“No balance, no power” – Kong Cheng’s comment on my circle-walking today…

Another early-morning session in Zhongshan Park. It was bitterly cold, with a wind to bring tears to the eyes, but I didn’t feel it so much. I’d like to say that my qi must be getting stronger, but it’s probably got more to do with the long johns.

Once again, I spent most of the two hours working on tang ni bu. I’ll ‘fess up and say that this form of stepping is much harder than what I’ve practiced in the past. I’m forming some opinions about it, but I want to work on them a bit before I write them here.

Eventually Kong Cheng decided I could progress from straight-line walking to a circle-walking… and, basically, I couldn’t do it. This is getting embarrassing. I am fighting not just a long period of inactivity, but ingrained habits. For example, I appear to have settled into the practice of swinging into bai bu and kou bu from the hip, with the leg moving in an arc, whereas Kong Cheng insists on the leg moving forward in a straight line, and only the last moment turning at the ankle. From what I remember of reading up on bagua theory, this is probably the traditional way, in which case where did those old habits come from?

We chatted a lot about the differences between Liu Jing Ru’s style and Sun Zhi Jun’s, but I’m not going to repeat that here – this being the internet, someone would inevitably use it to start a flame war, and I’m not interested in that.

Kong Cheng is off to Japan tomorrow, so it’ll be a week before our next meeting – I’ll need to train hard! We finished up once more with some tui shou, and once again a bit of tui na on my injured wrist.

Yesterday I splashed out on a fairly-good quality Yang-style taiji dao, which makes an approximation of a shashka; just for the heck of it, I’m going to work on some cossack-style swordplay.

7 Comments »

1. 

   Note that, unlike the taiji dao, a shashka does not have a guard; this affects both range/type of movement and techniques.

   http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97109

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDiLGLHG2pc

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP1yyQQJGFM

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNKYXjf96bA

   For practice and conditioning in the types of circular and spiral movements used with the shashka, consider the humble “Indian club”:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjIpg1h2j2s
   (excuse the music)

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIhpTmckXuw&NR=1&feature=fvwp
   (again, the music!)

   http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/indian_clubs.html

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9c7xMXhKEE

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7tu-ZNl0ec

   Comment by tom — January 13, 2010 @ 7:13 am

2. 

   That’s true about the guard; also, the pommel of the shashka is larger, and ‘beak-shaped’, making it easier to twirl. I guess I shouldn’t have made that comparison! On the other hand, a lot of the clips I’ve watched of cossack swordplay shows people using the szabla rather than the shashka, and the szabla does have a guard:

   

   Of course, the szabla is more curved than the taiji dao…. Still, it’s just something I’m doing to amuse myself, and the taiji dao seems to be the closest analogue I can find!

   Thanks for the links; I’ll make myself a coffee and work my way through them!

   Comment by Emlyn — January 13, 2010 @ 10:00 am

3. 

   OK, took a look at the first few links; I spent some time a few days ago looking for anything I could find on YouTube about the shashka, and I’ve seen these! One that’s also interesting, though more about the szabla/Polish sabre is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dg5t_YNuXE Gives me a few ideas!

   Comment by Emlyn — January 13, 2010 @ 10:19 am

4. 

   I have yet to experience a Beijing winter (I’ve only been there in the summer!)…

   Interesting about the differences in walking methods via different teachers

   Kong Cheng is coming to Japan? (What a coincidence, that is where I am at!) What is he doing here?

   Comment by Edward — January 14, 2010 @ 12:58 pm

5. 

   He’s teaching xingyi to a group of his students in Tokyo.

   Comment by Emlyn — January 14, 2010 @ 2:38 pm

6. 

   No balance no power 平衡 (平静 too I think). Physical balance and equanimity. How true… thank you for sharing.

   Comment by Kim — January 14, 2010 @ 9:21 pm

7. 

   Interesting clip on szabla training, Emlyn . . . I like the work that Skorpion group is doing. Plus there is a wealth of historical information out there on the szabla, its evolution and its actual use historically. Thanks for the link!

   Comment by tom — January 15, 2010 @ 4:12 am

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