morgothan’s kung fu repository

Last night was Hsing Yi and Pa Kua. In Hsing Yi we ran through all five elements and all twelve animals. Since I had not done them in a long time there was some dust that needed to be brushed off of a few of the animals. But other then that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I remembered. Then in Pa Kua I took the position of Master Po, and just did continues form on my own circle. Or well I should say I stumbled through continues form. I managed to get through the first four palm changes with little help, but was unable to finish the remaining eight. That is until Dave came at five minutes till the end of class, and we ran through the whole thing one time. Still I do not have that form down at all. I should try and focus on it some more.

I was thinking during Hsing Yi about the applications of some of the twelve animals. In particular of Dragon. For those of you who do not know the move, it is just like metal, in that you block down with one hand, and with the other come overhead and strike with the heal of your hand. However instead of ending up in an equatorial stance, your sink down to a sitting lotus. So your butt is almost on the floor, and your body is kind of twisted up. Now, thinking about what you are actually doing in this move, the best I can figure, is someone grabs your shirt. Your hand that blocks moves their arm so it is elbow up, but still on you, while your other hand goes up and then comes down hard, and you sink to the sitting lotus, dragging them down with you breaking the elbow in the process. Its a pretty ingenious arm break.