Aaah...to be "young" again.....

 

Age is only a state of mind, as I've often heard. "You're only as young as you feel". Funny thing is, that although my mind feels like I'm 20, my body unfortunately disagrees.

 

Let's take Wushu, for example. I love teaching Wushu...but I'm not bouncing back from the pulled hamstrings or hip quirks like I used to when I was in my twenties. I did fine when i was 30, then things changed when I turned 35....go figure! The knees ache and creak a bit more....sometimes it gets harder to get out of bed...

 

But you know what I'm learning from all this? I'm learning to teach better...I'm learning to explain techniques a little better...I'm learning to demonstrate good posture and the "dynamic" look of Wushu, even though the splits have evaded me since my back injury and my jumping is limited to what mood my knees are.   As long as I can teach the "why" of good posture, the "how" of powerful technique transitions, and how to teach others to modify their Wushu practice in relation to their strengths and weaknesses, then I think students will greatly benefit from training.

 

On an unrelated note.....Sometimes, I bum myself out by feeling "out of it" because I don't have all the "junior" forms requirements that my teacher set forth. When I took my instructor certification course, we primarily worked on compulsories and freestyle. Not too long after I graduated from the course, my Sifu set forth a ranking system and introduced "junior" type forms into each rank, which I did not have the opportunity to learn due to having to run my own studio. But you know.....I shake myself out of that negative thinking, because my current students (prior students of my Sifu) know the forms.....all I need to do is learn them.  Sometimes all it takes for me to want to become a better teacher to my students, is to look at myself and see where my limitations are......knowing where my limitations are, makes me want to strive to become a better coach for those that are capable of doing what I used to be able to do.

 

A few of the students are training outside of my studio....and I like that. It is important that these upper level students train with other older, more experienced teachers to enhance their training.  I might not know the sequence of movments of the forms, but I will toot my own horn say that I know what good form looks like and how to coach people in looking strong and dynamic.  In every way possible, I want to try to proliferate the practice of Wushu........

 

Want to do, Can do, Will do......  What do I want to do? I want to promote Wushu. What can I do?...be as best a coach as possible to the students. What will I do?...I will continue to grow within my own practice, and pass that experience on to the students....

 

Good Qi.....Jiayo!!

 

 

 

In push hands or any other type of sensitivity or energy drill, we try to develop a sensitivity to our partner's movement, balance and technique...we try to develop that keen sense of awareness of our partner with not only our eyes, but our whole body as wel. I believe that every martial art has its own variations of a sensitivity or energy drill.

 

I'll be speaking in terms in Push Hands here....

 

"Ting Jin"....listening energy. Years ago when I was first taught how to do push hands drills, I was told that push hands is more than just the physical movment and "mirroring" a partner. I was told that we had to "listen"...not with our ears, but with our whole body...even down to the hair on our arms!  I was very uncoordinated with push hands at first, which bothered me at the time. After 20+ years of martial training at that time, I thought I would have an easier time learning the concept of push hands, and it took much longer than I thought. The physical portion of the exercises was easy.....what I found hard was allowing my body to "listen" and not just "react".  The part that evaded me, was internalizing a concept and not just understanding it.

 

At that time, I would say I was pretty good at the "reaction" part of sparring or self defense. That is what made push hands difficult for me. I was only good at reacting. You punch at me, I immediately knew how to block or parry. You kick at me, I immediately knew how to evade and counter-attack. The sparring part was easy....

 

However,in push hands, if you only react to a partner's push or an off-centering technique, it makes you very "solid", and therefore you become easier to push over, in a sense.

 

When I briefly studies Aikido, I felt that I had the same problem. I understood the waza, but not the concept. I would "meet" the attack then flow with it, instead of flowing with it. I did not understand that my movement energy starts with the opponent's movement.....not only body movement, but mind movement as well (intent). My actions of meeting the attack then flowing, was exactly like my fighting style those years ago.....you attack, I react.  Because of this, many times my irimi-nage or kote-gaeshi felt sort of off kilter....off-time, sort of "fumbly" like.

 

As Obi Wan Kenobi from the old Star Wars movies said..."Your eyes can deceive you"...

 

I reacted to pushes and attacks in Push Hands and Aikido with my eyes and skill in timing...not with my whole body. Skill in timing in but only a tiny bit of the picture in sensitivity.  To act and not react......that's the hard part.

