There are many Sanjan, it seems that a version of Sanjan (Sanchin) exists across all the Oriental martial arts.
I love Sanjan (Sanchin), and over the centuries I have been training I have come asross Two from the Goju ryu one streight line and one with turning. One from the Uechi ryu, one from the Fujiban Baihe.
The basic principles are the same, body movement, breathing, and body tension.
However the interesting thing about Sanjan (Sanchin) is the diffrent emphasis on the stance, speed and breathing in each school.
As a student I was led to belive that Sanjan should be very slow, with forced breathing, in a very tight stance, with clenched fist. Any turning was performed by crossing the legs.
This is similar to the Goju system.
However my favorite Sanjan (Sanchin), is the Luechi ryu, this is performed at three speeds and at diffrent body tensions, with open hands. and and turning is performed while the rear leg is kept in place.
At present I am learning the Southern Chinese Fujiban Baihe version. Which I feel may be more original, and from where the above came from?
The Luechi ryu Sanjan (Sanchin) is very similar, but the White crane version has no turns, but is performed with open hands. However I have since then been learning another White Crane dance which is an extension to Sanjan this has turns, and incorperates some clenched fist techniques.
I find this subject very interesting and would very much like to hear from you guys.
The questions are :-
'Do you practice a version of Sanjan ?
'What are your stance characteristics ?
'At what speeds do you practice ?'
'How do you breath when performing Sanjan ?
Regards