Blocking

I've said in earlier posts that higher-level martial arts don't use blocking. Those comments created a few ripples of discontent among my readers. It was pointed out correctly that at the technique-level Xingyi (and many other arts) use a type of punch which cuts across the opponent's strike in such a way that the opponent's power is defused and your punch strikes first.

At the technique-level circular movements are often used to simultaneously re-direct and strike. These moves are in a sense blocks even if they are also strikes.

But when I was ten years old and started learning Springy-Legs, Tantui (Northern Shaolin), I had to develop solid stances. A good way to test six harmonies power in each stance is to see if the student can keep their arm up while you take a swing at them. Beginning students should pass through a blocking-techniques stage of practice. Good blocking skills can help with integration, structure and relaxation.

I went to a middle school (age 11-13) where kids wore razor-blades on chains around their necks. It was a sweet time. The Latino gangs were the most dangerous, but I was on the inside of that by the middle of my second year. Some of the taller black kids were under a lot of pressure to prove themselves violently and they started the most fights.

At the end of the P.E. (Physical Education) period we went into the locker room to change out of our P.E. uniforms and back into our street clothes. The locker aisles were exquisitely dangerous, we all learned to change in under 20 seconds. But the time alotted for changing was more like 10 minutes so about 50 of us would cram into this space with the lockers to our backs and the doors to freedom in front of us for 9 minutes and 40 seconds.

This wide hallway had a red line that split the room in half. O.J. Simpson went to my Middle-School and his first-place time in Track was on the top of the board in this very hallway. On one half of the hallway were the doors to freedom and a gym teacher, on the other half all of us, crammed together. We were all wearing backpacks which served as a little bit of spine protection. The taller black kids would practice punching everyone else. If you kicked or punched back, the possibility of major escalation was high. The best strategy was to block the punches.
I did not advertise my Shaolin training, however those blocking skills proved to be pretty handy, and earned me some "respect."
Blocking skills should be discarded if you want to develop higher level, non-defensive, skills. Still they have a place.

Pretense

Let's drop the pretense for a minute and just admit that the main reason we study Martial Arts is vanity.

We want to look good. We want to be beautiful (you have my permission to roll your eyes) in the bright flowery sense of the word and in the more sublime confident-lion-about-to-pounce-on-a-bear sense of the word.

Wang Xiangzai said that if you call it "quan" (fist/boxing) it should make you healthy, happy and strong.

Should we really claim that gongfu makes sad people happy? And what happens if you already feel happy? Does gongfu make you more happy?

Part of the reason we practice is because we feel beautiful when we do it. I don't normally bring this up to my students because it would make me sound like a pansy, but naturally it's a feeling I try to transmit.  But what happens if you feel beautiful right in the first few weeks of practice, what then becomes the motivation to keep getting better?
Most of us are twice as strong as we need to be for 95% of the tasks we do, and frankly you could put a little less stuff in each grocery bag and still get the job done. While it may be fun to accumulate power and efficiency it doesn't serve much purpose outside of fantasizing about some major fight to the death in some dark alley we aren't likely to venture into anyway.

I was falling asleep trying to read a book as is my habit, and it occurred to me that my health has been extremely good for the last three years. I haven't gotten sick. Actually it was kind of a lament-- because what is getting sick but a chance to spend a couple of weeks bundled up in bed with chicken soup and a pile of good books to read?  I kind of miss it.  Clearly the hours I spend everyday on gongfu practice are not justified by my good health.

So while tomorrow I'm going to pretend I didn't say this, for today let's just admit our main reason for practicing Martial Arts is vanity.

Frustration

Chinese internal arts are very different than Yoga.  The biggest difference is that Yoga breathing is in unison with the movement.  In Chinese internal arts our breathing is natural.  In fact, if you have taught yourself to breath in unison with the movement, you have to un-teach yourself.  The stronger your yoga practice is, the more you'll feel your breathing get stuck in a pattern.

