Last night was supposed to be the third installment of the eight-week Yin Style Bagua Foundations series we're doing in Maryville on Thursday nights, but between a family birthday, being held over at work, being out of the country, and a couple of other issues, the crew for that class wasn't able to assemble last night as usual. Only a couple of guys, both of whom have been training for a while, were able to make it, so we're postponing Week 3 of 8 to next week and will proceed from there.
Instead, last night, we decided to take a diversion into using the Lion System methods for practical fighting against a resisting opponent, a topic we haven't devoted too much attention to under the promise that training well renders this sort of dangerous practice essentially unnecessary. As a study-group meeting, that is how we approached the topic, investigating the matter carefully, and the "myth," if we can call it that, is at least plausible: use for fighting against a resisting opponent is certainly possible even without doing a training-by-sparring protocol.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Recap, YSB Knoxville study group meeting, Monday, May 21
Last night's study group meeting was another success. Here's some back story and a recap of what we covered.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Foundations class, Week 2: Introduction to circle turning
...and then there were two: two classes in our Thursday night series for introducing the foundational practices of Yin Style Baguazhang to the community in and around Knoxville, Tennessee. In all, this class was very productive, and it centered its theme upon introducing the circle turning training method of (Yin Style) baguazhang.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
YSB Knoxville training challenge, Week of May 14, 2012
I'm thinking about throwing up a once-weekly (or maybe more often) training challenge for folks in the YSB, Knoxville, study group to take on, although others are welcome to join in, of course.
This week's challenge: Make a very solid effort to increase standing strengthening practice. Specifically, try to get three sets of standing strengthening in per day, where a set is holding the posture with full effort twice on each side for at least a minute on each side both times.
For those that know only the Lion representational posture, try to work in at least three sets a day. For those that know more postures, up the ante a little bit and train more than one. Some suggestions follow at the bottom of this post.
Time is less important than sensation, so you want to hold the postures until you feel like you cannot hold them accurately any longer. One minute per side seems to be a reasonable minimum, even if your strength has to wane on later sets to achieve it. Endure!
You want to put in 100% strength throughout, aiming to achieve the goals of the postures, where 100% strength is defined to be the maximum strength you can exert without making yourself shake (to become "turbid").
You want to sit down low, challenging the quadriceps, which should hold your weight, and the connective tissue of your hips, which you are changing in a practical, fighting-oriented way. Try to stay down between sets, even if you shake your arms out.
Some suggestions for those who know a few postures:
EDIT: For more information about standing strengthening practice, check out this post about YSB standing strengthening on my personal blog, Becoming the Lion.
This week's challenge: Make a very solid effort to increase standing strengthening practice. Specifically, try to get three sets of standing strengthening in per day, where a set is holding the posture with full effort twice on each side for at least a minute on each side both times.
For those that know only the Lion representational posture, try to work in at least three sets a day. For those that know more postures, up the ante a little bit and train more than one. Some suggestions follow at the bottom of this post.
Time is less important than sensation, so you want to hold the postures until you feel like you cannot hold them accurately any longer. One minute per side seems to be a reasonable minimum, even if your strength has to wane on later sets to achieve it. Endure!
You want to put in 100% strength throughout, aiming to achieve the goals of the postures, where 100% strength is defined to be the maximum strength you can exert without making yourself shake (to become "turbid").
You want to sit down low, challenging the quadriceps, which should hold your weight, and the connective tissue of your hips, which you are changing in a practical, fighting-oriented way. Try to stay down between sets, even if you shake your arms out.
Some suggestions for those who know a few postures:
- Try picking three postures, usually the animal representational posture and two palm representational postures. Stand the animal representational posture, then take a break. Stand the first palm posture, then after the break, do some strikes from that palm. Repeat the palm representational posture. After another short break, do the animal representational posture again, then the other palm posture. Follow that with strikes from that palm. Stand that palm's posture again, and then the animal posture to finish. This is hard.
- Stand a number of postures for two sets, twice on each side in each set, in a series, with short breaks in between.
- Stand *all nine* standing strengthening postures, starting and finishing with the animal representational posture (a total of ten standing sets), with short breaks in between. This is hard as well.
- Pick any one posture and concentrate on it, doing sets repeatedly, two or three times holding it on each side in each set, perhaps three to five (or more) sets.
