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Water Dragon
02-20-2002, 08:47 AM
In your practice?

Ray Pina
02-20-2002, 08:57 AM
EVERYTHING!

For real. I'm new to internal. I'm focusing on walking/kicking (proper weight) and the first few palms. The first one is a doozy. So much in it. I'm still not happy with the way I'm pulling it off and I doubt I ever will be.

I do have to say I am becoming comfortable with the two handed shielding and this alone has been the biggest break through in my martial art life.

There's so much. Each class I'm blown away. I try to be like a spunge and take it all in, but if I can get home with 2 or 3 concepts to work with, I'm a happy man.

How about you?

Water Dragon
02-20-2002, 09:14 AM
Originally posted by EvolutionFist

How about you?

1. Diagonal Cutting
2. Beng Quan

That should keep me busy until summer.

Ray Pina
02-20-2002, 09:37 AM
My S. Mantis teacher was getting heavy into diagnal cutting and different angles to deliver element type blows when I was introduced to my sifu. Its interesting, seeing blows come from a big man from unexpected angles. And the energy is deep, hard to deal with.

I was just thinking about that on my train ride home from class last night.

I'm sure your's has that special internal flavor to it though (man, these art's are great).

Well, enjoy. Have fun and good usage.

Ray

Prairie
02-20-2002, 09:58 AM
I'm working on what we call "positive" and "negative" circles. These are hand/arm movements done in conjunction with movement of the kua. I've recently had some extra correction on these and I clearly have lots of work ahead of me to do them well.

Seeya

Kempo Guy
02-20-2002, 10:04 AM
I just recently switched teachers (due to a move) and am now working on a new Tai Ji form (my teacher makes you learn Tai Ji prior to moving on to Xing Yi and Ba Gua). Only gotten maybe a quarter through the form, so that's what my focus is on right now.

It has been difficult for me to switch from Xing Yi to Tai Ji but I feel I'm finally making some progress! Also started doing some push hands, which is a nice change of pace. (I can't wait until I start doing more non-cooperative sparring!)
I'm also concentrating more on Zhang Zhuang and Nei Gung than before.

KG

miscjinx
02-20-2002, 10:46 AM
My class practice is starting the Er Lu Chen style tai chi form (aka Cannon Fist).

As for what am I working on personally, I’m paying more attention to turning about the centerline (particular in motion – ie stepping) and staying relaxed (particularly my shoulders and neck, which are the tighest spots for the moment). Also I am doing a sort of Taiji Boing…I am working on the coiling and uncoiling of the internal mechanics. Basically a everyday equivalent would be turning a door knob with my entire body from the center instead of my wrist and upper arms. Useful when applying and getting out of joint locks, for example.

I’m in the mood to spar with someone, so I am looking for any takers.

That’s the overview of the summary.

miscjinx
02-20-2002, 10:54 AM
or is that Taiji Bang?

Sorry, that is what I get for divided attention.

bamboo_ leaf
02-20-2002, 11:19 AM
Relaxing, intention, ability to change in a free and natural manor. ;)

Rockwood
02-20-2002, 11:28 AM
Hi, I am working on practicing Baguazhang. Lately I have been working on twisting my forearms with as little effort as possible throughout whatever exercise I am doing. I have also been working on circlewalking. I am letting the weight continue to drop down the back leg as I shift forward. I am also trying to keep the arms and everything else light, loose, smooth, relaxed and easy. Also I have been trying to engage the psoas muscles while I move so that they are active, but not tensed up. In two person practice I am trying to keep my forearms rotating and attached to my partner, to keep twisting and moving without putting too much force out.

-Jess

fa_jing
02-20-2002, 11:36 AM
"I do have to say I am becoming comfortable with the two handed shielding and this alone has been the biggest break through in my martial art life. "

Wassa matta, they didn't teach you double blocks in Wing Chun?

-FJ

Ray Pina
02-20-2002, 12:07 PM
I've never seen anything like I'm seeing now.;)

I always thought I'd go look into the internal when I was 35 or so. I am so glad that life has dropped my into it full bore now.

I thought what Bamboo Leaf said was great. I still hold some of that external tension in my punching, especially in class. I need to relax more. Just my personality. Not that I worry per se, but that I think too much sometimes.

