This journal is a glimpse into what I'm
working on. I'm trying to keep my training fresh and to deepen my
skills. Fortunately, I now have students in
I haven’t posted the journal in
awhile. Here’s what’s
been happening. My Shaolin students have completed the San Sai
Jian. It’s a two person combat form using
the straight sword.
OK.
The web site is up to date and there are a lot of interesting practices
in the works, so Happy Holidays
Someone asked Cellist Yo Yo Mah
when he practiced. His reply “All the time.”
So to with all of us dedicated to our vocations and
avocations. Practice the Tai Chi checklist in the car. Put
your hands on the steering wheel and Drop your
shoulders and relax.
This advice is like calling the
Microsoft help line. It’s accurate but not very useful.
So lift your crown, put your tongue to the roof of your mouth and tuck in your
chin. Then drop your elbows. That’s right. Drop your
elbows. I mean move H2 towards your center. I mean lift the medial epicondyle and internally rotate the humerus.
Notice how your shoulders drop, how the trapezius
muscles elongate under GB 11. OK, you’re part way there. Lift
the sternum, CV14. Sink the L1 points toward each other. Sink the Lv 14 points towards each other. Sink GB 24 towards
each other. Now you've got it!
OK. Now drop your breath to your
diaphragm and work on dropping the pelvis. You can still drop the pelvis
while sitting. Try it. Let the greater trochanter
move outwards. Feel the corkscrew effect on your feet. Watch your
speed! You’ll find the pressure on the gas or brake to be greatly
enhanced, so don’t cause a wreck.
So now you can practice at your desk, or
while driving your car. For me, this means all the time. Just
like Yo Yo Ma.
The Tai Chi checklist ends at Drop the Pelvis . There's a little more to it
than that simple phrase. It needs to be experienced, but here’s a
quick description. Bow. That's
right. Bow. Thank Rick Taracks
for that little statement. Here’s what it means. Stand with
your feet apart and bow. Feel how the greater trochanter
rotates outward. GB 30 moves forward. Also, Lv12 in the inguinal
fold sinks inward. This opens the space to drop the pelvis. You
immediately notice the lengthening of the spine. But wait,
there’s more. Bend your knees so that Bl54 behind the knees aligns
with K1 on the bottom of the foot. The net effect is that your legs
corkscrew into the ground. The right leg spirals counterclockwise and the
left leg spirals clockwise. Now don’t let your knees buckle inward
and you’ve got the full effect of dropping the pelvis.
If you need more, see Jou Tsung Hua’s Tai Chi book.
I've covered “Sink the Chest, Raise the
Back” in other notes. There are about 10 acupuncture points
involved in that checklist. The key to getting it started is to
internally rotate the humerus. This drops the
shoulder and allows all other things to fall into place. It takes
constant work and attention to detail, but improvement is tangible.
Here’s a curious fact. There
are 5 elements in Hsing Yi and then a 5 element
form. There are 12 animals and a 12 animal form (Jia
Sil Chuan). So what are the 8 things that go
into making up Ba Sil
Chuan? Well, it turns out that there are 8 methods. Kua ? stride and Zhan ? spread, are two
of them. Stay tuned for this breaking story.
There’s always a problem
translating Chinese terms into English. The thirteen Jian
techniques listed below are a case in point. For those of you who have
taken my sword class, you’ll see that these translations only roughly
correspond to the actions that we practiced. There is an additional
wrinkle in that the pinyin romanization scheme is
used. You can see why I give you a number of synonyms, but I hope also
that you start to see the meanings converge.
|
13 Taiji Jian Techniques |
||
|
T'ai Chi Ch'uan 13 Straight
Sword Techniques |
||
|
1. |
Ji |
Stroking,
Stroke, Strike |
|
2. |
Ci |
Thrusting,
Pierce |
|
3. |
Ge |
Obstruct,
Scroll |
|
4. |
Xi |
Wash,
Shuttling |
|
|
Liao
|
Swing |
|
|
Shao
|
Sweeping |
|
5. |
Chou |
Whip,
Pulling |
|
6. |
Dai |
Slicing,
Lead |
|
7. |
Ti |
Lifting,
Lift |
|
8. |
Dian |
Pointing,
Dot |
|
9. |
Pen |
Tipping,
Burst |
|
10. |
Pi |
Chopping, Split |
|
11. |
Jie |
Cutting,
Intercept |
|
12. |
Jiao |
Stirring,
Stir |
|
13. |
Ya |
Pressing,
Press Down |
I want to introduce you to the
fundamental Tai Chi. broadsword techniques. Just as the
Jien has 13 fundamental energies emerging from its
structure, so to the Dao. Recall that 13 is a recurring theme in
Tai Chi related to the 8 gates and the 5 steps. All the Tai Chi weapons are
said to have a set of fundamental energies
manifested in many of the form postures. Each weapon has energies unique
to its properties. These energies, distilled for the broadsword, are listed below.
