kang sik, yau sik

[Paul T England]

Hi All,

I was teaching my students about the 8 Hard/Rigid methods in seven star mantis and it brought up a couple of questions.

1) do all mantis families have these theories/technqiues?

2) how do sifu's teach these?

I taught the basic techniques and concept for each then got the students to research the moves giving them pointers and suggestions. This was just a basic intro as I feel that a lot more investigation is required by me and my students.

Paul
www.moifa.co.uk

[bawang]

what the hell is a kang sik yau sik? is that chinese?

[Paul T England]

Probably not the right words.

8 Rigid/hard methods
12 flexible methods

[mooyingmantis]

Probably not the right words.

8 Rigid/hard methods
12 flexible methods

Answer incoming by the end of the evening. :)

[ginosifu]

what the hell is a kang sik yau sik? is that chinese?

剛 / Gang / Gong = Hard or Rigid

柔 / Rou / Yau = Soft

式 / Shi / Sik = Posture or Position or style

ginosifu

[mooyingmantis]

Here is how I taught the 貼 門 靠 壁 - tiē mén kào bì - Stick to a Door, Lean on a Wall principle at the Great Lakes Kung Fu Championships 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJWja6zGflM

And here is a pic of the 邦 肘 - bāng zhǒu - Augmented Elbow technique found in Luanjie and Ba Zhou:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150337048594481&set=a.439598454480.197292.750549480&type=1&theater

[Paul T England]

Thanks for the informative response Richard.

One thing which I thought of when teaching my guys was that they are quick finishing techniques.

I am confused over Lee Kam Wing's rigid and flexible methods as both seem to have the elbow chin na (elbowing hard with joined hands)

Another thing i wondered wa sif these ideas got formulated with the participation in lei tai events?

Paul
www.moifa.co.uk

[mooyingmantis]

Thanks for the informative response Richard.

Another thing i wondered was if these ideas got formulated with the participation in lei tai events?

Paul
www.moifa.co.uk

Paul,
No problem, I hope it was helpful.

The concept of 8 rigid/12 flexible pre-dates modern Mantis by a few hundred years. So I doubt leitai had anything to do with their development.

[bawang]

gang yang is offence. rou yin is defence. what is the problem?

[MightyB]

All is revealed in Dao Gong!!! :)

[MightyB]

in all seriousness - not so much on the 8 hard / 12 soft, but the concepts of yao and gong are what I find most fascinating about MA.

My teacher constantly pushed us to learn yao... a favorite saying of his "use yao to control gong, but gong to kill".

This balance between yao and gong is what mastery is about. I often find that the biggest obstacle I have in martial development is 1) strength in the legs, which leads to 2) flexibility in the hips... i.e - yao in movement. I'm not talking about strength as in how many pounds can I do in squats, this is more of the TCMA approach to leg strength - holding low stances. What happens is, if your legs aren't strong enough, you won't be able to let loose in the hips which is the basic requirement for good kung fu... well good 7* kung fu anyway. And before you all get all high and mighty on me - I've seen your clips - Let's just say we all have to work on our leg strength and flexibility in our hips 'cuz their t'ain't any of us that have it... yet ;)

This brings me to drunken - IMO drunken Juey Luo Han Chuan is really about learning yao through exaggeration of yao. It's not about fighting. To perform it properly, you have to go extremely soft - then hard for an instant, then soft again.

This is how yao and gong work in a fighting context. I don't believe in a "fixed" mindset saying these techniques are gong, these are yao. All are gong, all are yao for an instant.

[mooyingmantis]

My teacher constantly pushed us to learn yao... a favorite saying of his "use yao to control gong, but gong to kill".

This balance between yao and gong is what mastery is about. I often find that the biggest obstacle I have in martial development is 1) strength in the legs, which leads to 2) flexibility in the hips... i.e - yao in movement. I'm not talking about strength as in how many pounds can I do in squats, this is more of the TCMA approach to leg strength - holding low stances. What happens is, if your legs aren't strong enough, you won't be able to let loose in the hips which is the basic requirement for good kung fu... well good 7* kung fu anyway.

This is how yao and gong work in a fighting context. I don't believe in a "fixed" mindset saying these techniques are gong, these are yao. All are gong, all are yao for an instant.

MightyB,
Excellent points!

Concerning:

貼 門 靠 壁 - tiē mén kào bì - Stick to a Door, Lean on a Wall

Why stick to a door?

A door is not fixed it is moveable. Lean on it and it may move. You must "stick" to a door to control it. Push it open and the wind may catch it and blow it open or slam it shut. In the same way we "stick" to an opponent. If we do not stick, he may escape from us or press in on us uninterrupted. We stick against that which moves.

Why lean on a wall?

A wall is fixed, it is stable. When we are unable to find a door, we must lean on a wall to destabilize it and uproot it. Thus creating a door. When our opponent neither attempts to escape, nor presses for an advantage we must lean in and destabilize him. We lean on that which is fixed.