Chinese Wushu Association to test posture?

[Waterway]

I was chatting to my Qi Gong (and old Taiji) teacher recently. He travels to China every few years to grade with the CWA, as his teacher who was from China was graded through the CWA.

Anyway, he said the CWA are changing the way they assess internal arts, including Qi Gong. He said that ordinarily you got up in front of the grading panel, did your form, if they thought it was of a good enough standard, you got your duan grade.

Now they are apparently moving in the direction of having someone from the grading panel out there with you when you are doing the form. During parts of the form the grading panel member will press against or pull you in order to make sure everything is as it should be "internally" and the posture/root is as it should be.

Basically my teacher said there was a growing concern within the CWA that certain practioners were "bluffing" there way through a grading. The form looked good on the outside things weren't as they should be on the inside. This is the way they are going to try and combat it.

That is the explanation I have been given. Does anyone else, if they do assess IMA, "test" the posture of the practioner during a form? Is this a good idea?

[Ron Panunto]

It's a good start.

[Walk the Torque]

From My perspective, co's I was "raised" that way, I think it's an excellent idea, provided the tester knows what they' are feeling for.

[JAB]

Great idea! Posture and alignment are what makes martial arts... well, martial arts, and not just monkeys swinging their fists around. My teacher posture tests all the time. You can see an example of it on the upcoming 4 disk DVD on Sun Taiji http://threeharmonies.blogspot.com/2010 ... at-is.html

It will cover form, and talk extensively about posture and alignment, as well as show how to properly test postures and structure.

Cheers,
JAB

[johnwang]

Why not just test someone's posture the following ways?

- Ask him to stand in a bow-arrow stance. You then stand on top of his upper leg. If his bow-arrow stance cannot support your body weigh, his "posture" is bad,
- When he is doing his Taiji form. you walk into his moving path. It your body can bend his arm, his "posture" is bad.
- Throw a low round house kick on his leg when he is in a horse stance. If your kick can knock him down, his "posture" is bad.
- Put a 200 lb rice bag on his shoulder. If his body is not Sung, his "structure" is bad.
- Throw a $100 bill on the ground, if his head bends over his knee, his "structure" is bad.

[Haoran]

Great idea! Posture and alignment are what makes martial arts... well, martial arts, and not just monkeys swinging their fists around. My teacher posture tests all the time. You can see an example of it on the upcoming 4 disk DVD on Sun Taiji http://threeharmonies.blogspot.com/2010 ... at-is.html

It will cover form, and talk extensively about posture and alignment, as well as show how to properly test postures and structure.

Cheers,
JAB

I agree with everything your blog says about Sun Taiji. Very difficult to find quality instruction on traditional Sun as I tried some time back. I mean, I have Paul Lam people tripping over themselves here there's so many but that's not for me. It will be refreshing to see a Quality DVD set on the subject and I would certianly purchase one.

Good luck with the project and Let us know when it's ready.

[neijia_boxer]

i think its a great idea for Taijiquan, baguazhang and xingyiquan as well as yiquan and other internal like Liu Huei Ba Fa.(spell?)

I saw this old timer and he was like ..."stand in san ti'' and then he easily pushed me over with a push to my side. my stance was to narrow. after a small adjustment he couldn't push me.

Ben Lo makes people stand in Tai ji postures for an extremely long time. a teacher of mine who is his disciple has us do 20 rounds of tan tien breathing in each posture.

[Haoran]

Liu Huei Ba Fa

Liuhe bafa

liuhe (six harmonies)
bafa (eight methods)

[neijia_boxer]

when wushu got gayified even worse in late 90's, early 2000 with what they call 'nandu' or "new level of difficulty", the already bad wushu Taiji added jump kicks, jump spins, outside jump kicks, inside jump kicks into one leg landing, and not to mention the stance where they go down one leg behind the other leg.

whatever the case they are not doing taijiquan anymore and the tan tien is somewhere in the chest area with the flashy arms bullshit.

getting pushed to test the stance will hopefully bring back the tan tien to lower abdomen and true sinking.


gayified taijiquan sample: moves not even seen in the traditional are gone...they just make up whatever.

[kshurika]

JAB wrote:

My teacher posture tests all the time.

Wow, your teacher sounds just like my teacher. He tests my xingyi postures all the time.





Oh, wait, my teacher is your teacher.

It's a good idea in both cases. What a posture looks like and what it actually is can be two distinctly separate things.


Matt: Gosh, that clip was pretty! Hair, makeup and music combined for non-stop MA thrills.

[Slim]

As someone who used to be a card carrying member of the Chinese Wushu Association, and who's had a chance to see the Wushu scene from the inside, hangin' with folks like Wu Bin, Men Huifeng, Kan Guixiang, Li Deyin, the further I get away from it the better I feel. Gongfu is not a performance art. Testing postures, in my opinion, still doesn't change the fact that approaching this stuff as a dance massively distorts the art.

[JAB]

Slim
True dat! Changing forms to fit time or space or to "look" better.... not martial arts anymore.

KShurika,
You and I have the same teacher???? Impossible. My teacher learned from a wandering Taoist in the hills of El Segundo

[wayne hansen]

when wushu got gayified even worse in late 90's, early 2000 with what they call 'nandu' or "new level of difficulty", the already bad wushu Taiji added jump kicks, jump spins, outside jump kicks, inside jump kicks into one leg landing, and not to mention the stance where they go down one leg behind the other leg.

whatever the case they are not doing taijiquan anymore and the tan tien is somewhere in the chest area with the flashy arms bullshit.

getting pushed to test the stance will hopefully bring back the tan tien to lower abdomen and true sinking.


gayified taijiquan sample: moves not even seen in the traditional are gone...they just make up whatever.

that guy is a lot better than many of the so called traditional masters around the place
the only person who can grade you is your teacher

[kshurika]

JAB wrote:

You and I have the same teacher???? Impossible. My teacher learned from a wandering Taoist in the hills of El Segundo

You're right. My teacher trained in Taiwan and developed his distinctive style by having caravans of spiders leave urine trails across his upper lip as they journeyed over his face every night while he slept. They must be two different people.


(Note to RSF followers: Which of these martial arts tales is actually true? Only one entry per person, please.)

[taiwandeutscher]

when wushu got gayified even worse in late 90's, early 2000 with what they call 'nandu' or "new level of difficulty", the already bad wushu Taiji added jump kicks, jump spins, outside jump kicks, inside jump kicks into one leg landing, and not to mention the stance where they go down one leg behind the other leg.

whatever the case they are not doing taijiquan anymore and the tan tien is somewhere in the chest area with the flashy arms bullshit.

getting pushed to test the stance will hopefully bring back the tan tien to lower abdomen and true sinking.


gayified taijiquan sample: moves not even seen in the traditional are gone...they just make up whatever.

that guy is a lot better than many of the so called traditional masters around the place
the only person who can grade you is your teacher

Well, I never touched hands with this guy.
But I did some PHs, standing and moving, with a 2 time Asian Games Taiji winner. Really disappointing, no root at all, his jin was funny, and he could not do a thing.
But his acrobatics were great, lol.