Doc said:
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Yes sir you are correct. I remember some years ago I had a gagle of black belts migrate from another local school. They spent the first year with me re-defining their basics and working on "yellow." To a man they never regreted it and have often expressed it. I once estimated I could teach yellow for about 5 years without boring anyone, and in fact I do. No matter what level a student attains, they are forced to revisit all previous material for refinement and the dessemination of additional knowledge.
I had a very unique experience with Doc not too long back. I visited his school, and we chatted about kenpo, and it's various evolutions, capabilities, limitations, definitions, and manifestations. I was particularly intrigued prior to meeting him by a post in which he said accomplished black belts on this forum could not pass a yellow belt exam in his school. Hmm, thought I. Been doing kenpo for a long time...what could be that different? Surely, it would just be a case of learning how HE wanted 5 swords done, and I've learned about 20 versions already, so what's one more? What could be all that different?
Watching his group, then talking with him in the halls for some time after...everything. I've trained in many of the various trees in kenpo, some good some bad, some with proper pedigrees and some with questionable "made most of it up in my back yard" ones...have been doing this since I was a rugrat in Hawaii, and pretty much not stopped since (aside from concurrant side trips into JJJ, kickboxing, BJJ, etc.). All of his basics are trained in a different way then anything I've seen before. I have been stepping back into a neutral bow since my very first kenpo lesson, on my 6th birthday in 1971. Thought I pretty much had it down.
Doc shot it full of more holes then Daffy Duck during Wabbit season. As a Doctor with an ongoing post-graduate interest in kinesiology, functional anatomy & biomechanics, Traditional Chinese Medicine and neurology, what was even cooler were the reasons he gave, and the simple biomechanical demonstrations he used to make his point. I never hold stances deeply or firmly to begin with, since being light footed and ready to be moved with the wave instead of knocked over by it was much more important to me then stoic, rock-o-gibralter stances (old body-surfer). Interestingly, I couldn't hold the stance if I tried. Minor variations in "stomping and slapping" maneuvers WHILE settling into neutral bow triggered enough neuro-mechanical mechanisms for re-alignment, that the tables switched and Doc was putting out the go-nowhere effort to budge me...while I ain't tryin'. All related to the little beginners movement of stepping back into a neutral bow.
Following items included basics, including blocks, strikes, maneuvers, etc., each with subtle modification causing major differences...and I'm not talking about changing which way the toes are pointing, or the weight distribution in a stance. It's all done differently, and it all means something. SD Techniques are recognizable (i.e., "that looks like Thundewring Hammers"), but performed with enough subtle mods for it to be obvious that, what you're watching, is not what is in the Encyclopedia. At first, disconcerting...("That's wierd, why would they do a silly thing like that?"). Then you see the effects...defenders mechanics strengthened; attackers systems methodically broken down...("Aha! That's why they do that! Well I'll be...!"). Forms just looked plain wierd ("That doesn't look like any SF1 I've ever seen, and I've seen many"). Then you get a glimpse of why, and it occurs to you that what we know of this vast universe is really quite small. Concept in exercise physio: Recruitment. How many muscles can I get to join in on this movement to make it stronger? Agonist/Antagonist/Synergist = some muscles are on, some are off, some ain't even in the picture (unless specifically called in for recruitment). I'm watching Docs preliminary moves, with my brain flying at a mile a minute at how they utilize multiple laws of muscle physiology, kinesiology & biomechanics to cancel out the limiting effects of antagonists, while recruiting otherwise silent synergists...freaking smoke coming outta my ears. The rocket ship speed associated with kenpo seniors? All there, but somehow managing to be delivered with greater purposefulness of action, and not just whipping it out there for whipping's sake.
I never feel sorry for uke's (part of the road...cowboy up, and deal with it), and I never liked Clutching Feathers...thought it was crap the first day I learned it, and kept that decision for many years, no matter how many versions I saw, or how authoritative the class or demo was by any given Senior. During that class, I actually felt sorry for the uke, and was busting a stitch to jump out there to learn & practice Clutching Feathers.
Not all kenpo is created equal, and not everybody is teaching the same kenpo.
I'm set to start teaching a small kenpo class in the "the barrio" to provide interested kids with a higher occasion to rise to energetically, so I'll hang on to my black belt & black gi for the sake of the uniform. However, in consideration of what I've recently been exposed to, it seems silly. Unwarranted. And I've had clutches of kenpo black belt orphans and disowned's come to train with me because of my own background & experience. Now I am looking forward to strapping on a white belt over a white gi, so I can re-learn kenpo from the ground, up.
Have a relationship to save or end; a major business plan to implement while the iron is hot; and some "life gets in the way" barriers to address before I can make the worthy commitment. But ahm lukkin fuhward to it.
Dave.
PS -- re: Slapping and Stomping...done right, in the right places and for the right reasons, it's related to a great many things. Like proper structural alignment after stepping back into a neutral bow. Trick is to learn when and where it's appropriate, versus when and where it's just dramatics and noise.