A few questions....

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Linda Heenan
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A few questions....

Post by Linda Heenan » Wed Aug 31, 2005 5:29 am

Moderator's Note: Part of this thread was re-organized into another thread: Using Stillness to Deal with Motion, here in this Forum for easy of reading & future reference. The replies to this question were reposted there & deleted from this thread.



Hello everyone. Here are a few things some of you might like to share your understanding on. I have many more questions, but these few will do for now.



Why should the tongue touch the roof of the mouth?



Would someone please explain the concept of empty and full? I don?t mean which leg carries the weight. There?s more to it ? but what?



Is Grasp Sparrow?s Tail one movement or a series of them? I?ve heard it both ways.



What advice can you give me on how not to injure knees?



Thank you

Linda

Roland Tepp
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Re: A few questions....

Post by Roland Tepp » Wed Aug 31, 2005 7:58 am

Linda Heenan wrote:Hello everyone. Here are a few things some of you might like to share your understanding on. I have many more questions, but these few will do for now.


Hello Linda,

I'm maybe not the best man to answer these questions an it might well be that I've got something wrong along the way, but I'll try and answer some of Your questions to my best understanding....


Linda Heenan wrote:Why should the tongue touch the roof of the mouth?
The way I understand it - there are at least 2 reasons:
  • Practical - If it touches the roof of the mouth it's going to be behind Your teeth when You do Your Push Hands or Sanshou thus You won't accidentaly bite Your tounge...
  • Chi - Touching the roof of Your mouth with a tounge connects Your center meridians so that chi can freely travel through them. Without it - there is no connection. But that is an area where Lao Shr (or some of the elder students) could give more thorough explanation.

Linda Heenan wrote:
Is Grasp Sparrow's Tail one movement or a series of them? I've heard it both ways.
Depending on what Your mind intent is. There is no such movement in Taiji (or any other martial art as far as I can tell) that implies only one fixed application. At first try to concentrate on a single "classical" application, but keep in mind that there are other applications. As You advance, You will see these other applications and sometimes You will perform the movement with those different applications in mind. The key here is keeping Your form "alive" by keeping your mind intent on the form. There is a classic that says: "Do Your form as if You had an opponent and do Your push-hands as if You were alone" (the exact wording might be a little different)


Linda Heenan wrote:What advice can you give me on how not to injure knees?
One of the most important point when starting practicing imho. The Key is knowing Your body. Never ever under no circumstances allow Your knees to be pointed in any other direction than Your toes! If it means You'll turn a little less - let it be... If it means - you'll be pushed away - let it be... In time You will be able to turn more without breaking the knee-toe alignment and in time You will get softer so You will not be pushed away that easily.

One thing to help Your knee-toe alignment is to remember to open up Your waist as You turn on the root. And do those basic solo push hand excercises... a lot... ;)



I hope it helps. I did not answer all the questions, but I hope to find some time in the evening to try and answer those. Anyway - I really hope lao shr and/or some of the elder students will share their thouthts and experience.
Roland

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Re: A few questions....

Post by josh stout » Wed Aug 31, 2005 12:13 pm

"Would someone please explain the concept of empty and full? I don?t mean which leg carries the weight. There?s more to it ? but what?"



I would be interested in peoples' answer to this one. Linda is asking questions about the essence of things and questions like this are difficult. Empty and full deal with yin and yang. Empty is accepting, and full can accept no more. Empty is yielding and very soft. Full should be powerful without being hard or jerky. In my style full implies an outward flow of chi, while empty implies an inward flow. I think in tai-chi the energy is circular and so the inward and outward flows are circles within the body. In my style the energy is still a circle, but part of the circle is outside the body.

Josh
hidup itu silat, silat itu hidup

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Re: A few questions....

Post by Colin » Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:53 am

Linda, you should be a reporter.



Why should the tongue touch the roof of the mouth?



Along with Roland's important point about accidentally biting off your tongue, there's also the saliva that's developed with the tongue up, which keeps the body cool. That's why it's suggested that you swallow the saliva. It aids digestion as well.



Is Grasp Sparrow?s Tail one movement or a series of them? I?ve heard it both ways.



You're not kidding. I was taught to do this first to the right, then left, then the right ward off. I think of grasp sparrows tail as a single movement and also as a way to refer to peng, li, ji, and an, as is commonly seen.



Imagine doing the single posture though, a bird upon your raised forearm, you're lowering rear hand petting (is petting in your taiji glossary?) the feathers of the bird's tail. Got the image. On a related note, I've seen this sparrow called a peacock. Maybe think of a sparrow for the small frame, and a peacock for the large. (kidding--sort of).