This points to a bigger difference, namely transcendent practices verses wuwei practices.   Can you really breath in unison while you are doing the dishes?  Would you want to?  But I'm not going into that right now.  I just wanted to say this:  If you are feeling frustrated during practice, it may simply be the way you are breathing.  Yes, it could be that you don't like the person next to you, or that your teacher is trying to teach you too much, etc... But it is worth considering that it may be your breathing.

Frustration is a type of breathing.

Grip

I stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere on the way to the mountains last month. I checked the oil and it was pretty low so I bought a couple of quarts. I worked in a gas station when I was 14 so I know some tricks for getting a good grip, but my engine was really hot and the oil cap wouldn't budge. I went looking around in my trunk for someway to get more leverage and came up empty. I felt my manhood was being challenged. Just then a thick stocky man, about 6 inches shorter than me said, "Can I give you a hand." I'm sure I looked embarrassed but then I looked at his hands and they were clearly twice the size of mine, his fingers were as thick as cigars. "Sure, uhh...thanks" I said, and he unscrewed it. I asked where he got such huge hands and he said it was his Scottish ancestry.

Bone crushing power like that can not be trained.

I've been looking around the internet for a good picture of a bundle of chopsticks used for developing twisting power and grip strength. I don't see one, but I've done a fair bit of this type of training and I recommend it.

Grabbing is often considered inferior to striking or throwing because if my hands are closed around my opponent's body they aren't free for fighting. In a one-on-one match if someone grabs my wrist, I still have my hand free.

But that's generalizing, in reality there are many different types of grabbing that are effective.

If your grip is strong and well placed it can cause a lot of pain and injury or death to your opponent. For this type of grip to work your wrist, elbow and shoulder must be free to move, not rigid. Your nails must lengthen out like a cats claws with the intent to pierce the skin. The two smallest fingers are actually the strongest part of one's grip for holding, but the two larger fingers combined with the thumb are often superior for piercing.

In Taijiquan the movement "Cai" or plucking is a type of very light grabbing used only when your opponent is already leaning. Cai uses the two larger fingers with the thumb to move you partner on a 45 degree angle toward the ground. It requires no strength training, just sensitivity and clear intention (yi).
Likewise, good grappling technique does not require strength, it is all about positioning and timing. If I get you in a hold it's because I'm sensitive and you've made yourself vulnerable; it can't be planned unless one is using a surprise attack. If I've got you in a hold I can increase the pain or brake the joint with little effort. If I don't have you in the hold, strength isn't going to help me get there.

Half grips are used a lot to suddenly jerk your opponent. Done well these can cause dislocations, but they don't require that you hold on to your opponent, so a light grip works fine.

Curved fingers are used for plucking tendons. This technique is like a grab but the hand doesn't usually close.

What is important about a grip is that it connects to your torso. Twisting a bundle of chopsticks is a good technique for developing this because you are effectively twisting one arm against the other and the two arms meet in the torso where the real power should come from. You can do a simular thing with two hands on a spear.

I also practice a light dynamic grip by using a jian (double edged sword) with a slippery handle.

To develop the ability to inflict pain, you need a willing partner who lets you know what really hurts and what doesn't. You can also practice on yourself to some extent.

Making fists correctly will really develop your hands and improve your grabbing skills. If you don't practice making fists all day long, you're probably not a martial artist. It is painful to hold a solid, tightly packed fist for five minutes unless your technique is good. If it hurts, it is wrong (the spirits have left the body.)

Grabbing should be relaxed. When your hand closes it should feel like your whole torso is wrapping around something, all your organs and big muscles should support the movement. Developing Popeye forearms is a waste of time.

Compression Bands

It seems that all the big sports stars are wearing compression bands or straps. Why?

Moving an arm with a straight elbow is asking for a shoulder injury. Most athletes over develop their muscles and habitually straighten their joints. A straight elbow adds leverage to whatever torque one puts on the shoulder joint-- do this frequently and the shoulder will get lots of small rips and tears.