Felipe Bido
02-20-2002, 12:31 PM
I am practicing a version of Beng Quan called Niu Bu Beng Quan. It's a diagonal beng quan, in a 45° angle. It's different from the classical beng quan in the way the power is expressed. The force comes from the torquing of the waist, not from a straight line from the heels up.

I find it to be more powerful than Ba Bu Beng Quan, so I'm working on it in terms of speed and penetration. I'm also working on the sinking of the weight to gain more root.

Justa Man
02-20-2002, 01:06 PM
i'm working on getting as low as possible in my walking. fLIcking legs feel like lead right about now. also practicing from a slightly bent stance dropping into a deep ba gua stance and moving as quickly as possible. trying to shrink and move as much as possible and as fast as possible.

Daredevil
02-20-2002, 01:58 PM
Baji basics. The stance, the eight basic strikes (especially the first and "simplest" of them -- your "typical" punch) and the Small Form. **** -- working the basics in Baji takes forever.

Secondarily: refining my Taiji form.

Water Dragon
02-20-2002, 02:04 PM
Daredevil, there's NOTHING typical about a Baji punch :eek:

Felipe, I'm jealous

Daredevil
02-20-2002, 02:13 PM
That's right. However, I'm trying to make it typical for me. Talk to you more about that in a year or so. :)

(This reminds me of something my sifu told us. In Beijing's parks, you can find the bagua guys' training place by watching for the circular traction marks on the ground. As for the Baji guys, look for the ditches. :) )

shaolinboxer
02-20-2002, 02:35 PM
I've been working more on "ushiro waza" or techniques against attacks from behind, as well as more advanced breakfalls and ju waza (freestyle practice). Ushiro waza require a strong sense of awareness...the techniques are easy to break if you make a mistake.

Also, Ken 13 kata and Jo 22 (weapons forms).

We've had many new students lately, so often I find myself teaching quite a bit.

Water Dragon
02-20-2002, 02:44 PM
Originally posted by Daredevil
That's right. However, I'm trying to make it typical for me. Talk to you more about that in a year or so. :)


Try this: Run a mile or two, do 50-100 push ups, THEN train your punch. It's so much better when you're tired BEFORE you begin training.

wufupaul
02-20-2002, 02:55 PM
Beating the **** out of my wavemaster bag out back, wu tai chi forms, lots of chi kung, push hands occasionally, fu bagua footwork and 8 palm changes, and hsing yi 5 element fists.

Daredevil
02-20-2002, 03:48 PM
WD, I might try that. I love to work with soreness, somehow (very strangely) I find my legs relax when taken overboard. :)

As it happens, I did some intense running tuesday and today my legs were totally spent. Can't let that interfere in my daily schedule, though. However, even without that my legs are pretty sore from daily stance and one punch training. Seems to be a perpetual state for me ever since starting Baji.

red_fists
02-20-2002, 04:23 PM
Over here.

Just started our 2-Fan form and a new 4-Corner Push hands, so busy with that mostly.

Kumkuat
02-20-2002, 04:25 PM
still working on getting my standing post correct. And some silk reeling.

dwid
02-20-2002, 05:26 PM
I've finally started learning the circles at the core of my system. It's just so much information. I've been studying for about 2.5 years now, and it's sometimes frustrating the sheer volume I have to go. I like to stick to the philosophy of keeping it simple, and when he was still alive, my original sifu used to say that of all the fighting techniques in our system, you should take maybe a dozen at most and make them your own. It's hard to work on that, though, when it's so much work just maintaining the total stuff that I know. I've got 8 Fu Hsi circles, 8 Chan Pan Ling circles, 4 Guang Hua circles (so far), and about 33 fighting techniques, many of which have 2 or 3 variations. There are 64 fighting techniques I'll learn before it's all said and done, and lots more Guang Hua circles if you count all the variation on the eight. It's overwhelming sometimes, but it's important enough for me to preserve the knowledge that I want to have a functional understanding of all of it, and be able to really apply the chunk of it I decide suits me.

Anyway, I tend to try to get as much time on the circle as I can, and split what's left between Bagua-specific qigong and fighting techniques.

