Chi sao explained!

[obi_juan_salami]

Hope people find this interesting

 

[Danny T]

Hope people find this interesting

Thank you for sharing.
Agree with much of what you share here.
Agree strongly with "of course you use it, just not in that context."

My Sifu says, "Forms-Drills-Application. Often the application is nothing like the form or drill."

 

[wingchun100]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[wingchun100]

I had some revelations on Chi Sao this past Sunday, but I think I will share them on a new thread and not hijack this one.

 

[obi_juan_salami]

Glad you all enjoyed it

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Often the application is nothing like the form or drill."

If that's the case, you (general YOU) should modify your form to map into the application. If you have more than 1 application, you can train your form in different way at different time.

 

[Danny T]

If that's the case, you (general YOU) should modify your form to map into the application. If you have more than 1 application, you can train your form in different way at different time.

Ok.
In my training much of the 'form' is simply movement to a structure. How it is use or applied will be based upon the range, the angle, the point of contact and not a particular application.

 

[obi_juan_salami]

Forms and drills are abstracted from the application in order to isolate and engrain the finer details of each movement, to condition and coordinate the body. This makes each and every movement very accurate and well syncronized and therefore more effective and sharp when put into application.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Ok.
In my training much of the 'form' is simply movement to a structure. How it is use or applied will be based upon the range, the angle, the point of contact and not a particular application.

Borrow the following statement from my long fist brother Dr. Yang Jwing Ming and I agree with him.

" ... it is important that you develop a sense of enemy in your practice. Watch a Tai Chi master perform a sequence, and you may see that it looks like he/she is having a slow motion battle against invisible opponents. By learning the originally-intended purpose of a Tai Chi movement, which is known as its martial application, you will learn the finer points of exactly where your hands and feet should be. You develop a sense of enemy by visualizing that your Tai Chi movement is being used against an opponent.

Even when you can do the form very well, it may still be dead. To make it come alive you must develop a sense of enemy. When practicing the solo sequence, you must imagine there is an enemy in front of you, and you must clearly feel his movements and his interaction with you. Your ability to visualize realistically will be greatly aided if you practice the techniques with a partner. There are times when you will not use visualizations, but every time you do the sequence your movement must be flavored with this knowledge of how you interact with an opponent. The more you practice with this imaginary enemy before you, the more realistic and useful your practice will be. If you practice with a very vivid sense of enemy, you will learn to apply your qi and jin (power) naturally, and your whole spirit will melt into the sequence. This is not unlike performing music. If one musician just plays the music and the other plays it with his whole heart and mind, the two performances are as different as night and day. In one case the music is dead, while in the other it is alive and touches us."

Not only does a sense of enemy develop correct posture and give life to your performance, but it is also important for your health."

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Forms and drills are abstracted from the application ...

Unfortunately, most of the CMA forms were not designed to map into application. This is why modern form (form map into application) will need to be created.

Here is a modern form that "form = application". It's not WC, but I assume the idea can be borrowed.

 

[Danny T]

Borrow the following statement from my long fist brother Dr. Yang Jwing Ming and I agree with him.

" ... it is important that you develop a sense of enemy in your practice. Watch a Tai Chi master perform a sequence, and you may see that it looks like he/she is having a slow motion battle against invisible opponents. By learning the originally-intended purpose of a Tai Chi movement, which is known as its martial application, you will learn the finer points of exactly where your hands and feet should be. You develop a sense of enemy by visualizing that your Tai Chi movement is being used against an opponent.

Even when you can do the form very well, it may still be dead. To make it come alive you must develop a sense of enemy. When practicing the solo sequence, you must imagine there is an enemy in front of you, and you must clearly feel his movements and his interaction with you. Your ability to visualize realistically will be greatly aided if you practice the techniques with a partner. There are times when you will not use visualizations, but every time you do the sequence your movement must be flavored with this knowledge of how you interact with an opponent. The more you practice with this imaginary enemy before you, the more realistic and useful your practice will be. If you practice with a very vivid sense of enemy, you will learn to apply your qi and jin (power) naturally, and your whole spirit will melt into the sequence. This is not unlike performing music. If one musician just plays the music and the other plays it with his whole heart and mind, the two performances are as different as night and day. In one case the music is dead, while in the other it is alive and touches us."

Not only does a sense of enemy develop correct posture and give life to your performance, but it is also important for your health."

Drills

 

[obi_juan_salami]

Unfortunately, most of the CMA forms were not designed to map into application. This is why modern form (form map into application) will need to be created.

Here is a modern form that "form = application". It's not WC, but I assume the idea can be borrowed.

They are seperated because the forms serve other purposes other than direct application. Id say this is fortunate rather than unfortunate as you get so much more out of practicing forms rather than just a coreographed fight scene against pretend enemies. Like someone else posted thats why we drill techniques with a partner. So we can learn to put into application what we learn in the forms.