Mood:
on fireNow Playing: something on the military channel
This involves concepts like the previous post. However, it is about how these concepts are trained in relation to your style.
In Kung Fu, concepts are sometimes called essence. I may switch back and forth between the two. These concepts are separated into related groupings such as the five elements, the animals, weapons, tactics, or whatever. These style divisions are arbitrary and depend upon the culture which developed them and the physical limitations these people had to deal with. This means that the order of these concepts is just as important as the concepts themselves.
It is important to know that some styles feel that all concepts are equally important. It does not matter what the order is in relation to combat and are often ordered upon some other concept.
In the styles I have trained, concepts can overwhelm each other and get lost. For this reason, order is important.
As an example of the pattern, I will use a Tiger Dao set. In the Styles I have trained, the order is stances, hand and leg movements, power, style essence, weapon essence, and then animal essence.
When building skills into a form you first need to imitate the movements. It will be wrong but allow you to actually work the form. You would begin working on the stances punches and kicks like any other form.
Once you are punching in the right direction, you begin to add power. The need for power in combat means that power overrides any other consideration. Stances can shift and lean, punches and kicks can change speed and range, and/or you can step offline just for the power.
After power comes the style essence. There are certain fundamental skills which need to be known in order for you to say you are performing a specific style. This comes after power because a style essence does not create power; It focuses the power you have. The style concepts override all previous training.
After style comes the weapon essence. The weapon further focuses the previous skills to support the concepts necessary to efficiently use the weapon. For example, a sword has to move in specific ways to be effective. If you won't do that, then get rid of the sword. It is just as foolish to cut your own leg off because your style doesn't step that way.
After all of that training comes the animal essence. The animal essence goes on top and changes all aspects of previous training. Whether your style does it or not is irrelevant. The animal essence becomes the primary judgment of what must be done and what will be avoided.
These levels exist in every style. Like physics, every concept is based upon perceptions of reality. Every new concept must also contain and refine all previous concepts. When taking a style from static punching drills up to transcendent energetic movements you will pass through all of these levels. It is impossible to skip any concepts and still achieve mastery.
Practice does not make perfect.
Right practice makes perfect.
