Sweep the Lotus: Thoughts on training with limitations for martial effectiveness

Old or injured people shouldn’t have to feel bad about how they train, nor should they be trying for the impossible.  “Know yourself, Do your best, Make a little progress every day, Don’t overdo it.”  I never met Master Jou, but I see the wisdom in his training advice.  This post is about the confusion of athletic and martial/real practice.

Close to the end of most solo long empty hand Taiji forms is a movement called Sweep the Lotus.

·         Stand on your right leg and move your left leg in a clockwise circle (Outside In).

·         Turn your body in a full circle

·         Shift your weight to your left leg

·         Move your right leg in a clockwise circle (Inside Out)

·         Your arms move together in the opposite direction of the feet

Some teachers do this form full speed and full power.  Their hands loudly make contact with their feet.  As this is by far the most dramatic movement in Taiji, this group of instructors talks about “Ending the Demo with a Bang!”  The application for Sweep the Lotus for these teachers follows Dr Yang Jwing Ming's book on Taiji application:  grab the attacker's face and kick them in the back of the head.  Most students think of doing this once, Dr Yang shows kicking the attacker's skull twice. 

To my roommate’s initial amusement, I bought in to this idea.  I started to practice turning off the lights with high kicks to work on my accuracy and height.  I hit the floor many times, then started to make a mess of the wall and broke the kitchen light switch before my roommate angrily reminded me I did, in fact, still have fingers better suited for the light switch.

Most of the big name teachers do this movement slowly, fluidly, and with less height.  The Two Person San Shou that I learned shows this Inside Out crescent kick at kidney height.  A similar movement in Heian Godan shows the crescent kick moving Outside In to the solar plexus.  Ultimately, I started to practice a slower kick because it was harder practice and it did not matter so much if I changed my clothes first or warmed up.  I noticed I developed a little more range of motion in my hip while not kicking as high or as quickly.

I think another realization was when I started to train with saber and sword – I had bought myself a very heavy and sharpened saber and I genuinely nervous for my feet.  I started to see someone could just slightly deflect my blade as I swung…

I remember the elderly and injured people who loved to practice always skipped the movement altogether, or they looked embarrassed or ashamed that they could not perform the high kick.  Instead of getting this close to the end of the long form as the culmination of their practice, often times this movement seemed to prove to some people that “Taiji is too difficult to do.”  People would see this movement and decide, “I can never do Taiji for real.” 

One Chen Taiji teacher showed me a video of a Grandmaster doing his form.  "Look, Crescent Kick to the Head!"  The 80 something year old gentleman in the video (now long deceased) brought his knee up to waist height slowly and never extended his leg further as he slowly circled his hands.  "He got too old to practice his Taiji form.  He was still undefeatable though."  The student was judging the teacher by his aesthetic qualities, while admitting there was something much more going on.  I learned about the difference between pretty technique and real technique.

I mentioned Shotokan Karate forms earlier as other examples of feet and hands moving together.  Soon after passing your first test, a new student starts to learn Heian Nidan.  The fifth or so movement in, you do a side kick and a back fist at the same time to “punch and kick someone at the same time.”  Legs are longer than arms.  The higher the kick, the more I lean to one side – giving my arm even less reach and less chance of hitting a target.  I tried to strike posts like this, but I never was able to use my hands and feet simultaneously in this fashion.

This type of movement appears many times in the various Shotokan kata.  Eventually I was told I could grab an attacker’s hand and then kick while pulling them into the strike for increased damage.  Difficult to do, and easier if they are grabbing me instead.  It also requires a modification of the kata in application.

A direct student of Funakoshi was teaching a local seminar, and I went.  He was commenting on Nijushiho, but I could see the idea carried into other kata.  Today, the open hand technique was accompanied by a high side kick to the chest or head.  When he was a student, it was taught as grab an elbow, shoulder or head and stomp downward on a foot or knee.  The high chambered knee could be used to strike up before the foot struck downward.  Kata were specifically changed to be made more physically challenging when the idea became perfection physical and spiritual challenge instead of combat effectiveness.

