Agenda for 6/21/08 & a few insights

Well, the Travelling Sifu is going to be on a plane again this weekend. Luckily, it's just a quick domestic trip.

A vignette for you guys...
When Prof. Daniel Lee was travelling or tied up and I had to teach the Tai-Chi class at Caltech on my own in his absence as a 19 year old, it made me realize a few things: a) I could really demonstrate his technique with precision, b) I could LEAD & ADMINISTER the class properly (calling out the movements and organizing the students into level-based practice groups), and c) how I conducted myself (from word choice, to posture, to tone of voice, to inner confidence) played a crucial role in whether or not the students would follow and respect me.

As I'm travelling and tied up far too much this year and just as much so this Summer, this is your chance to see how much you will shine the light that I've put into you. How will you shine as individuals and how will you shine as an instructional team?

A view into my motivations...
I travel to do all of these things now for one simple reason - They'll make me a better, more complete Sifu, allowing me to bring out the best things in the arts that I've loved for so long. Sometimes, a particular spice or marinade can bring out the best flavors in a food. With the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) technologies, the Russian Kettlebell Certifications (RKC), and the Continuing Education Unit (CEU) courses that I have to take, each of these adds to the kind of strength and medical knowledge that gives my view of martial arts uniqueness and power.

There are tons of instructors out there, but not that many who can tell you how to tear down and build up a body with the kind of knowledge and confidence that I can. And that's what I look forward to imparting to each of you! I'm already on the teaching faculty of the RKC community, and by the end of this year, I'll be joining the teaching & certifying faculty of the FMS team as well. By the end of August, I will have been to 3 different FMS training workshops (Indianapolis in July, St. Paul in early August, and LA in mid August), as well as logging in some serious one-on-two time directly with Gray Cook & Dr. Lee Burton.

How does the FMS fit into Tai-Chi or other martial arts? Easy! It verifies all of the little details about posture and joint alignment that you've been learning all along in everything from the Ba Duan Jin Qigong set to Yang style Tai-Chi to Fut Ga weaponry, but it does it in a highly systematized manner. It gives you a template through which to understand this stuff and makes it easier to teach and to emphasize its importance.

I know you guys aren't so thrilled that I've been away so much this year, and neither am I. But this is your chance to take what fuel I've given you, ignite it inside of yourselves, and shine brightly for the newer students and for each other. When I'm back & settled in, I look forward to sharing with all of you the kind of knowledge and discovery that I've been so blessed to be part of.

NOW... that having been said... for THIS Saturday 6/21:

We went through the 4th Section in rote format for 5 reps last weekend, and although I didn't exactly get a lot of feedback from it, I assume it did help Section 4 gel a bit more in the minds of the newer folks.

This week, it's supposed to be bloody HOT, but Saturday AM's forecast is for clouds. So that means that I'd like you to work on the kicking legwork of Tai-Chi.

There are 5 kicks in the Yang style Tai-Chi Long Form.
1. Instep Kick
2. Heel Kick
3. Low Side Kick
4. Rolling Kick
5. Lotus Kick

Notably absent is the Round Kick, however some argue that the Round Kick is merely a variation on the Instep Kick.

Most of these kicks are obvious in the form, with the exception of the Low Side Kick (at the end of Sections 1, 3, & 4) at the conclusion of Cross Hands, and the Rolling Kick (which is embedded in every Strike, Parry, Punch sequence with the simultaneous right hand backfist & kick).

Now some folks will think, "Big f--kin' deal!" More kicks are just drudgery. Not so.

The kicks are a MAJORLY overlooked part of the Tai-Chi arsenal. Remember that ANY Traditional Chinese Martial Art (TCMA) has 4 requisite skills - kicking (ti), punching (da), throwing (shuai), and locking (na). If you have nice, pretty, flowery hands, but your spine starts looking like Quasimodo and you teeter more than I do after a bottle of Crown Royal every time you lift a foot off the ground to kick, then you've got to fix that weakness. The weakness is coming from a lack of coordination between the muscles of your foot, your leg, your hip, and your spinal core. To put it in more earthy Tai-Chiish speak: Your rooting and your center must be one with the Earth, Grasshopper.

So this coming Saturday is your chance to work ALL 5 of those kicks in 2 main formats: waist down isolations/walking drills, and as symmetrical drills (uniting the top & bottom of your body as you would in the form, but isolating a particular movement).

Here's the goal: Hit 50 QUALITY reps of each kick per leg for a grand total of 500 kicks. I suggest alternating left & right and doing 5 sets of 10 reps.

Here's what you need to really work on: POSTURE, POSTURE, and POSTURE. That's reflected in the 5 judging criteria - hand position (shou), line of sight (yan), spinal position (shen), trajectory/coordination (fa), and stance (bu).

Wow.... this entry's getting to be like me putting a full class into high detail a la Big Steve! OK.... enough! Get to work & keep me posted. I'll be wired, so drop your comments here to let me know how it went.

Also, Chris just left a comment on an earlier post to say that the video of Kate doing the sword form came out beautifully. He's out of town this weekend also following a grueling workweek, but he (and I) will be back the following week.