gets.
I also find if I strain or think to hard about one point, I end up ignoring something else.
I hinted in my last post about why I took kung fu. I thought I'd put a post about why I took kung fu. I did a post about why I took Tai Chi push hands. It seems only fair. Then when I am a higher belt, I can look over these posts and reminisce.
The 3 reasons I am taking Wing Chun:
The first is straight forward. Once I get to the higher belts, the strength and speed of my technique will get better. I will be more equipped to defend myself.
The second occurs no matter which belt you are in. I sure like being able to touch my toes with relative ease. I need to work on my gut though. It get's in the way a smidge when I do touch my toes :P
The third will happen over time I hope. By training to respect my fellow students and my teachers, it should rub off when I interact with anyone. Also, being able to release tension during class helps lower my aggression levels.
Last night at Kung Fu practice, myself and another student were pulled aside. We were instructed to do 6 of the basic yellow belt level blocks, a hammer fist/horse stance technique, and sticky hands with the 2 switches. After that we were then told that next class the date for our test would be given to us. So it is not too far away now where I can where the orange belt!
It will be nice to get to orange belt to do more with sticky hands. Green belt will be even more fun because we then get to do problem solving. (Problem solving is a cross between sticky hands (chi sau) and sparring. It's basically sticky hands, but you get to move around and do whatever block and attack you wish. The objective is to not get trapped or hit etc...).
Though I have be enjoying yellow belt techniques, it will be nice to practice with an opponent. I mean, that is one of the main reasons I took kung fu was so that I can defend myself from attackers.
The basic blocks are done over an over again to make it second nature. I feel that I can't go beyond that if I stay in yellow belt any longer.
It's all about making these techniques second nature. First you work at doing the technique over and over so that if you do it wrong, you can feel it. You then work up to feeling what the technique is like with an opponent, and what it is like during sticky hands. When you do more advanced sticky hands, you want your counter attacks to be second nature.
Once in orange though, things should be good. If they don't want to advance me to green, that will be ok. But maybe my mind will change once I am in orange for a few weeks. That is what happened when I was white and yellow.
I had a nice little chat with one of the Black belts that teach us Wing Chun. He takes a form of Tai Chi which I won't attempt to pronounce or spell. He reminded me that Kung Fu and Tai Chi is about opposites. If someone is squeezing you in, you react out. If they push you down, you react up. If one arm is up, the other is down. If one arm punches forward, the other arm is back.
Now I would guess this isn't something I should take literally - not completely anyway. I think the opposites relates more to force. If force comes at you, you take it in and focus it back. This is something I will have to ponder further. I think once I do more Chi Sau and push hands, I will begin to understand the concept of opposites.
When that time comes, I will write more on this topic.