Double Broadsword pt.3

This blog ended up being one of those "figure it out as you write it" so forewarning my thoughts are a bit disjointed in this one.

This year while I am building my weapons form I am noticing that I'm focusing more on the flow within a move compared to the flow between moves like I was last year. Having a single sword last year gave me a focal point for my energy and I would try to move the rest of my body in a way to support that. But now that I have two swords the energy and flow isn't as obvious to me.

It could also be that each individual technique has a lot more going on, trying to use both arms simultaneously so that a single move almost becomes a mini form in and of itself? Where as before I would do a slash, or a block, now slashes, blocks, spins, sweeps and strikes sometimes all happen in a single move. Which is why the flow within a single technique feels more obvious this time around?

It could also be that both my swords are fairly light. Last year my heavy plastic sword was a fantastic tool to feel the momentum of the sword and where it wanted to go next, which could be part of why I'm having trouble establishing an order of techniques because once I finish a move I can get overwhelmed with possibilities of what comes next?

It could also be that I am building this form with the intention of having it be more flexible during the building process. I have a general idea about the footwork but there is a lot of room for change right now because I want to be able to rearrange things to make sure all the pieces are fitting together in the best way.

Last year it felt like I was telling a story as I was building my form "ok what comes next?" In my mind there was no wiggle room for reordering things because then the story wouldn't make sense any more. This year it feels more like I'm putting together a puzzle "I have lots of the pieces now I just need to figure out which ones fit together and where?" What I though was the beginning or my form has been shifted around to the end. Many of the starting stances for a particular section are the same so any one of them could fit into a particular spot, but I'm trying to work on which one will fit the best. 

These mental descriptions of a story VS a puzzle are exactly the reason I think I'm feeling the differences in flow. Of course if I'm thinking of the form as a natural progression from one thing to another they will feel more connected from move to move. Compared to thinking of them as individual pieces that look like they can fit into many places which is probably why I can't feel the flow between them very well.

Yet.

I'm hoping that once I have a complete first draft of the form I can start to solidify, and make choices about ordering and stances that will allow me to feel the flow between moves as well as within them.


Comments

  1. Bjork2BlogMarch 14, 2023 at 6:35 PM

    Many great thoughts to ponder, but it sounds like you have a great platform to work with! Looking forward to seeing it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff BrinkerMarch 15, 2023 at 8:45 AM

    It is easy to silo our intent when we are of singular focus. Hence why people rarely advance beyond black belt to the master levels. Intent is fluid, requiring minute awareness throughout the range of a technique to maximize the delivery of your energy. This is never more apparent than we simultaneously wield multiple weapons. This is where it is obvious that our intent must serve multiple goals separately together.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kevin LindstromMarch 21, 2023 at 7:46 AM

    This is how you keep advancing in your training.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Or can I...?

Between it floating around in the back of my mind for almost a week, reading sifu Brinker's blog post about it today, and sifu Rybek encouraging us to write a blog after tonight's meeting, I think all three created the mental conditions that were just right for me to have a lightbulb moment about the knifehand-long punch-open roundhouse/(dragons whip)-spinning back kick section in da mu hsing II, and I'm very excited about it, I mean, jumping up and down punching the air excited.  My initial question about this sequence that kind of kickstarted this whole thing was that I was having trouble feeling any flow or power from that spinning back kick at the end of the sequence. When sifu Brinker explained that the energy flows just like it does in the knifehand-punch 1) it blew my mind that the spinning back kick was meant to be connected like that!! and 2) I thought I had an answer to my question and all it would take would be to practice with that intent in mind.  However as I ...
Read more

I don't want to write this blog

 I don't want to write this blog. Which is exactly the reason I'm forcing myself to write it. It's only the second month and I've already started to fall behind on my monthly goals (which is one of my personal) requirements for this year. I thought I would have made it a bit farther into the year before something like this happened, but lo and behold all it took was the switch from one month to another and it started to crumble. For the whole first week of March I didn't even have it on my radar until I went to input my numbers for the week and realized I made zero progress. Swallowing my disappointment, I resolved to do better next week. Still no change and another bout of shock when I put in my numbers for the week. On the 12th I wrote in my spreadsheet where the hours should have gone "doing absolute terrible with this one need to address it in a blog ASAP" next week, no hours logged, no blog and just like that mediocrity swiftly snapped it's jaws c...
Read more

Could a Robot Do Kung Fu?

During one of our discussions in the second degree brown belt class last Saturday my brain threw a question completely out of left field at me. Sifu Brinker was describing how flow and power does not come from executing a technique with overly specific instructions (i.e. "ok I'm going to move my arm 98 degrees to the left then extend my elbow in 3.5 seconds then...") and my brain grabbed that idea and ran with it, almost immediately asking "COULD YOU TEACH A ROBOT KUNG FU?????" I made a note of it then left the idea alone because I knew as soon as I started to think about it there is no way I would be able to refocus on the actual discussion (which I very much wanted to hear). Once I allowed myself to think about it my first answer was:  probably , and it would most likely be better than us at it because you could measure out the timing and distancing, all things we have to constantly adjust and practice, to a microscopic level, and the robot would be able to ex...
Read more