Thoughts on Flow

Because of all the recent discussions we've been having in classes about Flow I want to write a blog to try to somewhat organize my current thoughts, and where I'm at with my understanding and what I still don't understand. This is not my usual style of blog, and resembles more a page out of my notebook, but I think this is the only way I can get my brain to preserve these thoughts in writing.

The Flow Between Moves:
I understand this as the breath between the moves, the moment between the full release of energy in the previous move, and the start of the generation of energy of the next move in the sequence. Striving for/working on the flow between moves means making that moment as short or as small as possible. 

The Flow Within a Move:
When I first heard that phrase I thought it just meant the six harmonies, everything moving together but finishing at the same time. But I thought there must be more to it because why wouldn't Sifu Brinker just say 'six harmonies'? So I asked about it and this is what I understood from his explanation: it's the moment between the generation of the energy in the start of the move to the release of that energy at the end of a single move so the six harmonies are still important but it's more about the generation and release of energy which is facilitated by the six harmonies. It's not just the timing of everything finishing (six harmonies), that's only half of the concept (the second half). There is also the order of events/the 'steps' of a technique (things working independently together). The two concepts work together to define the Flow Within a Move.  

I was writing this blog out as a stream of consciousness and this idea rose to the surface and I feel like its' important to my current understanding so I have included it here too. "I wonder, is the flow between moves a separate event from the flow within the move? Is there a moment of time that separates the 2 or is the end of the Flow Within the same thing as the start of the Flow Between? 

-> I think maybe it has to be, otherwise things will get muddled/slurred so I think the flow between moves still has to be it's own separate event you just want it to be as short/quick as possible?


(Not sure if the diagram makes things better or worse lol)



Comments

  1. Jeff BrinkerJuly 31, 2023 at 6:59 AM

    Think of flow as the harmony between your chi and and your strength.

    ReplyDelete

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