EDIT: For more information about standing strengthening practice, check out this post about YSB standing strengthening on my personal blog, Becoming the Lion.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Foundations Class, Week 1: Introduction to Lion System Sweeping
Our first Foundations class in the eight-week series we're doing on Thursday nights in Maryville went very well last night. Although a summary appears on the YSB Knoxville group's Facebook page, I'll elaborate here a little more.
The meeting opened up with a short discussion on what Yin Style Bagua is all about. This involved a short introduction into the idea of being an art of continuously striking while moving, of using interconnected techniques to effectively defeat the opponent, and of the fundamental notion that the art, and all of its practices, are for fighting. That discussion focused its efforts after a brief overview on the Lion System and its particular goals and strategy, indicating how it is ferocious and aggressive in nature. Some short demonstrations were provided of how the Lion System might approach a fighting situation, both being the aggressor and acting on defense.
Introductions aside, we moved into discussing the particular methods of practice of Yin Style Baguazhang, particularly the "four pillars" of training. The standing strengthening practice was introduced first, and the Lion Representational posture was trained for a few sets with corrections during and between to get the feel for this practice. The emphasis is on building strength, but that strength is to be built intelligently. As some folks in attendance came from a karate background and wanted to draw from their experiences with Sanchin kata, a clear distinction had to be made between that form of training and that which we do in standing strengthening practice, which is more specific-goal oriented.
After standing strengthening practice, we took a short break and allowed for some discussion, which brought up circle turning practice (to be featured in Week 2's training). We took advantage of the situation and talked about the martial use of the footwork from circle turning practice along with the other practical benefits of that pillar of training: improved coordination, better expression of power, physical development, the medicinal/internal side of development, etc., but the stress was kept on keeping training grounded in real fighting ability. This particular discussion also involved a demonstration of how Yin Style endeavors to defeat the opponent with strikes but will transition smoothly to throwing and grasping (grappling) the instant the opportunity arises, including setting and locking a joint-manipulation (armbar, e.g.) as the person is being thrown.
The discussion was capped with the following statement: If you train correctly, then you get fighting skills and internal development, if that's what you're interested in. How do you know if you're training correctly? If you are developing good fighting skills as a result.
Then we spent the rest of the evening developing in strike drilling. Two sweeping/slicing/peeling strikes from the Lion System foundational material were presented: rising sweeping and inside sweeping. Those were drilled in standing-in-place, single-action method and then in combinations with footwork. Attention was put on the learning speed and transitioning to practicing with power, and the importance of having coordination of hands, eyes, body, waist, and footwork was driven home. Even in the standing-in-place method, footwork is important: the feet must be stable and the legs must contribute to the full-body power of the strikes.
Those two strikes, drilled in combination, were applied with a partner tactically in four settings, depending on use of footwork with the strikes. One new practitioner commented immediately, "Oh wow, this art is really brutal!" as he witnessed and then tried the techniques for himself.
In all it was a great class, and we're really energized to be doing it!
Next week we'll focus on rounding out the foundations of the sweeping palm striking, introducing more attention to footwork, and will introduce the circle turning training practice of Yin Style Baguazhang. Additionally, we will draw a sweeping method combination from at least one of the sweeping forms for drilling and applications. Even those folks who missed this week will find next week's material accessible, so feel welcome! See you there!
The meeting opened up with a short discussion on what Yin Style Bagua is all about. This involved a short introduction into the idea of being an art of continuously striking while moving, of using interconnected techniques to effectively defeat the opponent, and of the fundamental notion that the art, and all of its practices, are for fighting. That discussion focused its efforts after a brief overview on the Lion System and its particular goals and strategy, indicating how it is ferocious and aggressive in nature. Some short demonstrations were provided of how the Lion System might approach a fighting situation, both being the aggressor and acting on defense.
Introductions aside, we moved into discussing the particular methods of practice of Yin Style Baguazhang, particularly the "four pillars" of training. The standing strengthening practice was introduced first, and the Lion Representational posture was trained for a few sets with corrections during and between to get the feel for this practice. The emphasis is on building strength, but that strength is to be built intelligently. As some folks in attendance came from a karate background and wanted to draw from their experiences with Sanchin kata, a clear distinction had to be made between that form of training and that which we do in standing strengthening practice, which is more specific-goal oriented.