There is nothing wrong with the variation I was made to practice.  Pull someone into a kick, and the resulting force on the target area is increased.  Another theory was that a more difficult movement when practiced makes an easier movement even more easy.  Technical drift is expected in a fight, so train for greater difficulty.  Nothing wrong with the movement, nor the method of training.  It just requires greater balance, greater flexibility and more years of training to even attempt.  Women looking for self defence need to pay attention to their footwear – stomping in heels is easier than a high thrust kick.  This exclusive high kick practice sets a reflex to attempt what maybe should not be attempted.  On slippery or uneven ground, even a senior student would find this difficult.  Maai must be perfect.  Timing must be perfect, and somehow the initial grabbing movement must not telegraph the finishing kick.

I then had a chance to study some Judo briefly.  The hand and leg coordinated work in Judo showed me how these movements can easily be throws and sweeps.  The thing is, to do these sweeping movements your feet are supposed to be close to the ground. 

So, all you people with arthritis, back pain, knee and hip replacements, challenges to your balance:  if you need a martial justification of a movement that keeps your foot closer to the ground, check out these excellent teaching bits from Windsong Dojo.  I especially found the part enlightening that trying to lift the foot higher is not only unnecessary but often weaker than keeping the foot sliding along the ground.  

Outside in

http://youtu.be/bEmHtft-CgU

Inside out

http://youtu.be/h8MCHo11JqI

I encourage people trying to train despite limitations to really think about what “martial” is.  In these days of CGI, trick photography and stuntmen on every TV and movie screen, we can become jaded and bored with real technique.  We are told the elite, improbable and impossible is the standard, and then we discourage ourselves.  We stop training because we aren’t fantastical creatures but rather merely human.  The only way to lose the benefit of training - is to stop training.  Get out there and even if your feet are just skimming the ground, or you are just raising your knee and stomping instead of kicking, remember: 

You are doing real martial art.

 Thank you again to the remarkable martial artists who have their images on line for me to find.  I am not doubting nor questioning your impressive ability - I am just wanting to show that options exist for the rest of us.

A functional definition of Qi/Chi/Ki

Qigong is an Asian-based practice that focuses on using the mind and body to improve health and overall functioning.  It is a practice of aligning movement, awareness and intention for exercise, healing, and meditation.  At the core of Chinese internal arts is a statement found in the Taiji Classics:  “The Mind leads the Body and the Qi follows.” 

The first problem many have with Qigong is Qi.  Qi is often defined as the mystical energy force that is present in all things and unifying us all.  It is simply the definition of magic - mysterious powers that inspire everything from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Star Wars Jedi Mind Tricks.  The inability to scientifically prove the existence of Qi is the reason that western science and eastern healing methods have been at odds.  Everything from acupuncture to Reiki to qigong is predicated on the existence of Qi – if Qi does not exist, then all of these things are perhaps called into question. 

The character below is the Chinese character for Qi.  This is the character for “Chi” in Tai Chi Chuan, as well as the "Ki" in Aikido.  The symbol depicts a stove with a fire burning inside.  A pot with rice is sitting on top of the stove and the lid is lifting up.  Very mysterious and not easily explainable centuries ago, but a given fact that the rice put in a pot with water over heat will change.  Therefore, a possible definition of Qi is Steam.  Other possible definitions of Qi are Air and Breath.

 

It is true that several cultures have developed theories similar to Qi.  The Yogic Prana in India or the Ki in Japanese arts are examples.  This does not help to prove the existence of Qi, but I believe it shows that the concept has been useful across many cultures and centuries.

Science cannot prove the existence of an invisible, intangible, magical/mystical energy field.  However, the so-called "Ki Society Aikido" calls themselves Shin Shin Toitsu Do or Aikido with Mind and Body Integrated.  Other examples of the Japanese use of Ki in language (from Kisshomaru Doshu of Aikikai):

Courage:  Shi-Ki

Will power:  I-Ki

Vigor:  Gen-Ki

Bravery:  Yu-Ki

Equanimity:  Hei-Ki

Conserving Energy:  Shu-Ki

Prolonged Breathing:  Ki-Soku

These concepts are not magical.  Far from it.  These words speak to Mind and Body interaction, and the interaction of our logical mind and our emotional mind.  Most of us accept the influence of our Mind on our Body as factual.

