We must learn to use the body ideally for the present moment. It wouldn’t benefit either to stand like the other. How a toddler stands and how an adult stands differs. What’s not obvious is that the ideal posture is not the same for everyone and not the same across different stages of one’s training. One might think that we all practice maintaining postures that are supported by the optimal strength. Watch me teaching it, unrehearsed and for the first time, to a martial arts beginner on youtube. I particularly like the squatting monkey method due to how easy-to-learn and effective it is. Some examples of these postures includes what Taichi calls ward off and what Dai family Xinyi boxing refers to as the squatting monkey.
Qi – Developing the primary prana energy paths.Yi – Developing control over attention and intention.Jin – Developing integrated power (jin) & relaxation (sung).Li – Developing the geometry of appropriate force.The Southern Chinese martial artists develop themselves through 6 stages. Although we’re not trying to restore the Ming dynasty today, Yiyangmen shares the desire to help people become their best selves in an accessible & achievable path. For this reason, they refined the training to make it more accessible for more practitioners. Many of the biggest schools and styles of the South aimed to recruit & train militia for their quest to restore the Ming dynasty. Their approach informs the structure of Yiyangmen training. This week we will look at the Southern Shaolin and other Southern Chinese martial art schools’ approach. Last week we looked at the stages of training in Buddhist and Taoist martial arts. We are continuing our discussion of the stages of training in Chinese martial arts.