morgothan’s kung fu repository

So I am now three lines into Dragon Phoenix. From what I have been told the form is about ten lines, plus an opening and a closing. So I am about a third of the way done with the form. So far I like the third line the best. The opening is kind of dull, and the first line is very stop and go. The second line flows very nice, but is not that impressive looking, nor is it all that fun to do. The third line however, has a lot of fancy moves that flow very well into the next. Starting from the high lotus, there is a leap to another high lotus, then the swords continue to move, while bringing you up to a rooster, then they continue to move bringing you leaping down to a low tiger. Then standing up and blocking with one sword then immediately stepping forward and thrusting with the other. Then hide the swords as you spin in like in double edge form. From there, the swords circle around and back to another high lotus, then spin back and alternating chop with the swords. When all of that goes together it just flows really nice, and looks very impressive at that. All and all line three of dragon phoenix is definitely in the slide show.

I started learning dragon phoenix on Tuesday. Dragon Phoenix is pretty cool as it has you using two double edge swords. From what I have been told it is as long as spear in terms of techniques. So the rest of the summer will probably be me learning and honing in on this form. After that I will have been taught the entire shaolin curriculum from our school. So soon after that I should be testing for my black sash.

Tim called me yesterday and asked if I would be interested in recording all of the Chin Na forms. So starting next saturday we will be recording the Chin Na forms, and I can only assume post them up on youtube. So as soon as they are recorded and posted I’ll be sure to post them up here.

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.

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So last night I was in the mood to do some drills, rather then form. So I took the beginner class and had them work on a few nice kicking drills, and one take down drill. For the kicks we did both inside and outside crescent kicks. 20 each leg, nothing to killer. But then after we did them kicking the pads, I had the defender drop the pads, and go from a a high tiger to a low tiger, go under the kick, and pop up for the attack. Getting them used to doing something after a block. The basic principal is simple, As soon as you see the leg start swinging around you duck away, then sway into and under the kick. Bring the leg that is further extended up to the center of the opponent who just kicked, and unleash hell on them. The most important thing though, is to keep your hands up guarding your head. A few times I caught some of the beginner students getting lazy, and not blocking their heads. Luckily no one got kicked really hard in the head though. After a few variations of what to do after you go under the kick, I had them all do a take down drill from single whip.
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