The idea of Qi I use in my classes at the Duke Cancer Center is straightforward.  I am not introducing anything magical, mystical or religious.  Simply:  how we think and feel affects how we move, breathe, and live.  How we move, breathe, and live affects how we think and feel.  We can learn how the Mind can positively influence the Body, and how the Body can positively influence the Mind.  For this Art, I always start with the Mind.

We feel, see, smell, touch, and taste everything with our brain.  Our brain is our gateway to reality.  Anxiety, stress, or Type “A” constant driven desires to succeed are associated with a number of chronic and acute health problems.  Grief, depression, distraction, and anger cause changes in our sleeping and eating patterns, our bowel habits, our ability to perform tasks that might otherwise be very familiar to us.  Panic, rage, and fear cause our heart and lungs to work faster and more forcefully.  Fear makes the experience of pain worse.  Doubt makes us less likely to succeed.  Most areas of medicine make use of psychology, acknowledging of the importance of addressing the mind while helping the body. 

If you attend one of my classes, it does not matter if you believe in an energy field.  You do not need to challenge any belief systems, religious or otherwise.  You only need to accept that the mind and body are connected.  Internal arts use this idea to improve balance, functional strength and coordination in a low stress, low impact training method.  When the Mind leads and interacts with the Body, the two together can do much more than the sum of their parts.  This notion of Qi is common sense, and I teach Qigong that is heavily grounded in psychology and kinesthiology.  

The exercises I teach in the Duke Cancer Center Quiet Room are from Li Family Baguazhang, a martial art.  This is not a class in combat.  There is no fighting.  My hope is that students will have some fun and feel better during, and at the end of class.  These exercises can be easily modified – when in doubt, what you are doing in your mind matters more than what you are doing with your body!  For this art, a mental practice without movement is better than empty, mindless movement.  A relaxed mind is clear and easily focused.  A relaxed body starts with a relaxed mind.  Healthy movement starts with relaxed, mindful structure.  

I am grateful to the Duke Cancer Center for the opportunity to teach this Art.  The support I have received from my managers, patients and coworkers has been exciting and amazing.  It was in part for this class that I am the recipient of the Duke Cancer Center Superstar Award for patient care this year.  It was humbling to stand in front of so many of my coworkers at the 3rd anniversary of the Duke Cancer Institute - I work with many amazing people, and they all go the extra mile.  

I also want to express my gratitude to the teachers before me:  Shifu John Painter has made it his life's work to clarify the mystery around the Internal Arts.  I am a better student and practitioner today thanks to his efforts. It is his methods that I am introducing in the Duke Cancer Center's Quiet Room.

Without the efforts of Kristy Everette Sartin, the Oncology Recreation Therapist whose efforts led to this class, none of this would have ever happened.  Thank you.

As always, thank you to my wife who would define Qi as the most useful word in the history of Scrabble.

Martial Art training for health?

Training for health is not something Aikido people tend to do - we get thrown all class long, every class  and we keep attacking each other, so the martial, however questionable it sometimes can be, is present.

Taiji and Baguazhang students have self practice as the primary training method.  Many people in Taiji in particular will avoid any mention of martial art.  If you don't like to touch other people or don't like to be touched, you can just say so and never do any push hands or applications.  Training for "health" can be code for training with no intention, no structure, no understanding of the movement (or of movement in general.). I like to insist on some martial theory in my classes.  Martial is often confused/equated with MMA and shouldn't be.  I just look at effective, biomechanically sound movement.

Martial is about good body structure.  Yes, this was first about "How do I hit someone harder?"  But it can be so much more.  How you walk throughout the day, how you close a door, how you carry a bag of groceries or lift up a small child from the ground can be informed by your internal arts practice.  You can become functionally stronger, feel less fatigue, be better balanced and generally become much less likely to be injured in your daily life.  So, I call that healthy.  I tell students, "No one ever taught you to walk.  One day you stood up and didn't fall on your face as you moved your feet.  That's what you probably did for the rest of your life.  There is a better way."

