I was reading a new book on Friday afternoon, just before I left to the airport to pick up Ernie Rothrock.
From “Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan” by Fu Zhongwen, translated by Louis Swaim (North Atlantic Books), page xv. ”An appropriate term to begin with is the Chinese term that is usually translated as “waist”……The term is yao, which differs somewhat in its anatomical meaning from the English word “waist”. In English we think of the waist as the waist-line – that is the outer periphery of the midriff region. The term yao, however, is more precisely understood as the small of the back, or the lumbar spine and the muscles that extend ouf from and surround the lumbar vertebrae. This includes the lower abdomen as a physical center of gravity, but the emphasis is on the proximal or central point.”
[BTW, don’t rush out and buy this unless you are very, very interested in deep analysis of
how to perform Yang Tai Chi movement.]
Seemed an interesting thought.
I then left to the airport to pick up Ernie Rothrock who was coming in from Pittsburgh to visit, train me and conduct an Eagle Claw seminar.
Super frigid out that night with wind chills at –40.F.
We went home, had dinner, and then he proceeded to spend 3 hours working on my study of the Wu Tai Chi Chaun slow (teaching) form. I’m about 1/3 the way through it and he corrected stance, angle, hand position and so forth in infinite detail. (The next morning I detailed 89 corrections to my technique sort of an instant year of instruction in 3 hours.)
The course of which re-introduced me to a new friend. Holding new positions you’re not used to for extended periods of time, you often discover one muscle group being isloated, in the leg, or the small of the back. With that comes a modicum of pain (grin).
Was fine the next morning, until I bent down to get the dog’s water dish, and pulled one of those muscles in my lower back. Fun that keeps on giving.
Then we went over to the Club for the clinic. Had a very good small group, 15 Isshinryu, and Tai Chi practioners from Western Mass, Maine and New Hampshire.
Ernie proceeded to cover the basic principles of the Eagle Claw and had us running a Clawing exercise, Three Claws utilizing Hanging Claw, Claw Circle In and Claw Circle Out. We quickly discovered how tiring forming the claws over and over could be.
I’ve had a little exposure to Eagle Claw over the years, but most of what we studied was the first time I’ve had hands on exposure with Ernie’s practices.
He then proceeded to demonstrate the first 3 of the Eagle Claw 7 principles. They are partner drills (one attacker – one defender), which are not taught expressly for the applications of the techniques, but rather to introduce the student to the basic principles therein. (I’d like to quote from ‘Eagle Claw Kung-Fu Classical Northern Chinese Fist’ compiled by Master Leung Sheum (1980). I believe they will give some idea of what was studied with these unique exercises.)
Principle 1 was Jow Da, Cum Na.
Jow Da is using the fingers to make a claw, grab the opponent’s hand tightly and then punch immediately.
Cum Na is locking an opponent so that he cannot move.
Principle 2 was Fun Gun, Chaw Quat
Fun Gun - When using a claw, the fingertips should be placed over a joint, vein or pressure points. The finger power should be strong enough to break the vein.
Chaw Quat – When using Eagle Claw locking techniques, the position of the hands and pressure points should be such that they can break bones.
Principle 3 was Dim Yut, Bye Hei
Dim Yut – or Dim Mak was using a finger jab to strike an opponent in a vital pressure point to cause serious hamr
Bye Hei – The claw should be strong enough to block the flow of an opponent’s blood or chi or stop his breathing.
This series covered 11 different Eagle Claw responses for the principles mentioned.
At that point Ernie switched over to the first 3 of the 108 Locking Hand Techniques of Faan Tzi Ying Jow Pai.
Where you hear of some systems which derived from 108 techniques, in Eagle Claw they represent the essence of the art. The systems 108 locking techniques cover the hands ,feet and joints. Reportedly they were developed round 1100 to 1300 A.D., and were taught to the emperor’s soldiers as part of their basic military training.
Each lock is preceded with a series of 4 or 5 moves to prepare for the application. Its attack – parry, counter-attack – block, counter-attack parry, lock. So each one of the 108 is a small 2 person set, but teaching not just the locks, but also the set up movements.
Covering this material took up most of the three hours. At the end Ernie gave everyone a demonstration of the Wu Tai Chi Chaun Fast Set, timed to a Chinese song. Very good technique. He followed this with an intermediate level Eagle Claw Set (including the traditional opening with its wild kicking drill). It viscerally drove home how complex the system was.
Ernie then concluded with an explanation of the structure of the Eagle Claw system and some of the training requirements.
We all retired for a good Chinese Buffet for lunch.
Afterwards I returned to the Club with Ernie as he was going to work on my Yang Tai Chi Sword form. Regrettably he live too far away for regular training. My once a year visits turn every one into marathon corrections and fine tuning sessions. Of course this meant my strained back muscle now was getting 3 hours of more extended posture holding with a sword in my hand at that. Boy is that fun.
Surprisingly all my Tai Chi students, and several no tai chi students, showed up too and Ernie gave them a very indepth study of the first series of a different Yang variation from what I teach. For the first time they had the chance to experience that fun.
Most interesting was the insight which came form working the Eagle Claw techniques (decidedly a ‘hard’ style) and then receiving re-inforcement on the application of Tai Chi (decidedly a ‘soft’ style) that both are using the same principles. Its one thing to read that Tai Chi is ‘Kung Fu’, It’s another thing when you are using the same movement in each system to feel it.
The remainder of the day was our personal time and discussion.
The next morning, barely able to crawl from my bed, I armoured myself to the –1deg F. temperature and ventured out for my Sunday Morning Tai Chi studies. Ran through my Wu and then Began Yang as the others showed up. It was crystal clear, cold with a very slight wind. Doc informed us that meant about a –20deg F wind chill. In no time the full extension of the Yang Long Fist form opened my back and I felt great.
Ernie wisely stayed inside and sipped steamy coffee. He finally ventured out (he only trains in warm school settings, wise man that he is), to offer my students a few corrections from the work they did with him the previous day.
Doc then chase him back in as he wasn’t wearing a hat and very quickly was showing signs of pre-frostbite on his ears.
He had a good time and liked everyone who came to train. I had a great time, just seeing him, receiving tons of Wu and Yang Sword corrections to help my way, my students had a good time, our guests likewise had fun.
I suppose I couldn’t ask for more. But it would be nice to be able to move again if only my back would stop hurting. Hence the tie in to my opening quote.
Victor Smith
Bushi No Te Isshinryu www.funkydragon.com/bushi
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Victor Smith
An Interesting Weekend - Eagle Claw in New Hampshire
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