If you straighten your elbow in motion your shoulder muscles will get bigger to protect all the soft tissue from the regular damage you are doing. Keep it up and you will accumulate lots of scar tissue.

Compression bands stop one from straightening a joint and also help weaken over-developed muscles.

But I have to ask the question; why not just train right the first time?

Most martial artists know not to straighten their joints, but some schools are lax about it. Some schools even teach peoples to straighten their joints. I knew a taijiquan teacher who didn't speak English very well and was constantly telling students to straighten their fingers. The teacher probably meant lengthen.

Kinesio Taping

Taping is sometimes a good way to deal with injuries.  I haven't tried this type of taping myself but I like the idea.  The various websites dedicated to it have a lot of theory about how it works and I'm skeptical, but the method looks good.
The standard physical therapy method for dealing with lower back pain is to apply ice and strengthen the near by muscles, thus partially immobilize the injured area.  Taping seems like a better idea.  When an injury occurs it is usually important to reduce the student's range of motion while simultaneously increasing circulation and  sensitivity.  Building muscle usually causes inflammation, loss of sensitivity and inhibits circulation.

Taping seems like a big improvement.

Bathing Practice

Each culture has totally different standards and conceptions about what constitutes clean. Last year the New Yorker had some pictures of people living in a garbage dump in Nigeria. They were wearing bright beautiful clothing and looked cleaner than I do. Japanese are incredibly clean, I've watched men in public baths scrub their entire bodies as many as eight times before getting in the bath to soak. Yet I've seen rural places where Japanese will toss trash on the ground.

Within the United States, even among my friends, there is a lot of variation in what we each perceive as "clean enough." For instance I've noticed that female Italian Americans have very high standards of what constitutes a clean kitchen.

I must admit I find Chinese notions of cleanliness puzzling. Chinese brush-bathing seems to be as much about a feeling of health as it is about getting clean. The idea is to enliven the protective layer of qi on the surface of the body.

This layer of qi is called weiqi. The entire surface of the skin is stimulated so that the weiqi will be distributed evenly around the body. Uneven weiqi results in one part of the body being cold while another part is hot. It is also associated with the first stage of many illnesses, and historically with various types of spirit possession.

I highly recommend trying brush-bathing everyday for two months during the winter. After two months if you like it you won't want to stop.

Developing your weiqi will make you more sensitive to wind and changes in temperature. It tends to improve circulation and may help tonify the liver and the lungs.

Instructions

1. Bathing room should be clean, free of drafts, and not too bright.


2. Rinse in warm water, a bathing stool, a small bucket, a large bucket, a washcloth, and a brush.


3. Sit on the stool and fill the large bucket with hot water and douse yourself (repeat).


4. Refill the large bucket and use the washcloth on your head, neck and face.


5. Scrub your whole body thoroughly and evenly with the brush, beginning at the top and working toward the feet.


6. Douse yourself with the remaining water.


7. Use the smaller bucket to rinse yourself four times with hot water, then once with cold.


8. Rise your equipment and vigorously dry off using a rough towel.

Mung Bean-thread Salad

At the end of summer Daoists eat foods which cool blood to release any trapped summer heat before starting the tonification process leading into winter.  This bean-thread noodle recipe by Daoist priest Nam Singh is designed to clear heat.

Heat in the blood has symptoms very similar to mild infection.  If the heat is not cleared it can eventually become swelling of the joints, rashes or fever.

The word for mung beans in Chinese is chingdou, which can mean both clear or green. The long clear noodles made from these green beans are  sometimes called long-life noodles. Enjoy!

Prepare 

• 8 tender romaine heart leaves, washed and dried


• 1 small package dried beanthread, soaked until soft


• 2 large stalks of celery, cut in 1-inch strips and blanched in boiling water for 30 seconds


• 4 scallions, sliced thinly on diagonal


• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts


• 2 eggs, mixed and cooked like thin omelet, sliced as celery


• 1/2 cup fresh blanched peas or sliced snowpeas

Strain soaked beanthread and add to boiling water and cook until clear and tender.

