Yellow Sash

On Saturday there was a sash ceremony and I received my yellow sash. It was a big day for me as I was leading our team's demo. It all went exactly to plan despite us making a change to a significant change to the demo in the last class which only half the people were at. I lead the team running into the hall and there was a small child lying in the middle of the path and so I had to pick him up and hand it to the parent before continuing to run in which was amusing. I think touching a chinese baby may have been good luck before a kung fu demo.

Nick
Yellow sash

The Bridge

Recently Sifu Maury talked about an approach to combat in Chinese martial arts that is dramatically different from other systems. It is a whole new concept to me and completely fascinating. The traditional basic combination is
a)Block
b)Counter.

The Chinese system introduces another aspect:
a)Block
b)Bridge
c)Counter.

The block is not a directly opposing force, it guides the opponents movement as opposed to trying to stop it. This point of contact is called the bridge and you can either control it or be controlled by it. An analogy is that a toll needs to be paid on the bridge and you can collect or pay the toll. Collecting the toll means you are in control of the moment that the block makes contact and can direct the opponents energy into the direction you want it to go. At this split second you make a decision of how to react based upon the energy you feel in the attack. You can, for example encourage the attack to continue in the same direction and use that energy to increase the impact of your own attack such as a 'tiger plays with the ball' movement. The point of contact needs a split second decision which relies entirely on instinctive reaction, there is no time for any cerebral intervention. This can only be achieved through repetition and time as discussed in the previous blog entry.

Nick
Yellow stripe sash

The meaning of Kung Fu

'Kung Fu' was originally used as an adjective to mean someone who has accomplished great skill over a long period of time. A craftsman would be described as 'kung fu' at carpentry for example after a life dedicated to perfecting his talents and producing masterpieces. It became applied to martial arts as individuals became masters at mantis for example, after years of dedication and repetition. When martial arts were brought to America it was misunderstood with the thinking that 'kung fu' was the action and not the description the masters. The term became so widely used that now it is the commonly used term back in China as well.

The key point of mentioning this is that kung fu is not used to describe people with natural talent who pick things up quickly, but to describe those that have developed their abilities over time through dedication and practice. The shaolin equation is:

reaction = repetition + time

A movement becomes second nature after repeating the movement countless times over a long period of time. Allowing the body to react to situations without the necessity of the mind slowing you down. This enables you to fight in a state of calm 'no mind' relying on your training rather than trying to focus on offense and defense. There was a great illustration of this in the film 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' - where the young warrior was tested by the older woman dropping a cup of tea by her. The young warrior caught it as it fell without a drop being spilled. She just reacted without thinking and this told the wise older warrior all she needed to know.

A commonly used phrase now is 'muscle memory'. This related to the muscles themselves being familiar with a way of moving through repetition in training to enable that movement to be repeated more easily in the future. The body is fantastic at adapting and enabling you to move in the way you want to move. This can be seen in people who take up sprinting - they develop more red muscle - they literally get more blood supply to the muscle and more mitochondria in the cells as well as the muscle size increasing to enable the runner to get more explosive power from the muscle tissue. The same person taking up long distance running would find the opposite to be true to enable them to sustain and lesser power output over a longer period of time. Also there are propriocepters around the muscles that enable the muscles to communicate with the brain as to where they are moving in space and how they are moving. The fascia surrounding the muscle tissues thickens and strengthens in areas where there is more stress applied to enable easier movement and support in future. So the body adapts to physical movement after repetition to allow the physical body to move easier and involve the mind less to determine how to perform the movement.

What can we learn from all this? Take your time to learn something, this is how your body works and there isn't a shortcut just because we are impatient. It has certainly made me feel more comfortable about the frustrations that I wrote about in my blog postings a few weeks back.

Nick
Yellow stripe sash