One thing I noticed and was thinking about the other day is when new people spar their first time, they are very linear and generally move simply forward and backward in their fighting stance.

In Pai Lum we have what is called clock stepping to drill into the student the four directions of movement, not including angles.

1. Stepping forward where the person springs from the back leg and does either a backfist or jab is 12:00 o'clock.

2. Stepping backward in a defensive stance, (I prefer cat stance) and blocking or throwing a counter strike is 6:00 o'clock.

3. Stepping to the right and evading a straight line attack is known as 3'oclock.

4. Stepping to the left and evading a straight line attack is known as 9'oclock.

3 and 9 o'clock can also include a duck or bamboo to avoid a loop or hooking attack, as well as counter strikes for each of these movements.

Circling is the practice of using good footwork to circle your opponent as to not stay stagnant and too rooted. Often times in TCMA I believe people mistake rooting for being stationary, which is not what it is. Rooting is using your stance and leg training to incorporate the entire body into a technique, and can be thrown on the fly rather than in one stagnant place.

When circling my feet go right to left when going clockwise and left to right when going counter-clockwise. Angling is very important also to add into the four directions of clock stepping.

Feel free to add to this discussion.