charles wrote:oragami_itto wrote:I'd be delighted, but I'm afraid I need your help. You're much more knowledgeable and articulate than me, so if you could describe your understanding of what's happening I could more easily tell you where the models may differ or overlap.
Based on what you wrote, "What I've found is that I get two distinctly different results depending on whether or not I guide the qi through the proper sequence. Without it I may muscle someone out of their root, but with it they just float out without much effort on my part", I thought you were describing your personal experience rather than an explanation of what is being shown in the video. I was just asking to have you describe that experience, specifically, what guiding the qi through the proper sequence is.
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And now I will. I just had to get a clear idea of upon what you are basing your opinion and understanding. To coin a phrase, tell me what you saw and I'll tell you what you missed.
I wasn't able to find the video I was looking for. However, here are two of students practicing a basic exercise that explicitly teaches the skill in the OP video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdZNK_MCiKoThe two guys at about :45 understood the exercise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LieqTgBMBQcIn short, in the exercise, your partner pushes you three times. You don't do anything but get pushed. You study the timing of the pushes. On the fourth, you catch the partner's push before it has fully "arrived". The result is that the partner pushes himself backwards as he "extends"/"finishes" the push. It's all in the timing and relative position and is not difficult to do with a little practice. It has little to do with "qi" or "the mind" or "intent" and can be taught to nearly any novice in a few minutes. You can push yourself backwards if practicing by pushing against a wall.
After sufficient practice, one learns to time and position it just right against a push, without needing the "setup" to find the timing. It becomes second nature, just as in the OP video.
So first I will say that parts of the exercise are similar, but they are vastly different.
The similiarities are the interrupting force, the moving last but arriving first aspect of knowing the intention and interrupting it as young power. This is an important skill.
The differences are the direction of the forces and how the energy is transformed, basically, what he's DOING with that timing is different.
There's a fella at around 1:30 in the second video that expresses a part of it, but his direction is still different. These videos show simple and direct opposing horizontal forces with a slight deflection. There is nothing that you could not honestly transmit to any person off the street in about five minutes, I absolutely agree. They are pushing straight back, or back and up, in a straight line. The timing to interrupt young power shunts the attacker's force back into his body in the intended direction and so they go that way. It is as much about qi as pushing a brick wall, I agree.
So how is it different. He demonstrates two variations on the same concept so let's address them separately to keep things simple.
Given: Mind/Yi leads Qi and Jin follows. If Yi is on Qi, it is stagnant and no Jin is possible. Therefore we need only discuss the mind aspect. If that is correct, the rest follows naturally, provided the mind-body connection has been cultivated to the point of effectiveness.
Speaking first person for simplicity.
In the first example, as the push comes in, I follow the incoming force to join with the opponent's mass. The force of the push transfers energy into my body, I use that energy to intensify a wave of compression enabled by relaxation from the center of my body to the extremities of my hands and feet. I also visualize compressing the opponent's structure where it has potential to be compressed, based on what I know through listening.
When I have reached maximum compression, a wave of expansion or release starts from my feet and travels through my core through the point of contact into the opponent's body which I simultaneously visualize releasing.
The compression and expansion describe a vertical circle. The compression cycle is like pressing down on a stack of milk caps, then moving your hand forward or backward an inch to allow the expansion cycle to happen on its own energy.
The second variation is actually much simpler. It's not as simple as shunting in a straight line, it's an alive redirection in multiple directions to cause the compression and expansion cycle in the same way in the opponent only, all through manipulation at and through the point of contact to redirect ANY movement, conscious or unconscious through stick/adhere/join/follow.
This is all a mental and physical process that requires a certain amount of developed mind-body connection that most people don't have just walking in off the street. It's slow in training but fast in application.