CD Lee
02-20-2002, 10:25 PM
Standing post, San Ti, and stepping stepping stepping baby!

Sounds boring, but with the alignments, and a lot of work, I can step and BOOM! It just happens so much faster and easier than at first. Working on intention with the step (bamboo) and expansion/contraction, and instantly releasing tension after the step. It is actually a fantastic workout on the legs. I can get my heart rate up pretty high just stepping. Also, keeping the ridgepole at all times.

jon
02-21-2002, 07:12 PM
Chiang Jung-Chiao Orginal form
I have one change left to learn, errr then i just get to work on it for the rest of my life:rolleyes:
Im also working on my walking and changing it from the regular slow high stepping to the lower cat style where the hips drive the movements and the steps are longer.
Plus making my circles totaly driven by my body and not at all by my hands, Ive been bombarded with information but im really enjoying what im learning.
Its funny the more i learn the more paranoid i become that my basic walking is not good enough. I seem to spend most of my time worrying purely about this dispite knowing most of the form.
I guess its all progress and what i do now will be done differently in five years time.

My sifu has several methods of judging performance

Bad - wrong way go back.
Is Ok - that was pathetic but i can see your not going to get it now.
Ok - That will do for now
Good - Finaly your doing it the way i want it.
Very good - you have his respect

Ive gone up to 'Good' lately and my aim to is to get him to say 'very good' even just once. Still he is a hard man to please and i respect him for it.
His advice to me has been two fold lately, one go to the beach and watch the waves, they are the same power generation he says.
Two and this is the one thats killing me...
Ill paraphrase here...
" You do Bagua ten mintues then stopping - bad!
You do Bagua maybe half hour - thats ok!
You do Bagua no stopping for one hour at least, - good Bagua!"
So now i have to spend every lesson doing my form for over an hour non stop. Im expected to simply mix and match changes and keep moving.
The weird part is he doesnt expect his other students to do this and doesnt mind them sitting around. I guess im just lucky:rolleyes:
Or he has a real dislike for me and wants to see my die in my own sweat im not sure yet:eek:

EARTH DRAGON
02-21-2002, 08:41 PM
Jon as sounds as if you have a good teacher. pushing you to give it your best is what will please him. just wanted to add some healp if I may.... have you tried to walk the circle blinfolded? it will help your basics. Also try to walk on something like patio blocks or bricks that will help your advanced. and rember the three most important things in kung fu..... practice , practice, practice.

Myself I am actually working more on the medical side of my art and learning cranial sacrum therapy and bone setting. Fun stuff!! but way to intricate.

jon
02-23-2002, 04:39 AM
EARTH DRAGON
Thanks for your kind words regarding my teacher, he is an amazing man and im blessed to have two such teachers. If i could get half of either of there skill i would be happy.

I havent tried blindfoled yet but thats a VERY good idea, when i practice there is not usualy much room and im playing around a pillar in the corner of the room. Blindfolded in class i would come home covered in bruises, i will certainly give it a go somewhere with a little more space.
I will progress to trying bricks and poles but at the moment im just trying to get my form down properly with good body and sholder control.
My external background is still hard to shake.

As for the practice practice practice part.
3-4 hours a day everyday :) It aint easy but it sure does work, ive improved in health a LOT since Bagua and im standing up strait as a rake.
Plus i can now take my old sparring partner appart with relative ease ;)
Thanks for your advice i will certainly look into everything you have stated by the bricks may have to wait till im a little more competant.

boy_analog
02-23-2002, 06:40 AM
Tiger pounces on the deer. (It's a bit like the orthodox Dragon form.)

Love the name! :D

Kaitain(UK)
02-26-2002, 03:22 AM
currently I'm going through the whole form again posture by posture with my instructor, adding nuances and changes to make it less linear and more circular - unfortunately I then have to spend the class lessons agreeing with everyone who tells me that's not how I'm supposed to do it or pretending that it's just how I do it. Basically there's no point in doing it the new way until you can do the old method without error.

also putting the spiral into every posture

hardest thing that I'm working on is making the form fluid - trying to remove the 'joins' from where I transition from posture to posture. It seems to be more mental than anything - to an observer I don't appear to have any obvious joins - but in my head I feel like my energy isn't constant, especially on the bigger 270 turns.

