More chi sao description. Some a-b-c’s As you know chi sao is a wing chun development tool to cultivate key attributes used to defend ones self effectively against a potentially stronger and faster opponent in a real fight. It is not in its self a fighting technique! In many ways chi sao training is modeled around the principle of homeostasis, the natural seeking of balance of the human body’s systems. (to deep a topic for FB) We begin by learning the foundational roll of the arms, luk sao. There are four position used in this rolling exercise but they all share common points of focus. Assuming that the “jibengong” is good, the first thing the student needs to do is develop the correct position of the arms at the zero points of the roll. This is closely followed by the correct path that the arm takes to reach the fixed points in the cycle.This is the function of the elbow line, the rotation of the forearms if it is the tan sao or bong sao and the correct sighting of the triangle structure. All of which are first developed in the first section of the siu lim tao. Ideally the student can perform the siu lim tao long form with some consistency of accuracy before they begin chi sao training. That said good chi sao will help the student better understand the abstract nature of their forms. So the position and path to position are the first two details that have to be fully understood before any other skill sets can be attempted. Once the basic motion and structure is understood the student focuses on learning to move in sync with the actions of their partner. Making sure that they have control over the weight, force and direction of intent in their arms at all times. This begins the development of timing and distance, key components of any good fighters arsenal. With practice this should naturally begin to develop a feeling of moving with the partners motion. Next comes a controlled pressure forward into the partners arms. The student presses the arms of their partner with enough force to both feel the structure of their partner and to also feel the resulting rebound of force from their partners frame into their own structure and down to their feet. As the arms roll it is the balance of the forward and reciprocal rebound force that the student focuses on and seeks to keep in balance at all times. Very importantly the students seek to keep the connecting force between them equal in both of their hands at all times and consistently connected without large spikes or drop offs in connectivity. With practice there will eventually develop a slight “pulse” at the top and bottom of the roll but this should not be overt and is the results of the two structures of the arms coming to their respective fixed points and slightly overlapping each other as they seek to project the triangle into the mother-line of their partner. When all of the above is satisfactorily developed the student begins the next stage in making chi sao a developing ground for actual combat. The way I was taught the first thing added to the luk sao roll was the insertion of single sticking hands or dan chi sao of which there are five main methods learnt at siu lim tao level. What this essentially does is take the above details of luk sao and begins to expand the repertoire of physical expression. These are first added to the luk sao from a fixed stance then they are done with various stepping methods until the student can mix the hands and feet freely. From here I was taught to switch between luk sao and the lap sao cycle and back again and how to do the five primary lap sao switches form the luk sao roll with the correct footwork patterns. When dan chi sao and lap sao with free footwork can be freely integrated and mixed with the luk sao roll a solid foundation in the development of the chi sao exercise has been laid. From here the foundations are set and the laboratory is built to begin exploring the rest of the wing chun tactics, principles and theory. This for me was the exploration of the movements of the forms. If one abides to the foundational details described above then any techniques can be evaluated for its effectiveness through the medium of chi sao. That is not to say that there are not effective methods outside of the remit of wing chun theory as of course there are however chi sao allows us to develop skills and explore methods that are effectively supported by wing chun theory with clear checks and balances in place to stop us going astray. The theory and structure of chi sao training ensure that all of our martial skills and applications are holistically integrated and consistently supportive of each other. Hope this helps some and gives some food for thought. Mike
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 09:56:33 +0000
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