After standing strengthening practice, we took a short break and allowed for some discussion, which brought up circle turning practice (to be featured in Week 2's training). We took advantage of the situation and talked about the martial use of the footwork from circle turning practice along with the other practical benefits of that pillar of training: improved coordination, better expression of power, physical development, the medicinal/internal side of development, etc., but the stress was kept on keeping training grounded in real fighting ability. This particular discussion also involved a demonstration of how Yin Style endeavors to defeat the opponent with strikes but will transition smoothly to throwing and grasping (grappling) the instant the opportunity arises, including setting and locking a joint-manipulation (armbar, e.g.) as the person is being thrown.
The discussion was capped with the following statement: If you train correctly, then you get fighting skills and internal development, if that's what you're interested in. How do you know if you're training correctly? If you are developing good fighting skills as a result.
Then we spent the rest of the evening developing in strike drilling. Two sweeping/slicing/peeling strikes from the Lion System foundational material were presented: rising sweeping and inside sweeping. Those were drilled in standing-in-place, single-action method and then in combinations with footwork. Attention was put on the learning speed and transitioning to practicing with power, and the importance of having coordination of hands, eyes, body, waist, and footwork was driven home. Even in the standing-in-place method, footwork is important: the feet must be stable and the legs must contribute to the full-body power of the strikes.
Those two strikes, drilled in combination, were applied with a partner tactically in four settings, depending on use of footwork with the strikes. One new practitioner commented immediately, "Oh wow, this art is really brutal!" as he witnessed and then tried the techniques for himself.
 |
| He Jinbao demonstrates a Lion System opening strike on Jim Lindsay of YSB Knoxville |
Next week we'll focus on rounding out the foundations of the sweeping palm striking, introducing more attention to footwork, and will introduce the circle turning training practice of Yin Style Baguazhang. Additionally, we will draw a sweeping method combination from at least one of the sweeping forms for drilling and applications. Even those folks who missed this week will find next week's material accessible, so feel welcome! See you there!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Turning the circle, keeping it real
Last night's group-training session was small but very productive. Almost the entire class focused on circle turning practice, which is a very rare situation for our group training sessions. Usually we take the attitude that we can take some time to look at and adjust folks' turning and let them do the bulk of it at home. Last night, though, we spent the entire time training circle turning and direct applications of circle turning.
We turned in three different representative animal postures last night, and we turned for a total of 45 minutes in one extended session. We turned the Phoenix representational posture predominantly, then compared it against the more familiar, more demanding Lion representational posture, and then finished out with a relatively short, shockingly painful session in the Rooster representational posture.
After that, we wrapped up the class by exploring various ways that we can use the footwork and body movement from circle turning practice to directly apply to our fighting. While circle turning is a deeply "internal" exercise said to do all kinds of wonderful things for our qi, it is first and foremost a practical fighting practice, something that seems forgotten too often.
Keeping it real...
One of the beautiful things about Yin Style Bagua is that while it is deep, profound, and at times esoteric, it is all accessible, attainable, and practical. Done correctly, everything in the art has direct benefits to fighting skill and direct benefits on the health of the practitioner. We do not separate specific "internal" exercises and "martial" exercises. We just train, and the training is carefully designed to provide development in both regimes in an efficient manner.
The upside to that is that whether you are or you aren't interested in developing "internally," the circle turning practice of Yin Style Bagua is designed to meet that interest. What's most important, though, is keeping it real when we train.
Do I know if magic internal powers exist or not? No, despite whatever stories and claims people make (but never seem to be able to put to a real, controlled test, a la James Randi).
Do I know incredible martial skill exists? Yes, absolutely. Clarke's Third Law states that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I expect this applies equally well to the mystical claims of "internal" Chinese arts.
Which do I train for? I train for what I know exists. If there is more to it, great. I'm glad I'm in a system that provides for what might be while focusing on what is.
Turn. Turn a lot. Turn with fighting intent. Turn to become a warrior. It works, whether it makes you into a magician or not.
Challenge yourself!