Tadzio
02-26-2002, 07:29 AM
I am currently working in the Piquan mutations and its changes.
Also working on different walking and steping patterns for Xing yiquan. Guess I will need some 2 months for the Pi and the stepping. Qigong, as usual, goes everyday, for ever I guess.
Hey Felipe, how are you? This Bengquan sounds like the regular Beng, just using the back hand insted of the front one. You mentioned something about waits power.... (I think), but I think waist power ( as well as other things) is necessary in any Bengquan. What do you have to say about it?
See you.
T.
:cool:

Felipe Bido
02-26-2002, 11:09 AM
Hey Tadzio! :D What's new?


Waist power is used in any variation of beng quan, for sure, but in this beng quan, the fist goes out to a 45 degree angle (not to the front, as in the regular beng quan), thus forcing your waist to turn a little more, and your shoulder blade shoots out very much like Pao quan. The steps are "flowing steps"; the forms looks much more like the "Hiding Dragon Coming Out" from Za Shi Chui.

Even the beginning of the form follows a circular pattern before the beng quan shoots out.

Please, shoot me a message on ICQ, to remind me to send you some pics and drawings of it. I am working on it.

Water Dragon, don't be jealous :D I could send you some graphics of the steps of the form, if you like. (Which of reminds me the Hsing Yi drills I promised to SevenStar! :eek: ). Shoot me a PM

Colin
03-02-2002, 06:28 PM
I'm currently working on a new version of Xing Yi's Pao Quan. (pounding fist) I'm learning from a different Xing Yi sifu.

Start from santi.(north facing)
Rather than stepping forward with the leading foot,(first half step). In this method I step at a 45ish degree angle to the SE with the back foot, and turn the body anti-clockwise while moving the hands similar to the Hu Xing (tiger form) deflecting a mid height kick to point NW, then draw the hands as fists to abdomen as left foot draws back, then large step to NW with leading leg, and follow step (smaller) with rear leg performing Pao Quan.

Felipe, Do you know much about this varient of Pao Quan? because I haven't asked this sifu too many question yet.

regards
Colin..........

Felipe Bido
03-02-2002, 08:15 PM
Colin, do you perform this movement everytime you strike with Pao Quan, or only at the beginning?

I ask because we perform almost the same movement at the beginning of our Pao Quan:

From San Ti: (Facing north)

The back foot steps close to the front foot, as you strike with a straight right fist to the front, then the leading (left) palm comes close to the right wrist...after that, we do exactly what you described, but instead of going straight to Pao Quan, we first strike with Tiger palms, and then we perform the classic version of Pao Quan.

We got 5 variations of Pao Quan in our system.

Colin
03-04-2002, 08:46 AM
Hi Felipe,
Yes we do the tiger hands movement every time Pao Quan is performed.

It is quite different from the form my original Sifu taught, which appeared to be more orthodox.
This new method (only to me) also punches higher, but I like it as it differentiates it significantly from the height of a Beng Quan.

My new sifu's stepping is also much shorter than i'm used to, perhaps because he has spent 33years practicing BaGua as well.

This is what I love about XingYiQuan.
The fact that there are so many variations, but none are incorrect, and no one disrespects anothers method.

regards
Colin..............

PlasticSquirrel
03-06-2002, 09:19 PM
what am i working on? xiao zhou tian.

well, i shouldn't say i'm working on it. it's breaking through, though. it will naturally come, so i try not to notice it much, but it's obviously going to break through very soon. i just keep collecting in the dantian. it nourishes the body and puts more pressure in the final blockage.

it's times like these that i love qigong and it's effects. :)

when i was first curious about why there was still blockage around my forehead, i remembered an old saying. something to the effect that if the qi flows inward, your tian mu opens. if the qi flows downward, you will have accomplished xiao zhou tian. when that little blockage disappeared and went to my nose, i knew the answer.

they also say that after xiao zhou tian that you are beyond all sickness and disease.

it may take a few days, but it will naturally come, and that's the best way for it to happen. :)