Okinawan Dance ~ Amakawa Kata

[Bill Glasheen]

I believe you've put emphasis on the big toe first during your Uechi footwork drill.

That I have, Mike.

I'm a big believer in keeping things simple - down to a handful of principles and things to remember. If you build a martial way on very few parts and get people comfortable with using that handful of parts in myriad ways and combinations, then I believe you're more likely to have success when under severe stress. New and complex don't do well under the survival stress reflex.

The toe thing fits in for several reasons. First, the big toe is vital for balance, so focusing a lot of attention on it gets people working early on balance. Second, lots of big toe work increases the likelihood that someone may one day be able to do that toe kick (sokusen). If so, great. If not, well at least you have better balance. Third, I picked up a landing way (toe, ball-of-foot, heel) from Peggy Hess who picked that up from the Okinawans when traveling there. At the time, I had started training at those American Family Fitness rooms which were basically wood over concrete. The extra shock absorption that the sequence afforded my system was immediately noticed. Now I couldn't think of landing any other way.

One other thing the knee up/big toe down also does is keep the walker from moving out of their base by taking too big a step. Very small steps is key and one problem almost everyone has at first is stepping too far out moving their balance way beyond their support foot. Once that happens you're almost guaranteed to make noise.

Very true.

It also fits in (by intent or serendipity) with constant attention to lifting knees and touching the toe down in various Uechi kata. I can think of 5 different movements right off the top of my head (throughout the Uechi kata) where the technique is applied. So... that works pretty well for me.

The main thing with lifting the knee is preventing yourself from tripping on things you can't see in the pitch dark. I've had plenty of practice working on that when walking my dog through the woods late at night. He does like to pull on that leash in spite of constant yanking back on my part. And he's strong as a bull - particularly out in the woods when he's in his element. So the extra care prevents a rude fall.

- Bill

[MikeK]

This one is for Jim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0TEAqj- ... re=related

Well since you're doing push hands we should have some stuff in common to better communicate should you ever get your butt over here..

Good PH and good ChiSao actually have a lot in common if also some different focus in mechanics.. I've played with several TC guys, a couple from China..

Some thoughts on this:

Try/experience learning through losing..

What I mean is don't try so hard to win...

Work on using less energy (say 50% power) to get the job done--focus on good posture, timing and position.. At first it should seem much more difficult to control your partner and more importantly: To control your own center.. Expect to get dumped or get controlled, sent away, down, etc.. If you can get past "the losing" aspect, something westerners often have a hard time with, you can advance with much better skill--true/pure skill.. The question for the student is how much losing can they tolerate..? I always found it ironic how closely ego and success level is tied together in some of these arts..

But, if for some reason you find you can't do a move at half power even after a lot of losing, then re-examine how you're approaching the move.. Check the form, check online, etc.. Any good TCC move can and should be able to be preformed at half power when done correctly... Also there are normally opposites and complementary moves, for example, if they resist A then simply convert to B where B goes with their resistance...etc...

The point in doing this kind of half power is to ensure you position and timing are the core attributes of your success or failure.. Men, especially, will tend to rely at least as much on strength as they do on correct position, structure and timing...

By eliminating a good portion of your strength you will find that you will develop much better sensitivity to their weakness as well as much more effective implementation of your attack.. But the key is really in losing.. The more the better in the early stages because it will really open your brain to learning to move a whole new way. The same level is not as readily picked up when you focus on strength to any degree.. The less power the more you will lose early on, but the more your brain will learn and the more you will gain later!

ISYN

Also going through certain techniques that are well understood is important.. . The key there is to understand exactly what the conditions are in terms of energy and position of the partner.. Such that when his energy and position is one way he is vulnerable to a certain move or moves.. Then have the partner feed this conditions more and more subtly and perform the move.. Later you can add resistance a bit at a time as well.. This can help program the move with the correct stimulus and quickly it will become a natural part of your expression.

HTH

What can I say, I agree with all of that.