 

I find that I do the same thing in daily life. Taiji Instructor or not, I still react to life's little pushes. If I feel that someone has slighted me, I react with a dismissive attitude. If I feel that someone betrayed me, I react with a vengeful fury. I catch myself reacting to the daily grind with only my eyes and ears.....I catch myself not flowing with the daily grind, and in the process, I miss out on what the day is really trying to teach me.

 

I feel I still have alot to learn, and much internalizing of core concepts to do, but the journey is fun and the learning is precious.  Remember to flow.....listen, not just hear......act, not just react.....go with the curves, and not get stuck in the corners of the angles.....

 

Good Qi to you all....

 

"Bridging the gap" is a martial arts term that is used in many martial arts. Simply put, the idea is to shorten the distance between you and your opponent, so that you can quickly and efficiently set up your own avenue of tactical engagement.

 

Have you ever seen cartoons, where a character is running on a wooden plank bridge while the planks fall out from under them? The character runs on the remaining planks as loose planks fall behind them. Of course, we know that in reality, gravity will win and you wouldn't have the chance to run along a bridge like that, but its an amusing thought, wouldn't you think? The character gets to the other side of the bridge, and there's a chasm separating the character from whoever they were running from.

 

Well, that's exactly what happens when a tactical "bridge" falls away during engagement......there is a big space between the opponents, then it becomes a matter of re-thinking your strategy to gain a favorable fighting range. With a large space between opponents, two opponents are no longer in tactical engagement at all....it becomes a waiting game insted of the "active engagement game". Only when one changes the measure between them, does interaction and engagement actually happen.

 

We can use this concept of bridging the gap, in our personal interaction with others. Talking with others is easy....communication is not. Its the difference between shouting at each other from two sides of a canyon, and taking the time to build a bridge across the canyon to bridge the distance. Shouting across the canyon doesn't work too well...many times, the echoes of the shouting and other surrounding noise garbles the words, making them hard to understand. Walking across a strong bridge however, allows you to meet the other person on the other side, allowing both parties to speak clearly and be heard. Communication happens on a two way process....someone has to speak and act, and the other has to listen and watch. You cannot have a bridge without a means of anchor on the other side.

 

So, how do you build a simple bridge? 1) Gather your materials 2) know what tools you need 3) make sure you have a means of a firm anchor to solid surface on both ends of the bridge, and 4) realize that even good bridges need periodic maintenance.

 

In my daily interaction with martial artists and  students, I find it relatively easy to physically bridge the gap in fighting/self defense drills and to actively engage in the drill or exercise. However, I will admit my ability to bridge the gap in non-physical situations is not as keenly developed.  It is a constant learning process for me.  I think that my lag time in developing a keen sense of "non-physical bridging the gap" is based on FEAR. I'm not afraid of physical injury or people hitting me....it is par for the course in a contact martial art. Black eyes heal, arm bruises fade, and sprained ankles get stronger again.  Instead, I think that with most people (as well as myself),  the battle is with the Fear of emotional injury. Hurt feelings don't heal as fast as black eyes, and its a little harder for lost confidence to bounce back again.

 

In my past, I know that there have been plenty of times where I was a white belt when it comes to serious communication. Communicating how to do Kata or fighting drills to students is easy.....I'd like to think that I'm a "black belt" in that aspect. But, even today, I fall into "white belt" rank in serious comminication.

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to communicate with someone, about an issue that I found I misunderstood for a long time. I'll explain, using card games as an analogy: As hard as it was to communicate at first, the dialogue slowly unfolded so that all the proverbial "cards were out on the table". Now, it was easier for me to speak and listen when I saw all the cards. The hand I initally was dealt, was not the hand I saw, so to speak......it makes it hard to play a good card game when you're seeing a completely different set of cards in your hand than the ones originally dealt. Upon the end of the dialogue, I felt a sense of relief that my side was being heard, and that I heard and completely understood the other's words. I've had many situations like that, and more to follow, I'm sure. But, I hope that my skill in bridging the gap in communication (and hopefully the skills of those I interact with) improve with time.

 

 

So.....Gather the materials for the bridge (know what you want to communicate), Know what tools you need (what words will you use to clearly communicate your ideas), Make sure you have a firm anchor (make sure your idea has been communicated and understood by others), and realize that even good bridges need periodic maintenance (keep the lines of communication open).

 

Good Qi to all of you,

 

Restita