In my experience with Tracy lineage kenpo, we always talked about the application of the technique. Many of our forms were built with the Self Defense scenarios that much of the formal curriculum is built with. Those scenarios, the “self defense techniques” were strung together into the forms. We learned these SD Techs first, we understood the application of each piece of them and as a whole, before we ever learned the form. So that application level was always there.
What I realized in hindsight, after some years in Kung fu where the curriculum is structured differently and the way we went about training it was different, is that we never really gave much focus to foundation in the kenpo that I experienced. We talked about it, we had a concept of it, but I don’t believe there was a systematic methodology for developing it. So whether or not someone had a good foundation was kind of hit-or-miss. I think some of the people figure it out, but I wonder how much of that is dumb luck.
At any rate, when I talk about foundation, I am not talking about understanding the application. That is something else. Foundation is how you use your body to move as a unit, with efficiency and power. This makes techniques on a basic level strong, which makes application effective.
If foundation is weak or not well understood, then your technique is weak. Then, no matter how thorough is your understanding of application, it will be less effective than it could be. In this case, people often rely on physical strength, which can be effective. But it is not as affective as it could be. And, as someone ages, their effectiveness will diminish faster as their physical strength and athleticism diminishes.
So, in forms/kata that are well designed and well structured (which not all forms/kata are, in my opinion) it is an exercise in developing the foundation from various positions and postures and movements. As you move and transition from one technique to another, it challenges you to be mindful of your foundation and to keep the foundational principles engaged while you express the techniques. As I said in an earlier post, the technique expresses the principles. So your techniques develop as you focus on your foundation.
For forms that are NOT built like the kenpo forms I described above, you still need instruction in how to apply the various techniques and combinations of techniques found within that form. Much of it is pretty intuitive and directly useful. Deeper applications and more thorough understanding will still require instruction.