Dressing

• 3 T peanut oil


• 1 T black sesame oil


• 1-1/2 T rice vinegar


• 1 T fresh peanut butter


• 1 T tamari


• 1 t curry or five spice powder

Blend all dressing items thoroughly with a wire whisk in a large bowl.  Use water to create a light and creamy texture.  Mix with beanthread and vegetables then chil for 30 minutes.  Serve in romaine leaves.

Clairvoyance-Annoyance

Many years ago I studied a mixed internal/external system of gongfu called Lan Shou (Open the Door) with George Xu. I was training 6 hours every day. One of Lan Shou's specialties is the development of ripping and tearing power. We were practicing techniques designed to rip off limbs. It was a lot of fun, no one ever actually got a limb torn off. Injuries were infrequent but when they did occur we used the same basic body of knowledge and experience to fix people that we were using to rip them apart. Years later I learned that we were practicing Tuina (healing massage, literally: push-pull).

When you train to tear off a limb you have to develop specialized Yi, often translated: intentionality. We trained our ability to see weaknesses in peoples underlying structure which could be leveraged to rip a muscle, tendon or ligament. The side effect of all this training is that I would get on the bus and see everyone's chronic physical problems. I would look at someone and imagine myself ripping them apart as if they were a chicken. In my mind each person would come apart in a unique and different way.

The more I trained, the more weaknesses I saw in everyone's underlying structure. It got weird. Finally I decide it was too weird walking around ripping people apart with my mind so I stopped doing that type of practice.

Still, I developed the ability to see and correct alignment problems, and to spontaneously create simple exercises that release tension and increase mobility in joints. This ability is a kind of intuition.

All forms of healing, medicine, and bodywork rely on intuition to some extent. Intuition and clairvoyances are closely related, the difference is that clairvoyance includes a claim of certainty. Superior forms of medicine attempt to verifying what is perceived through intuition, both before and after treatment. Clairvoyant claims are usually self-verifying, and tend to be dismissive of challenges.

In my experience, bodywork is between 60 and 90 percent intuition. The other 10 to 40 percent is technique. I strongly encourage people to develop their intuition, and to reject clairvoyance.

While we can get very technical about mechanisms of injury and repair, we can never be certain what causes healing.

Precpts

The Xiang’er Precepts of the Dao are meant to summarize what the Daodejing says about appropriate conduct. They are held and regularly renewed by all Celestial Master (Tianshi) daoist priests. In a traditional daoist village lay people would also be encouraged to keep these precepts. The word translated here as "practice" is xing which actually means "a way of moving":

The Nine Practices

Practice lacking falseness.

Practice flexibility and weakness.

Practice maintaining the feminine. Do not initiate actions.

Practice lacking fame.

Practice clarity and stillness.

Practice good deeds.

Practice desirelessness

Practice knowing how to cease with sufficiency.

Practice yielding to others.

Translated by Stephen R. Bokenkamp in, Early Daoist Scriptures.

The ninth precept, yielding to others, is wuwei. The first precept probably works better in English as "Be Honest." The second precept is often the tough one for people. The flexibility part sounds cool, but the weakness part is confusing. Here is what Wang Xiangzai says should be the second step of martial arts training:

If one does not have the basic mechanical ability, then no matter what the movement is like, it is all wrong. The same applies to using strength and not using strength. The movements of an ordinary person cannot have strength without constant unilateral tension that disturbs the blood circulation. Every kind of strength based on constant unilateral tension is stiff and inharmonious, and besides that, harmful to health. Having strength without constant unilateral tension is namely having strength without using strength, and when using it, one gains strength.

There is a type of strength that develops from fear of being weak. And there is a type of weakness that develops out of a fear of being too strong. The type of strength (shili) we are trying to reveal when we practice internal arts is potential strength--It can be cultivated while walking, sitting, reclining and standing still.