So, I know that most stuff related to discussing shenfa is both automatically off topic or been there done that simply because of how personal ones experience is to each individual, but I thought I'd give it a try since it is the main thing most people think of when they think of kung fu and because I think this question will answer some other questions I've been wanting answer that are related to it.
Anyhoo, I've been trying to go back to the basics and try and alleviate some of the sucking I'm doing in relation to my bagua and it's been very good for me. I was getting pretty sloppy and it's not what I'm about.
So, I was doing some sitting meditation before bed the other night and I got super duper relaxed and, while I've felt open from my center for awhile now, the picture was not really complete inasmuch as my interior view has continued to be dominated by the seperation of my front and back...in short it wasn't really complete (the openness). So I got super relaxed and really let go of the part of the eyes that goes back to the spine and got the sensation that the blood vessels that go up the front of the face had pulled back and the blood was going straight up into my brain. Then I had a couple of juicy cracks in the area of the spine in the center of the head and BAM! I could articulate feeling all the way from the front to the back through the center of my head. This gave me a full on orbit going up the front and down the back as per our shenfa which has allowed me to keep my attention in the back giving my back a full open feeling, and allowing my intention to not be interfered with by the eyes and all that nerve stuff in the central core that interferes with your intention by pulling it there whenever it passes over them (eye, nerves stuff).
Here I must say, that I've had some stuff that was hurting a little, and was not feeling safe around the back of my head, middle of my chest cavity and my back just behind the heart. Being all relaxed when this happened allowed me to alleviate a lot of pressure that was being caused simply by the heavy handed way that's been the only way I know how to feel around.
So I was able to take the initial shenfa requirements of our style ( up the front down the back..emphasis on open and closed and smooth even movement) which feels sort of like you're walking into the wind and water is running down your back...for how you get into the habit of moving energy in your body. When you open your body in a 3d fashion, if it was a line through your body it would be something like this \ with you facing the way the line is tilting and your body being made of infinite cross sections of that line..in general..there's the shape of everything inside that varies from that but I'm talking the general direction of the soft tissue..what you can control. Anyhoo, now that I'm all relaxed able to move stuff in those areas without getting messed with things like the optic nerve, I able to set up a feeling that's the exact opposite and simultaneously sustainable like so / . This has given me a something like a three dimensional net made of of infinte repetitions of those two diametrically opposed shapes joining at the top of my melon and suspending me as if from above.
Anyway, I feel like I'm about a 1000 times better than I was last week...not that that's hard I know
. Being able to keep the whole thing open has allowed me to set up things in a more beneficial opposition. Tons better balance, central equilibrium, and an instant improvement all across the board from being able to feel my insides more correctly and therefore see the dynamics of things like SPC much more clearly and since I'm less worried about balance and such the ability to not engage musculature in such a way as to hinder uninhibited movement.
Anyhoo, my question is this: When I was doing Silat and Bagua at the same time is when I started to really open up into this shenfa thing, but because I had more bagua in my body I felt strongly that I was opening up in a more bagua way than a silat way, and now that I've hit this big epiphany I'm almost feeling I've opened up in a more taiji way...which is really weird, but it's how I feel. Taiji was my first internal art, the majority of the theory that's been available has been about taiji, and pushing with jamie a lot has given a lot of feel for fight-y taiji.
My question is something like this...what in your mind makes the shenfa of a particular style related to that theory inasmuch as it's used as a martial art. Everyone goes on about how bagua taiji and hsing i were this and that way before the theory was added as though that should detract from the validity of the theory which is just ridiculous. Wuxing, taiji and bagua are just models that can be added to anything, but since the original arts where using movement in 3d space, and all of those models are differnt aspects of 3d space over time, then it should be obvious that can be added to whatever and that the theories that were added to these arts are simply where they (the arts) and the theories dovetailed together well.
So, most of my latest epiphany revolve around the reconciliation of complimentary opposites in and around my body. Whenever I extend one way, I can simply relax (not perfect yet, but better) because I can feel the entirety of my body in relation and have the other half of that movement that completes it and balances it out in the other direction instantly extrapolated and projected That and most of my latest ideas stem around that kind of stuff, and while I know they are all the same thing...what makes taiji or bagua or hsingi shenfa what it is in you'alls minds?
When all the comments were being made about my last film of luohan paochui, Master He and Miro both made note of something that I was doing that was obviously wrong that I wasn't seeing, and I know a lot of it was simple mechanics stuff, but I think there was more to it than that, and I think a little of that is related to this question. I'm not necessarily looking for a cut and dried answer to that...the onus of responsibility is for me to work out hard and figure that out for myself to some extent, but I would love to hear what everyone's ideas are on the why's of what they do.
Best wishes, and thanks in advance!
S