Valentine's 2017 - Course Experiences - Part 12
Sifu was very kind and commented on my posts. Sifu gave me permission to share it with you. I reproduce it below:
Sifu's teachings were so effective that we had time left for training "Striking Hands". And I am glad that we did as we had a lot of fun and I learned much from it.
There is one part that particularly struck me. We had to apply one sequence onto our opponent. After some time, I knew what my parter was going to do as we repeated the same sequence many times. So, there was no element of surprise. As I knew what my partner was going to do, I lost some of my awareness and focus.
It is then that Sifu, in his always innovative teaching, provided us with great fun by making us modify continuously the prearranged sequence. Below, I include the variations I remember:
1) Subtracting one pattern.
2) Adding one pattern.
3) Subtracting and adding one pattern.
4) Subtracting and/or adding one pattern.
5) Subtracting two patterns.
6) Adding two patterns.
As each training partner made different modifications I could not lose my focus because I didn't know what they were going to do.
This trained a lot my mental clarity. I had to be really aware of what I and others were doing in order to follow Sifu's instructions and not mix up all these different variations.
This practice allowed me to greatly deepen in the teaching of "Kung Fu is alive".
When being the attacker, I had to continuously modify the prearranged sequence. That teaching provided me a lot of flow. Sometimes in life, I want to do things in a certain way. Usually, in the way that I am used to. So, if I cannot follow all the steps that I usually do I get stuck or get lost and loose my flow.
Training in this way teaches me how to reach my goal even when some parts of my plan are missing. It teaches me how to keep my flow even when modifications are needed on my way to the goal.
When being the defender, I knew that the attacker was going to apply a sequence on me but I did not know the exact order of the patterns that he was going to use. This really trained my awareness and focus and helped me to deal better with uncertainty.
After this practice, free sparring seemed much easier. I was able to flow better and I was not getting stuck even if I could not fully apply my sequence.
To be continued...
Sifu was very kind and commented on my posts. Sifu gave me permission to share it with you. I reproduce it below:
Your posts on Pushing Hands in our Discussion Forum are very interesting. Not only they enrich one’s Taijiquan, but more significantly enrich one’s daily life.
I particularly like your latest post, Post 30 at http://www.wongkiewkit.com/forum/sho...eriences/page3 , where you mentioned attack as well as defence from all sides, and Chun Yian’s advice on seeing the whole picture. When I teach Taijiquan Pushing Hands in particular, or kungfu in general, I shall mention this point, with credit to you.
When a person applies for a job, for example, the usual approach is to reply to an advertisement. This is attacking from the front in Taijiquan Pushing Hands.
There are other approaches. He may, for example, write to companies instead of waiting for their advertisement. Or, attacking from a side, he may find out the need of a particular company and mention to the managing director or general manager how he can solve the need. Or, attacking from the back, he may point out a serious weakness of a company, and how he could overcome the weakness. He can state his price for the job, instead of accepting what the company will pay him.
I particularly like your latest post, Post 30 at http://www.wongkiewkit.com/forum/sho...eriences/page3 , where you mentioned attack as well as defence from all sides, and Chun Yian’s advice on seeing the whole picture. When I teach Taijiquan Pushing Hands in particular, or kungfu in general, I shall mention this point, with credit to you.
When a person applies for a job, for example, the usual approach is to reply to an advertisement. This is attacking from the front in Taijiquan Pushing Hands.
There are other approaches. He may, for example, write to companies instead of waiting for their advertisement. Or, attacking from a side, he may find out the need of a particular company and mention to the managing director or general manager how he can solve the need. Or, attacking from the back, he may point out a serious weakness of a company, and how he could overcome the weakness. He can state his price for the job, instead of accepting what the company will pay him.
There is one part that particularly struck me. We had to apply one sequence onto our opponent. After some time, I knew what my parter was going to do as we repeated the same sequence many times. So, there was no element of surprise. As I knew what my partner was going to do, I lost some of my awareness and focus.
It is then that Sifu, in his always innovative teaching, provided us with great fun by making us modify continuously the prearranged sequence. Below, I include the variations I remember:
1) Subtracting one pattern.
2) Adding one pattern.
3) Subtracting and adding one pattern.
4) Subtracting and/or adding one pattern.
5) Subtracting two patterns.
6) Adding two patterns.
As each training partner made different modifications I could not lose my focus because I didn't know what they were going to do.
This trained a lot my mental clarity. I had to be really aware of what I and others were doing in order to follow Sifu's instructions and not mix up all these different variations.
This practice allowed me to greatly deepen in the teaching of "Kung Fu is alive".
When being the attacker, I had to continuously modify the prearranged sequence. That teaching provided me a lot of flow. Sometimes in life, I want to do things in a certain way. Usually, in the way that I am used to. So, if I cannot follow all the steps that I usually do I get stuck or get lost and loose my flow.
Training in this way teaches me how to reach my goal even when some parts of my plan are missing. It teaches me how to keep my flow even when modifications are needed on my way to the goal.
When being the defender, I knew that the attacker was going to apply a sequence on me but I did not know the exact order of the patterns that he was going to use. This really trained my awareness and focus and helped me to deal better with uncertainty.
After this practice, free sparring seemed much easier. I was able to flow better and I was not getting stuck even if I could not fully apply my sequence.
To be continued...
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