Back to Work!

It had truly been too long since training last. For various reasons (and there always are) we couldn't get together for a few weeks. While it was nice to let some bumps and bruises heal up, I've been really missing my new found physical outlet. My arms and shoulders have felt restless without my normal Tuesday's worth of self-inflicted torture.

During my break, I had worked diligently on being cognizant of my center line, keeping my hips and shoulders square with each other, and feeling my base. It was nice to have Ryan notice my dedication as we practiced a few drills to warm up for sifu Manny's arrival. (Sifu essentially means teacher) We started off with fan sau (or returning hand) drills. During fan sau, the primary controls the secondary's arms near the wrist (not grasping mind you) trying to keep the secondary from slapping him in the face or body. Seems easy right? It's not. Firstly, if you tense up for even a moment, an experienced martial artist like Ryan can pull his arm away in the blink of an eye for a strike. Secondly, if you're too loose (i.e. yielding) you're going to get hit as well. We went for about half an hour, trading off as primary and secondary. My best drills occurred when I had my eyes closed. I used to be surprised by this but now it just reminds me of Obi Wan Kanobi's instruction to Luke on the Millennium Falcon, "Be mindful of your eyes, they can decieve you." This is very true in Wing Chun applications. If I can feel Ryan's energy (or intentions) without seeing them, why do I need to second guess those instincts by opening my eyes and letting him fake me out with jukes and head bobs? Not to say that I'm going to close my eyes for sparring or an actual street fight but for the drills, it can be very useful.

Manny and Trent arrived soon afterwards and it was nice to see them. We caught up a little and then took our positions outside in the patio. Fan sau was the drill of the day, as we got right back into it. Manny immediately caught a few flaws in my technique. Ryan had tried to explain this before but apparently my shoulders were too tense and that tension was moving right up my arms. In order to stay loose, you almost have to prop your arms up with your lats, and lock your shoulders out. Bruce Lee was a master at this, I'm not. My other flaw was not transitioning my fingers properly when moving to a palm down (also thumb down) wrist locking position. Manny used the analogy of a snake moving across the forearm, each finger independent yet one right after the other, leaving no gaps for possible escape.

Next up was twitching. Sounds like a dance move huh? (C'mon baby, let's do the twitch!) Really it's just the fast twitching of your hands, coupled with a full turn. Imagine your palm face up, quickly being turned over and whipped outward, before being returned to a face up position. Manny helped by having us imagine flicking a booger off of our fingers using this motion. Coupled with a startle (see description of startle in my first post) the twitch is the building block for all of the simultaneous blocks/strikes. The key is to recoil back to the starting position and it's harder than one might think.

We ended with some good old fashioned chi sau. (or sticky hands) The drill that separates Wing Chun Do from other forms that claim to teach sensitivity. In chi sau you face your partner and (in the right handed version) place your left arm atop his right and prop his left arm up with your right. Then you take turns rolling the down arm up, creating a fluid back and forth motion. From this, various attacks can be attempted at any time (known as interrupts). Because you're already touching your partners arm, the theory is that you can feel his energy and intercept the attack. It is really a game of cat and mouse. Up until yesterday I had really sucked at it but after working with Manny for a little yesterday, I figured some things out and actually went for about 5 minutes. (before succumbing to sore shoulders) I'm very excited to continue working on this.

This week's practice points:

1. Startle. It was one of last week's too but I need to get better. I will never be able to fully utilize what I'm learning until I add a good startle into the mix. I'll be sure to do some twitch drills on my own everyday.

2. Breathe. Trent was really helpful last night by reminding me to breathe during drills. It's impossible to relax if you're gasping for air.

3. Recoil. I should be able to bring my hands back to proper positions after every technique, there's no excuse not to anymore.