What advice can you give me on how not to injure knees?



I think I have something to contribute here. Often it's said no special equipment is needed to practice taiji. It's important not to write off the value of proper footwear though. What you want to avoid is creating undue stress on the joints, especially in moves that require spinning with all the weight on one foot--turn and kick with heal comes to mind.



If your'e wearing athletic shoes that grip the grass, try instead a hard, flat bottom shoe that allows the foot, and therefor the knee to make the pivot easily. In fact, shoes that might be thought of as dress shoes work better for taiji than many athletic shoes.



Inside, socks work well with carpet, but can be too slippery on wood floors. In short, maybe get some kung fu shoes. I certainly feel a difference in my knees after practicing if the footwear's suitable.



Could someone please explain using stillness to deal with motion?



The mind is empty.



Good Luck

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Post by Linda Heenan » Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:38 am

Those are all great answers. Please keep writing your thoughts, if anyone else has more to say.



Roland, what you said on the tongue thing is good. I'll look into it more if there are no further explanations. I also think you have good practical advice on how to protect your knees. Push hands exercises? Which ones do you mean? Do they have specific names so I could look them up somewhere? You see, I've not yet had the opportunity to do push hands, or even see it done, except in an online video that wasn't really a good example. I have a book on it though, so if you tell me what you mean, I might be able to find it.



Tomita, thanks for your input. I recently tried to work something out that just turned out to be force against force. It worked, but it wasn't right. I know there is a better way.



Josh, that's what I was looking for. Your answer has pointed my thinking in the right direction. Sometimes, it just takes a little bit of information to know where to look for the next bit.



Laoshi, you have a way of changing my thinking with just a few words, and opening up new things. Thank you for your input. I'll get back to you when I've had a really good think about what you've just said.



Colin - a reporter, eh! Now there's a possible career option. I've been writing since I was three. Yes, that's what I meant about the confusion with Grasp Sparrow's Tail. Thanks for your thoughts about footwear. I was thinking along similar lines but was beginning to think I was the only one who had a problem with feet that griipped too much on the turns. That and the positions that go low on one leg are dangerous to my knees.



Okay, has anyone else got something to say - the more the better. Some of you probably hear these things in class and wonder why people like me wouldn't know. Well, I don't, so write away. It's all good.



Linda

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Post by Linda Heenan » Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:32 am

Laoshi - coming back to what you said. I'm trying to understand. If the intent is on the jingshen (now, there's a new word), is that like being ready to act on whatever the duifang throws out with no preconceived idea of the "right" reaction to a move? Is it connected to the concepts of tsun and tui, which I once discussed with a friend? (That sort of boils down to knowing everything of the duifang without him knowing anything of you).



If we should be ready to respond in any way at any time, depending on what the duifang does, would that mean that trained responses to a given situation could actually get in the way? So stillness to deal with motion is sort of a state of readiness, an unplanned responsiveness? I'm thinking a person would only reach this ability if they had trained thoroughly in every possible sort of response first, so that there was no thinking involved, but the right move would spontaneously spring out at the right time. Well.... I'd better get on with it then....

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Post by Tomita » Sat Sep 03, 2005 9:30 am

Hey Linda.



It is a good remark (again :wink: ).



It is indeed important not to give too much info to your duifang whilst trying to read his intentions.



Now, I might have something to add on the'preconceived counter attacks'. Your last remark is right on, I think. Why do we train on realistic situations? To react in the best way. In an issue of 'Journal of Asian Martial Arts', I have read something about that in an article about systema, but it applies here, too.



The author of said article started from what happens in the brain when one is attacked. First reaction to threat is a flinch; you freeze. Through training, however, it is possible to let that initial flinch trigger a counter attack. But , therefore, repetitive training is needed, because if you want a movement to be spontaneous, it has to be done so many times it becomes part of your muscle memory. So I guess this is another piece of the puzzle. I think training is needed for spontaneity.



Kind regards,



Tomita
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Re: A few questions....

Post by Colin » Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:09 am

Linda asked:



Is Grasp Sparrow?s Tail one movement or a series of them? I?ve heard it both ways?



In Wile's Yang Family Transmissions:



"Ward-off, Roll-back, Press and Push are born of Grasp Sparrow's Tail."



--from "Nine Secret Transmissions",

accredited to Yang Pan-huo

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Post by Scott M. Rodell » Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:38 am

Linda Heenan wrote:...jingshen (now, there's a new word)...


This is an important term in Taijiquan Classics, but one that has been given little attention in English. I've broken it out as a new, separate thread for the readablity of this thread (which is growing long...).

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