You have a natural gravitational connection to the earth. It pulls on you and it pushes back when you apply pressure to it. Imagine yourself pushing on the earth and the earth pushing back propelling you into the air for a jumping front kick. The harder you push down the higher you are propelled up because the earth responds to you based upon the energy that you send to her. Now imagine that instead of responding to the earth’s return push by jumping into the air, you guided and directed all of that energy to your upper body, arms, hands, and fingers. The same amount of energy that could propel you into the air is now being directed at your opponent at the point of impact. In theory, the two possible responses represent a difference between Northern and Southern styles of Kung Fu. The Northern releasing the earth’s push-back through the legs with high kicks, aerial techniques, and long range strikes while the Southern focus is to maintain a close connection with the earth and move the energy through the legs and hips, to the upper body and arms, and to the hands and fingers.
In both the Northern and Southern styles the key to push-back is Stances. In the 7 Circles System each of the Nine Basic Stances defines a particular relationship between you and the earth, from your feet to your chosen striking surface (head, shoulders, elbows, forearms, wrists, fists, fingers). Remember the Lesson Plan! Every Stance has its Center of Gravity, Balance Position, Ideal Direction, and Foundational Position of the Feet. Mastering these four principles of stances will allow you to maximize the force and power of push-back from the seven fighting stances in the set of nine.
The beauty and power of the Southern focus is that by moving the force of the push-back through the body we can control and vary the direction of the push-back to facilitate a very sophisticated system of stepping, turning, shifting, and integration of our stances, all things that we will discuss in future Posts. While practicing your stances always be mindful of how your feet connect to the earth. For each stance your feet should connect to the earth in a way that maximizes the push-back based upon the form and intent of the particular stance. If you take a stance and gradually exert pressure against an object (a wall, a tree, etc.) you should feel the push-back moving between your feet and your point of contact in a stable arc of energy running through your body. The feeling is easily recognizable when you get it correct.
As you begin and continue your training in the 7 Circles System of Southern Northern Shaolin Kung Fu Wu Shu you should remember that our system emphasizes the Southern focus.
Live Wu-Te
Seifu Sharif
Friday, April 15, 2011
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