1.
2.To. Cutting can also be translated
as mincing. It is a slicing attack to the wrist. Basically, cutting
means to place the sword on the wrist and drag it. In the broadsword
combat, this is the response to the opening move. As the one partner
opens the form with a splitting attach to the shoulder, the other partner
sidesteps and minces his wrist.
3. Chan. Slicing is the action of
drawing the sword across the opponent’s body. This is commonly done
with the left hand in support. In the combat form, the next-to-last
sequence starts with a slicing attack to the throat. In this case, the
left wrist supports the right wrist. Generally this is done when the arms
are already extended and the momentum of the blade is lost.
4. Chieh.
Intercepting is also translated as poking. An attack which cuts off the
opponent’s attack is the essence of intercepting.
5. Kua.
Parrying involves meeting the attack and
redirecting it or deflecting it. In western fencing, a parry is
almost always followed by a riposte.
6. Liao.
Stirring up. Also called
7. Cha. Piercing is to stab with
the tip of the sword. In the broadsword combat form, after the initial
exchange, one partner advances four steps with the sword held before him or
her, tip forward and blade up. At the end of the advance he or she
thrusts for the partner’s heart. This is piercing.
8. Lu. Clawing or Scraping.
This attack is a pull with the blade. It’s like using the sword as
a draw knife against a piece of wood. Suppose an opponent is attacking
upwards from below. Support the tip of the sword and drag it to you
against the attacking arm.
9. Pi. Splitting. In a splitting attack, the wrist is held
flexed and does not break. It uses the momentum of the arm swing combined
with the sharpness of the blade to inflict its damage. The opening move
of the combat form is a splitting attack.
10. Chan. This is the second chan in the list, but given the tones used in Chinese, this is a completely different word. It means
to wrap, coil, wind around, or bind. I take the meaning to be the same as
Jie in the straight sword. Wrap the tip around
your opponent’s wrist. In the combat form,
after the first thrusting attack, the counter is to shift to an empty
stance and wrap the attacking wrist.
11. Shan. Fanning is an uppercut attack
to the body from underneath as done in the solo form “Spread Slanting the
Sword as the Walking of a Duck.”
12. Lan.
Obstructing is the method of holding an opponent’s weapon at bay with the
cheek, blade or spine of the sword. You check the momentum of the weapon
long enough to evade and set up a counter. Low Block out of the stick alley’s is a good case in point.
13. Hua.
To Shave. Again, you are at a point where you
cannot use the momentum and swing to good advantage. So you place the
weapon against the opponent and push like shaving with a wood plane. The
next to last move of the combat form is an example. Your opponent attacks
with a cut to the throat. You place the blade on his wrist, support the
tip with you left hand and push into his wrists, shaving the flesh from the
bones.
But these ten thousand
thingsare manifestations of the “balance of
opposites” which are ultimately reconciled in the void. This is the meaning of the
practice of Tai Chi. While wielding the broadsword, as you relax, extend,
and rotate to achieve the return to Wu Chi, you’ll recognize these
energies.
Today I noticed that the descriptions on
the web page for Pa Kua Wooden Man Road 4 are in
error.
The correct road is a follows:
1.Step out left, strike arm on your left with
right palm
2.Glance off the arm and palm strike the head
3.Pull the right hand to the right and rake
with the fingers
4.Reverse directions and strike with the right
palm.
5.Grab at end of arm with right, out step
right, hooking step left and palm strike head left. Right hand folds to an underhook position
6.Scissors block the arm to your right, bringing
the right up from underneath and striking down with left.
7.Turn to the left and double strike low with
the right and high with the left.
8.Scissors block the arm to your left, bringing
the right up from underneath and striking down with left.
9.Turn to the right and strike low with the
right palm
10.Strike high
with the left palm
11.Strike down
on the arm to your right with both palms
12.Hold the arm
with the right and back-hand the head with the left.
13.Strike the
arm with both hands
14.Grab with
the left and pull as you back heel kick low with left foot
15.Hooking step
left and backhand right to the head to a right equatorial stance.
16.Exchange
feet to a left equatorial stance and strike down on the arm with both hands.
17.Backhand
head with right
18.Strike down
on the arm with both hands
19.Backhand
head with right
20.Turn to the
arm on the right and strike down on the arm with both hands.