Follow the lead of our study group meeting for the week. Get out on the circle. Turn. Train. Try to find the fight in your turning, and spend some time doing it! With a good turning practice, you'll develop martial footwork, power generation, power expression, coordination, and an enhanced ability to create that necessary combination of hands, eyes, body, waist, and footwork. Shoot for an hour a day!
We turned in three different representative animal postures last night, and we turned for a total of 45 minutes in one extended session. We turned the Phoenix representational posture predominantly, then compared it against the more familiar, more demanding Lion representational posture, and then finished out with a relatively short, shockingly painful session in the Rooster representational posture.
 |
| Bradley Moore turning in the Phoenix representational posture |
Keeping it real...
One of the beautiful things about Yin Style Bagua is that while it is deep, profound, and at times esoteric, it is all accessible, attainable, and practical. Done correctly, everything in the art has direct benefits to fighting skill and direct benefits on the health of the practitioner. We do not separate specific "internal" exercises and "martial" exercises. We just train, and the training is carefully designed to provide development in both regimes in an efficient manner.
The upside to that is that whether you are or you aren't interested in developing "internally," the circle turning practice of Yin Style Bagua is designed to meet that interest. What's most important, though, is keeping it real when we train.
Do I know if magic internal powers exist or not? No, despite whatever stories and claims people make (but never seem to be able to put to a real, controlled test, a la James Randi).
Do I know incredible martial skill exists? Yes, absolutely. Clarke's Third Law states that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I expect this applies equally well to the mystical claims of "internal" Chinese arts.
Which do I train for? I train for what I know exists. If there is more to it, great. I'm glad I'm in a system that provides for what might be while focusing on what is.
Turn. Turn a lot. Turn with fighting intent. Turn to become a warrior. It works, whether it makes you into a magician or not.
Challenge yourself!
Follow the lead of our study group meeting for the week. Get out on the circle. Turn. Train. Try to find the fight in your turning, and spend some time doing it! With a good turning practice, you'll develop martial footwork, power generation, power expression, coordination, and an enhanced ability to create that necessary combination of hands, eyes, body, waist, and footwork. Shoot for an hour a day!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Foundations mini-series, week one
As mentioned in the last post, we are hosting an eight-week course to introduce the foundational practices of one aspect of Yin Style Baguazhang to the community.
This course will focus primarily on introducing some of what we call the "Lion System" of the art, which being Chinese has various aspects of itself named after animals that represent those parts of the art. As you might guess, the Lion System is the most ferocious of the eight animal systems of Yin Style Bagua, and it is also considered to be the best for building a foundation for excellent martial practice.
This eight-week series will introduce some of the aspects of the Lion System at an introductory level. This art is advanced, so there is no "basic" practice, even if we use that word from time to time. Practitioners familiar with Yin Style will get a reminder of the foundations of the art and an opportunity to make that bedrock more solid. New people should find the material accessible, though challenging.
Week 1, which meets Thursday, May 10, at 7:00 pm under the pavilion behind Sam Houston Elementary School in Maryville (660 Cunningham St.) will present the following.
See you there!
This course will focus primarily on introducing some of what we call the "Lion System" of the art, which being Chinese has various aspects of itself named after animals that represent those parts of the art. As you might guess, the Lion System is the most ferocious of the eight animal systems of Yin Style Bagua, and it is also considered to be the best for building a foundation for excellent martial practice.
This eight-week series will introduce some of the aspects of the Lion System at an introductory level. This art is advanced, so there is no "basic" practice, even if we use that word from time to time. Practitioners familiar with Yin Style will get a reminder of the foundations of the art and an opportunity to make that bedrock more solid. New people should find the material accessible, though challenging.
Week 1, which meets Thursday, May 10, at 7:00 pm under the pavilion behind Sam Houston Elementary School in Maryville (660 Cunningham St.) will present the following.
- A general introduction to and overview of Yin Style Baguazhang, the Lion System in particular. This will include some brief demonstration.
- An introduction to some of the foundational practices of Yin Style, including circle turning and standing strengthening practices. These practices enhance strength, coordination, and use of full-body power while developing the body into one of a fighter.
- Two representative, foundational strikes from the Lion System's first attack method, the sweeping/slicing palm, will be presented, trained, and applied.
 |
| He Jinbao performs a sweeping strike knockdown on YSBKnoxville's Jim Lindsay in London. |
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