Yield into Emptiness....and other misc

The follow series of videos and footage is left over from a class discussion we had one evening and a facebook gathering.

I'm discussing about Emptiness and a comment I once saw Adam Mizner make in one of his videos. For reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TUElBATolE#t=109 Skip to ~ 1:46

To be fair, the dude seems quite skilled...I just couldn't let his comment about emptiness go. Not when it's something that I use regularly and can make it work.

So to that end, I wanted to share some of my opinions on how to make it work. There are tons of ways Emptiness is possible but in these videos I concentrate allot on allowing the opponent to come close to my body...since it's something Adam said you shouldn't do. ;)

Cheng Yee Kwoon,
Sifu Onassis Parungao


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbNF7UBoPvI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Nr3nTLaxVg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFGtupXhSCQ

and from a facebook gathering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-HJq_VNgp0&t=1s

"Yield into emptiness" and using "Empty Force" to influence people are higher level skills of many sophisticated- sensitivity based martial arts. For the record, I'm a mixed TMA guy and I use following [empty] in Tai Chi and especially in our [Micky Chan family] Yip Man Wing Chun. I agree with you, about the opponent's distance. Actually I think the closer the better. The opponent should feel like he's striking into a ghost. Sifu Micky calls this concept, "Moving Image".

Empty force is another story. We've all seen masters who purportedly can move their students without physical touch...and most of us scoff at this. Taken at face value rightfully so. My first exposure to empty force was from an Inside Kung Fu magazine article [R.I.P. IKF] on Madam Yu sending her students flying into backflips without touching them. I remember My Sifu at the time Peter Chema, who used to grace those same pages quite frequently, saying WTF! Really? Let her try that to me! That was some 20 years ago. Since then I've been pondering this concept as I do see that it does have valid properties.

However upon carful examination it is universally evident that human beings are and will be influenced phycically by ubiquitous empty force- that of a perceived threat. And this occurs daily on a regular basis. For example, another person [a stranger] walking towards you, or you towards them not seeing each other. Either him or her will move suddenly to avoid physical contact, and possibly bump into or trip over an object during the process. What if you [knowing] and the other person [unknowing] deliberately, with perfect timing, made that person bump or trip as a result...all without physical contact? Quite possible. I've seen perpetrators do it to complaint/victims in order to pickpocket or unbalance their body in preparation to rob them. Here surprise is the key element. Without the surprise such a reaction is unlikely, that is unless the threat level escalates. Ie; a knife, gun or hypodermic needle pointed at you. Most people will comply. More examples: fire moving towards you, a poisonous insect, dangerous animal, human blood or excrement? All of the above threats quickly gets me moving away.

Every time we get into our car and drive we are strategically negotiating through empty force to negate striking other moving vehicles, objects, and pedestrians. Again with no physical contact [we hope].

Now full circle back to the martial arts. An opponent attempts to grab your arm. You retract your arm just slow enough for him to think he'll secure his grip. At that moment he goes to grab it you pull back a little faster causing him to over reach thereby overextending and loosing balance [like your cat or dog chasing a laser dot]. Quickly project your fingertips close to the opponent's field of vision- inches from his eyes [from a blind spot if possible] and direct his flinch reaction onto his third leg [which isn't there because he's off balanced] and you conceivable COULD, make him fall without ever physically touching him. Again the element of SURPRISE is at play. Unspoken body language keenly manipulated on another who's attention is focused and fixed can influence that individual without physical contact. Think visual misdirection that a magician utilizes to fool their audience.

I have been wanting to write about this phenomena for a while, your post gave me the impetus. Having worked in human services for over 25 years I study, educate [and often entertain] myself by keenly observing how people and their ego act and react against various types of human compression, be it emotional or physical with empty force as well as physical force. Then ponder how successful and beneficial were the results from my part in the interaction and subsequent outcome by use of said force. My conclusion of what compels a lot of immediate conflict between people boils down to one of three things. First, the person in front of us is not moving fast enough. Second, the person in front of us is not moving. And third, the person in front of us is moving too fast. This conjecture certainly applies to commuter driving, but it can also be seen in interpersonal relationships as well as other human endeavors.

All just food for thought and its a fun study. Always trying to integrate martial arts principles into daily life, I find this brings my awareness to a higher level.

the term means hitting empty and it means dodging.

the 13 principles are principles to disengage from wrestling. if u try to use it to wrestle for real or rely on it totally for combat u will get smashed like pie.

thx for the replies...

robertdreeben,

Interesting idea, I have no experience myself however with this phenomena you call "empty force" . At least nothing that was ever done on purpose.

