Sanchin Stepping

[Stevie B]

OK..I'll try to hit the main things that I noticed... Working late today... So here goes.. Van.. Great question.. He meant like a bolt of lightning coming over a mountain..In other words an anology to where your elbow stops and the rest carries over the Top.. (Remember we have to keep the Core in focus and the focus strong, all the time using whatever centrifugal force to ZAP it down and in) Envision the lightning...Arching it's way over the mountain to hit a small tree sitting on the other side.. (That's the best I've gotten from the explanation so far.. Have to get Mark to drink some more Sake next time.. )
Bill.. So right!! The diaphram connection is key!! No Ki-ster magic here.. Just solid scientific connections.. The Diaphram and another reason... Think about what happens when a person hears different notes..From running Bars I can tell you that no two Bar musicians are the same... They have done studies showing that certain musical or in my case Loud harmonics can cause different psycho neural stimulus... Sort of like how we blasted "HELL"S BELLS" on mega watt amps to mess with Noriega...The Military relies on sound waves to do all sorts of things to our enemies (or for that fact, even our friends) But I'll wait for Van on that...Now please don't take this out of context as I am definitely not a Chi-ster.... But if a sound can release certain dopamines, then wouldn't it stand to reason that it could also release other types of Nuero chemicals????? You up Doc...

[Stevie B]

I found this article from Mainland Japan... Sort of describes a bit..Also remember that the older Okinawans speak a lot in Hogan, so it could change the way it sounds from what they describe on the mainland..

http://hararie-japan-tokyo-tokyo.com/mt ... i&limit=20

[Bill Glasheen]

Now please don't take this out of context as I am definitely not a Chi-ster.... But if a sound can release certain dopamines, then wouldn't it stand to reason that it could also release other types of Nuero chemicals????? You up Doc...

I think it's a stretch, Stevie. But I remain open-minded.

It is true that we subconsciously communicate with the harmonics in our voice, and sometimes involuntarily communicate what we don't want to communicate with the same harmonics. For example... a deep, commanding "Stop!" gets a better response than a fearful (and involuntarily higher-pitched) "Stop!" That I think is happening at the lower brain (amygdala) level rather than an upper brain (cerebral) level. It's basic, primal pattern recognition.

But I'm not sure if that fits in the context here.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

I wonder if just a little too much is made of not moving side-to-side. It seems to me that there is a minimum speed required to avoid it. ...

Your basic premise is correct. However what George and I are saying is one generally tries to avoid the side-to-side hip sway. The same is true of elevation; you're avoiding the head bobbing. One ideally moves forward like a water bug, a cat/dog stalking its prey, etc.

I once had an afghan/retriever mix whom I taught to stalk squirrels. I did it by holding her on a leash and having her only move when the squirrel wasn't looking. Once she got close enough to the squirrel and the squirrel was sufficiently far enough away from a tree, I'd unhook the leash and she'd charge. We did this enough times that she finally figured out how to do it, and so played "the game" off leash. One day in front of a half dozen witnesses on the UVa grounds, she got her first squirrel... and then let it go. I guess that was the retriever in her. In any case, the witnesses gave her a standing ovation.

Here's a Jack Russel trying to do it. But he isn't patient enough.

Sporty the jack russsell terrier stalks a squirrel

Here's a good side view of a Husky stalking mourning doves. (I can tell by the sound of the bird flying away...)

Mishka Stalks Prey like Wolf

She isn't as good as my first dog, but she has the idea. Note how she tries to keep her body in a stable, perfect line as she slowly creeps forward.

Here's a working breed dog doing his thing.

Britany Dog Stalking a Bobwhite Quail

Is this useful in Uechi karate? If you take your craft into the military or law enforcement, then hell yea!

- Bill

[Stevie B]

No Bill, I know I went off on a bit of a tangent.. Point that you guys are maing is right... If I see a head bobbing, I know what is coming.... Very good points indeed!! I tried your interpretation of Seisan at the tetsu... Worked perfectly!! Thanks for posting!! I don't think now or ever birds will fall out of trees at the sound of my voice ... But thought an interesting point, with if nothing else a little icing on top of the cake..Maybe an over done cake...

[Stevie B]

Still however, being somewhat off the Mark of intended context here particularly, I don't feel too bad, because at least we are close... You are talking about an optical illusion (head one level, too avoid early detection concerning distance to target)... I'm talking auditory illusion to add the final step of confusion...I have heard from more than one source that I'm really good at confusion... Admitting that I confuse myself most nights... But that's really my purpose... To add on to a very good observation to begin with..

[mhosea]

However what George and I are saying is one generally tries to avoid the side-to-side hip sway.

I wasn't really responding to anything you or George wrote, rather to what George quoted: "(My upper body never sways from side to side during any movement).", emphasis mine. Definitely avoiding swaying or bobbing is consistent with both traditions I have been taught, but something about the unqualified nature of that statement as written rubbed my scientific mind the wrong way.

[Bill Glasheen]

However what George and I are saying is one generally tries to avoid the side-to-side hip sway.

I wasn't really responding to anything you or George wrote, rather to what George quoted: "(My upper body never sways from side to side during any movement).", emphasis mine. Definitely avoiding swaying or bobbing is consistent with both traditions I have been taught, but something about the unqualified nature of that statement as written rubbed my scientific mind the wrong way.

Fair enough... I can't speak for George so I don't know what to say here.

One feature of shallow stances, Mike, is it's possible to use the "never" word in your Uechi practice if you so choose. The "waterbug" metaphor is one my Goju instructor used when describing moving in Sanchin dachi. Meanwhile the longer zenkutsu dachi makes this a much more difficult proposition at slow speeds.

And we generally don't go into horse stances in Uechi unless charging into one. Uechika just don't linger there unless doing distance sport sparring. And that's pretty much a late 20th century phenomenon for the style.

- Bill

[gmattson]

Guess what I should have said is "my goal is to not to sway . ."

Bill's explanation pretty much reflects what I believe to be an important part of what kata attempts to teach. . .

[mhosea]

Ah, the light bulb goes on. I see that I misread your original post. I mentally ignored the "to which I replied", so I hadn't in my mind attributed your own quote to you. To me when I thought about it, it was just something somebody wrote.

Anyway, I didn't mean to over-emphasize the point, as I suspect everyone is in profound agreement on the basic principle.