C.J.W. wrote:The point he brings up about being "in a state" actually echoes what some of the high-level IMA guys have told me. The idea is that once you have developed an internally-connected and dantian-driven body with Peng-jin present at all times, fighting is just a matter of maintaining that state of dynamic balance while physically interacting with an opponent, who will be unbalanced by you on contact if he happens to have weaker structure.
You are echoing what both Sam Chin and Dan Harden say in slightly different ways. Howeve, if you don’t know how to fight, have never fought, do not have the will to fight, then you will only unbalance people playing at push hands. It is clear that many people who practice “push”, which is an educative game, often expose their heads, knees , ankles and groin, whilst busily playing a stick and flow game. To my mind that will mean that even when you are “dynamically balanced” there is something missing in your wiring diagram. I have felt the intent in experienced fighters who sense and indicate all the openings whilst playing with upper body stickiness only. That wakes up awareness on a larger scale, even without actually attacking those openings. I believe that without that addition you will never develop a responsive body. Even Bruce Lee’s dictum, “ seek emptiness” can be seen as internal training in awareness and listening.in other words you attack where the opponents awareness is absent.
So. In a limited way, I agree with the idea that all parts must be free to move, but unless they are connected in an offensive/defensive manner(yin/yang balanced) those parts will be useless. The clip with the Ba Gua guy showed this painfully. His hands and feet were not dantien connected, nor were they filled with intent. The Muai Thai fighter had gained more internal power from his external training, he was more free, in reality, than the internal(!!??) guy.
But I guess since much of what we do in IMA has to do with intent and what goes on inside the body, every IMAist has their own way of explaining and describing things. So we really don't know what he means for sure unless we can get some hands-on with him.
oragami_itto wrote:After watching this I think I have some problems with it.
I don't believe internal skills are something you can "learn" so much as a state you achieve.
Like a circus strongman can bend a steel bar, there's no trick to it, he just made himself strong enough to do it. Anyone who hasn't gone through the necessary conditioning won't be able to duplicate the feat. .
C.J.W. wrote:The idea is that once you have developed an internally-connected and dantian-driven body with Peng-jin present at all times, fighting is just a matter of maintaining that state of dynamic balance while physically interacting with an opponent, who will be unbalanced by you on contact if he happens to have weaker structure.
Bao wrote:oragami_itto wrote:After watching this I think I have some problems with it.
I don't believe internal skills are something you can "learn" so much as a state you achieve.
Like a circus strongman can bend a steel bar, there's no trick to it, he just made himself strong enough to do it. Anyone who hasn't gone through the necessary conditioning won't be able to duplicate the feat. .
To become a strongman you first need to know that you must make yourself strong. If you don’t, you can never achieve it. Who can give a better guidance than a strongman? I did like the vid very much, but I’ve problems with people who don’t want to teach a body method. Even if it's about not doing, don't you think there must be ways to achieve what he does ... or what he does not?
Itten wrote:You are echoing what both Sam Chin and Dan Harden say in slightly different ways. Howeve, if you don’t know how to fight, have never fought, do not have the will to fight, then you will only unbalance people playing at push hands. It is clear that many people who practice “push”, which is an educative game, often expose their heads, knees , ankles and groin, whilst busily playing a stick and flow game. To my mind that will mean that even when you are “dynamically balanced” there is something missing in your wiring diagram. I have felt the intent in experienced fighters who sense and indicate all the openings whilst playing with upper body stickiness only. That wakes up awareness on a larger scale, even without actually attacking those openings. I believe that without that addition you will never develop a responsive body. Even Bruce Lee’s dictum, “ seek emptiness” can be seen as internal training in awareness and listening.in other words you attack where the opponents awareness is absent.
So. In a limited way, I agree with the idea that all parts must be free to move, but unless they are connected in an offensive/defensive manner(yin/yang balanced) those parts will be useless. The clip with the Ba Gua guy showed this painfully. His hands and feet were not dantien connected, nor were they filled with intent. The Muai Thai fighter had gained more internal power from his external training, he was more free, in reality, than the internal(!!??) guy.
C.J.W. wrote:Actually, it was my Taiwanese Bagua teacher who first introduced the idea to me. He grew up practicing a HARD internal system (yes, you read it right) southern Chinese system and is fanatical about developing dantian and structure. ... In his Bagua system, beginners focus on "immovability" first in order to develop connections. Once that is acquired, then you gradually learn how to free up and move more joints while maintaining those connections by practicing various moving Bagua drills and pair work. At higher levels, however, we actually seek to develop "disconnection" skills which teach you how to disconnect and connect limbs from/to dantien at will in fighting. .
Bao wrote:Still, the best ones of the "connected schools" I've personally met were those who were very light and didn't let you feel that they had this connection. I think it's a great quality these people have, yet relying too much on structure can be just as deceiving as relying too much on softness. I do admire those who can balance it to a higher level, developing a completely dense and very strong, solid structure, and yet have a very quick footwork as well as having a very light and sensitive touch.
Bodywork wrote:Itten wrote:Good fighters draw their opponent to attack and slip (yield), etc., without any contact and collide with the opponent's force with a counter to the opponent's center.
That may be one of the attributes of a”good fighter”.How about just hit “the firstest with the mostest” worked for Jack Dempsey
Itten wrote:Sure, “one part moves, all parts move”, but the amount of theory generated seems to immensely exceed the skill levels manifested.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 43 guests