Many things can be learned from Sanchin testing. The testing that I find teaches me the most is soft testing. This testing consists of having a person (or persons) pushing (or pulling) on you in many different ways as you perform Sanchin.
It is best if the person pushing never completely destroys your positioning. Instead they should take you right to the breaking point and then allow you to recover and try again.
I have learned a number of things from this type of testing. Before I begin let me just say that these are my opinions from my experiences in this testing. Try it our for yourself -- no one has to agree with me (except J.D. because I’m Canadian).
The first thing I learned is that Sanchin should not be a rock hard ridged stance. I think Bill expressed it best when he said that if you made a iron cast of Master Uechi in the perfect Sanchin it would be easy to knock over. Sanchin must be able to shift and adjust to any pressure placed on it.
I also learned that Sanchin has what I first referred to as strengths and weaknesses (I’ll explain why I no longer do so in a moment). If you are in a left Sanchin and your partner presses on your left shoulder directly towards your rear foot, then Sanchin is strong and easy to maintain. If, however, they press on your right shoulder back to the empty spot in the rear, then without that brace your stance easily broken.
I first considered these the strengths and weaknesses of Sanchin. In a conversation with my Sensei I was opened to another view. He did not consider them a strength or a weakness, only different -- the hard and soft of Sanchin. Each had its own strength if used properly, therefore neither was a weakness, they just were. To try and clarify. The "strength" position is "hard" therefore if you need hard in a technique this is probably how you want to be. If, however, you need "soft" in a technique then you want to be in the "weak" position. A simple example, think of a person stepping in and punching. If you want to intercept and redirect the punch with force you want to take it so that the power of the punch would travel into the strong brace of your stance (this doesn’t necessarily mean no movement or slipping). If you want to lead or redirect the punch by falling away from the power then you want the power driving into that open space or hole. Both have they time and place.
Anyway back to the person pressing on your right shoulder back into that hole. I have found two ways to handle it (please post any others). One way is to shift your hips to redirect that force into a "brace". Difficult to do in some cases but you can mitigate the force in most cases. Try out all angles shift around.
The next method is not to fight the force. Shift your hips so that you move off angle to the force. Go where the pressure is not. By doing this you make the pressure slide off if your partner presses too hard. They now have to redirect their force to try and keep it on you. This is a very interesting method that I have just started to play with.
I am very interested in other experiences with soft Sanchin testing.
I may also post this on Sensei Campbell’s forum as he has spoken about this before.
Comments please?
Rick