One Move

[VCraigP]

Hi all.

 

In some way I am going to try to resopnd directly to the original post.

 

I began with external arts, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo.

 

Somewhat along in my training I started working with an internal stylist who taught me some basics of Bagua and Hsing I.

Standing in Santi stance was part of my training too. I also developed my structure with this standing and stepping in Santi moving from pichuan on one side to the other.

 

This one internal piece still comes up in my external sparring work. (TKD play) Using this technique to drop down onto a kick is really effective and I can still stay within the rules.

 

I would say this is an excellent technique to drill in order to develop your fighting.

 

I will not attempt to answer whether I think it would work as a whole method of development that could serve as you described. But it has been my experience that this simple Santi posture and Hsing I stepping simply combined are a very good training piece.

 

I also don't want to venture too far down the road of answering the question about what training is necessary or effective to develop self defense. I think this is almost unanswerable. I have witnessed numerous attempts to answer it. One of my favorites was what my TKD teacher said some years ago. "If you are training correctly self-defense is a positive side effect of the training." So to some the question of martial arts and self defense is really not important. The journey, not the destination is another phrase which makes sense to me.

 

IF we all spent all our time training in order to deal with the "big baddass bubba" where would we be?

What does training with this image in mind do to our spirit?

There are more important aspects of cultivation which are related to martial arts but not to self defense.

 

This is my focus.

 

Craig

[forestofsouls]

I read a quote from an old Tai Chi teacher many years ago, and they asked him if he could have his life over again would he do anything different?

 

His answer was. "Only learn one form"

 

Which one?

 

My teacher says that Wu Chi is the only form you really need. His teacher says you have all the eight postures in grasp sparrow's tail and single whip.

 

From what I've heard, traditionally, you only learn one form over a period of time, say six months. There are also famous stories about Tai Chi masters knowing only one move, like grasp sparrow's tail (which in my book is 4 forms). Something sounds right about this but I don't know if I have the patience or the chutzpah to just do one form.

[bronzebow]

From what I understand this is how wuji manifests between and in every posture. It's so beautiful. Another way to describe it might be how the axis stays center; the hips & shoulders, elbows and knees, hands and feet maintain their alignment and fluidity while constantly transitioning. WuJi in motion. The stillness of the diamond body in motion. This type of poetic order also suggests the blending of "moves" by guiding the practitioner into modes that at first pierce the layers between the orthodox movements, and eventually the layers between what is inside and what is outside.

 

I believe there are many layers to movement forms this way, and in my experience a certain deepening and rounding off of movements seem to take place during these times. Once the cross tension lines of force are established and understood the idea of "one move" doesn't seem so far fetched when you consider how many different directions you can actually enter into one single move. I think TaiJiQuan is a good example of this.

 

Spectrum

 

 

I agree with that. I've not a high level but I've started keeping those cross tension lines into more free form movements and have found that even at my relatively low level I can begin to practice more techniques. Actually it's pretty beneficial now for me to train my body to keep these connections more than in just the simple 1 or 2 movements I was doing before. But whenever I want to go deeper I go back to the simple movements.