What is Ox Tongue?

[shawnsegler]

it's not a drill or anything per se. It's more like a background physical proviso of the style. When your hand changes you more one finger at a time and you are also trying to extend all the way to the finger tips. Also we do a lot of hooking...you know like an upside down single whip and you are always twisting that to the max and holding that twist with the full extension eventually allows you to move everything as one thing through those tight little postures. It gives you really good grip strength since you're connecting the muscles of the fore arm and really the strength of the whole posture into your hand.

Anyhoo, it's always intersting to hear the minutia of other folks styles and try and figure out the intention behind them.

Best,

S

[nianfong]

We do a lot of subtle, one finger at a time hooking sorts of action so that you are moving your "willow leaf" or "ox tongue" palm like a little tentacle tip.
If I ever get up to Canadia I'll show you.
S

mix, I think shawn just propositioned you.... hentai style

[shawnsegler]

What happens between two consenting tentacled beings in their demonic rape lair stays in that place made out of living tongues.

Just sayin.

S

[Shane]

An ox tongue is heavy and sticky.

The way Tim Cartemell describes 'Ox Tongue' techniques is 'sticky like an oxes tongue'. Here's a way to explain it within the limitations of text: Your freind is standing next to you shoulder to shoulder, you drape your arm over his shoulder- then for whatever crazy reason, you decide to use the arm you have draped behind his neck and over his shoulder to pull him off-balance backwards. If you stiffen your hand and arm, he'll feel the tension and resist. If you are too soft and he is stable, your hand will just slip off. If you use Ox Tongue engergy, and as your hand pulls back and into him, it sticks heavily to his skin/colar bone (and locks into his spine and hips if you do it right)- this smooth, heavy, sticky intention with the draped hand makes it much harder for your opponent to feel (and resist) the pull until its too late.

I appologize if someone had already given the answer, I gave up after reading the first page of replies.

Shane

[jjy5016]

I dont' believe that there is one set in stone hand formation for the ox tongue palm.

I was taught that it is more of a way that the hand itself is used than a particular formation. The term ox tongue came about because the particular technique that one uses in bagua for grabbing the wrist / arm of an opponent resembles the way that an ox wraps its tongue around grass that it pulls out of the ground when eating.

One of the basic bagua qigong is done in a low horse stance. The hand reaches towards the ground, thumb down. Once it is extended the hand begins to corkscrew outwards led by the pinky finger. One by one the fingers turn outwards until the hand is turned about 180 degrees and looks as if it is clutching something. Then the hand comes back to the waist and the opposite side is done.

But that's just what I was taught.


John