21.Backhand
head with left
22.Strike down
on the arm with both hands
23.Backhand
head with left
24.Turn to the
left and block with left, strike low with right palm
25.Turn to the
right and block with right while striking head with left palm
26.Turn to the
left and block with left while striking head with right palm
27.Elbow strike
throat with right elbow
28.Double slap
the head while turning to the right.
29.Strike down
on the arm to your right with your left palm
Here are a few little known terminology
items for Pa Kua.
A hooking step away from the center of
the circle is called an outside change
A hooking step towards the center of the
circle is called an inside change.
A hooking step to the outside that ends
in a lotus stance heading in the opposite direction is called an outside
crossing change.
A hooking step to the inside that ends
in a lotus stance heading in the opposite direction is called an inside
crossing change.
Suppose you are in a right equatorial
stance. If you turn to the center of the circle into a right flat footed
empty stance, this is an inside turn.
Suppose you are in a left equatorial
stance. If you turn away from the center of the circle to a left flat
footed empty stance, this is an outside turn.
Colorful Rooster Fighting combines an
inside crossing change with an outside turn for a 360 degree turn around.
Well, I got a new insight that I didn't
expect. The way to overcome speed is with distance. I always
thought this meant taking a step away and fighting at long fist range.
But today, I was showing my brother Jim how to protect himself by holding his
arms away from his face. Voila, distance. If you extend your arms
in the on-guard position, you create distance, which reduces the opponent's
speed by putting distance between you. So you can still be within range,
but less vulnerable to sudden attacks if your arms are extended. It's a
small thing, but has the power of revelation
The proud warrior pose from yoga is a
great training tool for the bow and arrow stance. It teaches you to sink
and to recruit all the muscles in the body. To do it appropriately, stand
in a bow and arrow with the arms extended front and back along the form
line. The front half of the body moves forward and the rear half moves
rearward. This works great for teaching people to lunge and not lean
because it roots front and rear foot
Grasp the birds tail push hands is
provided the insight this time. I've always either had to step to press or
had to over reach. But take what you're given. When the opponent
pulls, shift into press position. The worst thing that will happen is
that you'll neutralize the pull. This is done by sinking and folding the
elbow which removes the fulcrum for the pull. Remember that grasp the
birds tail is ward off, pull back, press, neutralize, push.
Press is essentially neutralizing an attack from a pulling vector just as call
is a neutralize to a pushing vector.
Additionally it puts you in a neutral
position. If either of you lets go, you get clobbered. This makes
the scooping set up to push a good alternative. By shrugging and
neutralizing to the side, you protect yourself and set up the opponent for a
push. It's a safe way to break the stalemate from the press position.
I live for the insights that I get while
practicing. I love the 'A-ha' experience. My own personal theory is
that each little insight is training for the 'big-one'. You want to know
what it feels like to be enlightened? Experience
the little thing. Do it a lot and then when every moment is an epiphany,
you've got it.
So here's a small
thing, but entirely relevant. Grasp the birds tail push hands,
fixed step. We've all struggled with the Press, trying to use it as
an attack but always having to reach to make it connect. Well guess
what! It's not supposed to be an attack. It's a
neutralize. It's a return of the body to its Wu Chi state.
The press posture neutralizes the opponent's pull and puts you both back in a
state of dynamic tension without imbalance.
This is a great improvement in the state
of understanding. There's a great advantage in moving your structure to
the point from which it cannot be pulled. So what if there is no attack,
at least you're back on neutral ground with integrity in your
posture. There's a great disadvantage in thinking you need to use
the press to attack. Because it is such a short reach posture, if you
over reach to make the attack, you've set yourself up for being uprooted.
So just sink into the press. Look
at how things stand. You're really in neutral. You and your partner
have to re-evaluate the situation because any change upsets the dynamic
equilibrium that you've achieved. So the shrug and push is kind of a
natural resolution that is pretty safe. And then you're back into the Tai
Chi realm again.
Here's a new insight too. Lifting
the toes in the Tai Chi stance can have a very practical advantage if you're
fighting a person who steps on your toes. Tai Chi has an attack called
the step kick that is a very low kick to the points on the feet or ankle.
A good way to explore this is in the Da Liu. Do the drill, but with the intention of
kicking the opponents Bladder 66-67 points whenever you are pulled. So
instead of just stepping with the lead foot, toe-kick the opponent's foot or
ankle as you move. This gives you the advantage of attacking the set up
points on the foot in preparation for your shoulder strike or press.
The pulling person should soon become
acutely aware of the distress this causes. Then the wisdom of pulling to
a Tai Chi stance becomes evident. The only accupoint
on the bottom of the foot is Kidney 1 and it is protected by the ball of the
foot and a quarter inch of shoe leather.
So play with it and see what emerges.