Chi Sao- A personal perspective
The Keys to high level Chi Sao- A personal perspective.
What you see a lot today with people who Practice Chi Sao is this over emphasis being placed on forward pressure and trying to control the center line alone, used with pushing and pulling tactics. The pushing and pulling is used in conjunction to disrupt or break the opponent’s structure. While this is a great skill to have and to train, it can leave one’s Chi Sao skills underdeveloped in the long run.
With this continued type of focus in your Chi Sao, it will usually be who is the bigger, stronger or faster person, not sensitivity or skills deciding the outcome.
If in my opinion one wants to improve and move on to higher levels in their Chi Sao they must let go of the idea of trying to control center line or breaking structure. This way of doing Chi Sao is limited and creates what I call a “power struggle to control the center”. Since only one person can occupy the center and as long as two people are trying to control that center this can and often does create a force on force conflict where both parties struggle for dominance for the center.
When this happens both parties tend to use brute force or size to over power their training partner. This type of Chi Sao has very little to do with sensitivity training or skill building. In my opinion, this has very little to with Chi Sao at all.
So how does one let go and train higher levels in their Chi Sao?
There are several components both structurally and tactically. First, do not use forward pressure to over power your opponent, instead use forward intent. Use your mind to guide your intent and your sensitivity to guide your actions. Seek the center but don’t try to control it physically by force. If your opponent wants to control the center, let him. Let him believe he is in control when in fact he’s not. He can only win if you fight with him. When he strikes at that moment you can hit him or retake the center. Also, when the opponent makes a mistake, capture the center but don’t force it. Allow him to make the mistake. This way it will avoid this force on force power struggle which you’re trying not to do. Structurally, one must relax all the joints in the body, especially the shoulder. Do not lock any joints weather for the use of structure or power generation. Every part must be moving and flowing. Like water running down stream, when it hits an obstruction it simply flows around it. It does not force itself on the rock but yields to it. Use this as a guideline to improve on your chi sao.
By Sifu Micheal Mc Ilwrath