My gut reaction to your read is that it's something that kinda requires a surprise or at least someone being UN-prepared for such a thing.

I can't ever imagine anyone being successful with that in a prepared professional environment.

Yield into emptiness to me means to move your body out of the way and give your opponent plenty space to kiss the ground. If you pull your opponent into your striking, that's not "emptiness" by my definition.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YouKnowWho

Yield into emptiness to me means to move your body out of the way and give your opponent plenty space to kiss the ground. If you pull your opponent into your striking, that's not "emptiness" by my definition.

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I am moving out of the way. In fact I'm not hindering the attack at all. Yielding into emptiness means to me to allow whatever energy is coming at you to complete in it's direction until it's used up.

In this video example between 17 - 24 secs is a perfect example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbNF...youtu.be&t=17s

>>> The grab and pull (in some examples) is what I used AFTER his energy had become emptied.
I might stick to it and guide it...but I'm not changing it's original direction UNTIL the majority of the force is expended.

So if I'm doing something simple like push hands...I offer no resistance to the direction of the push. I let it travel in it's intended direction. Another example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFGt...youtu.be&t=51s


Allowing a push to become empty or "long" for example, i.e. the hands become extended and ducking under it to shoot for a take-down is another perfect example in my opinion.

https://youtu.be/KFGtupXhSCQ?t=3m40s

Again...you don't even have to stick to the arms when doing a duck under...a guy can rush to shove you and you can just duck it and shoot. It's the most common thing. But when his energy becomes empty and you can take advantage of it, all the better.


MOST IMPORTANT: After you have allowed an attack to become empty, it's so much easier to apply something or counter if the guy tries to over correct afterwards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Subitai

Yielding into emptiness means to me to allow whatever energy is coming at you to complete in it's direction until it's used up.

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If you wait until the energy is used up, you won't have any energy left that you can borrow. If you want to borrow that energy, you have to borrow while it's still strong. You then can add on your own energy and make A + B > B.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YouKnowWho

If you wait until the energy is used up, you won't have any energy left that you can borrow. If you want to borrow that energy, you have to borrow while it's still strong. You then can add on your own energy and make A + B > B.

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I would agree with you if my intent was to "Borrow" but it's not. The entire focus of this is to allow the energy to become empty.

I realize that may not be your preferred strategy but it's one that I use allot if I can get away with it.


Again... if I strike him or break / split on a joint for example when my opponent is empty, he's very vulnerable.

Or it doesn't have to be so cruel...it could be just a simple redirect after a push is empty:

For example right here between 1:50 - 2:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFGt...utu.be&t=1m50s

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Subitai

Or it doesn't have to be so cruel...it could be just a simple redirect after a push is empty:

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To be kind to your your enemy is to be cruel to yourself. :)

Your opponent attacks you, you push him away. Your opponent attacks you again, you push him away again. How many times do you have to repeat that process?

I always like to ask Taiji guys what will they do if they have to use Taiji skill to kill. They all look at me as if I came from another planet. When you have to fight against multiple opponents, The sooner that you can "finish" with one opponent, the better chance that you can "finish" the others.

If you can drop your opponent with one punch, everything else are not important. So How can you drop your opponent ASAP? Your opponent attacks you, you borrow his force, add your force on top of it, and finish him with A + B > B.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YouKnowWho

To be kind to your your enemy is to be cruel to yourself. :)

Your opponent attacks you, you push him away. Your opponent attacks you again, you push him away again. How many times do you have to repeat that process?

I always like to ask Taiji guys what will they do if they have to use Taiji skill to kill. They all look at me as if I came from another planet. When you have to fight against multiple opponents, The sooner that you can "finish" with one opponent, the better chance that you can "finish" the others.

If you can drop your opponent with one punch, everything else are not important. So How can you drop your opponent ASAP? Your opponent attacks you, you borrow his force, add your force on top of it, and finish him with A + B > B.

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Once again...I agree with you, I see you write about that often.


So I guess my answer is...the time to NOT be cruel is when you're not really fighting per say. For example, In a park with some friends. Or I'm trying to demonstrate a move in a seminar for the concept but I cannot just snap a guys joint just to make my point.

Life can't always be about pure fighting. But yes, if you mean to seriously hurt someone...you can't be nice.

u really need to get ur students into shape, they look like somali refugees.