So, I encourage you to explore martial ideas and find out about kinesthiology.  "Lift with your legs, not with your back," is used extensively in Taiji form work.  There's a corridor in front of your body where your arms and legs are much more effective, and your movements are much healthier if you stay in the corridor generally.  Do you know where it is?

Another piece of confusion around training for health has come from competition form work.  When the Chinese government commissioned a form for practice, there was a very specific definition of what a movement would look like.  I get students who try to emulate that form despite their injuries or the pain they are in.  Stances become a certain length despite any discomfort, injury, neurological dysfunction or potential harm.  Students tend to be uncomfortable, then they quit and they don't practice.  Worse yet, they might make their injuries worse if they do train regularly!  Students might feel they can't do their practice anymore, because they don't look like a picture in a book or a poster on a wall or a movie clip.

Martially, a movement can be very small or very large.  It can be performed at a different height.  The body movement can change dramatically.  The stances and waist movements are very fluid, and likely to change depending on need.  There is no one single way to use something like Single Whip, and there are many different variations out there that all focus on a slightly different application.

Competition forms demand one version.  You are expected to resemble a picture of Single Whip as closely as possible.

If I have students who have muscle injuries, or deconditioning or lymph edema concerns, I can adjust what I am teaching.  People with arthritis can practice, so can people in wheelchairs.  Martially, I know I am respecting the original form, and I am teaching something real.  Competition form work would say I was not.  Combat forms allow a variety of expression, and this means healthy movement and healthy practice for everyone.

The teacher who tells you a movement can only be practiced one way is not giving you a physical therapy oriented/inspired practice, and maybe not the practice that serves your health needs.  The teacher who tells you, "this is just for health, there is no wrong way to move"  is not giving you the tools for a more healthy and effective daily life.

So, bring a little martial to your health practice.  You just might find you get healthier for it.

Leg locks in Aikido?

First off, leg locks are not a good idea generally.  It can be an effective tactic, but arms are the primary tools to be concerned about.  You can damage a leg and that will prevent an attacker running after you, but I prefer control over pain compliance and I like the option to not damage.  Also, I can use tools while holding a nikyo or ikkyo pin and a number of leg locks would be difficult for me to do this. Maybe this just reflects my comfort level and amount of practice with these techniques.  The few times I had to do a leg lock in real life, I quickly learned legs are more muscular than arms generally, so I needed to use both arms on a stronger leg.  

 

Modern soldiers will have knives and guns.  Don't restrict the arm movement, get cut or shot.  A number of classical leg locks often leave your own leg within reach of your attacker, particularly if you apply it face on.  So, in the real life situations above, I was part of a team and the arms were controlled while I controlled the legs.  I might need to deal with the legs to get to the arms.  Or, someone else has taken the arms and the legs are thrashing and so I take the leg.  Leg locks are no substitute for our arm controls.

Legs do not have the same control or range of motion as arms - so, hips, knees and ankles cannot tolerate the same pressures and torque as shoulder, elbow and wrist.  Toes are not as flexible as fingers.  Ankles less flexible than wrists.  Hip joints less than shoulders.  As the hip and ankle don't move as freely as the wrist and shoulder, the knee can be traumatized more easily than the elbow.

UFC #1 was won by a toe lock.  For all that, most people today wear shoes and boots.  A toe lock on someone wearing steel toes is probably not a good idea.  A wrenched ankle is far more likely, and really even then I'd be using the ankle's range of motion to damage the knee.

 

All the increased risk of joint injury from less range of motion, and now couple that with your legs will be supporting your body weight.  Jamming an ankle or a knee means changing your hip and spinal alignment for the fall.  Landing directly in the knee cap, etc can leave you needing major surgery - from a practice!  Even people with good ukemi skills find these types of falls more difficult.

 

I take this to mean that joint locks to the leg need to be practiced more cooperatively and slowly.  I believe Judo has struck most leg locks from competition.

 

We do not have weight and height classes.  Sometimes, you take what body part you can reach.  You can't always effectively attack a target above the waist.  Sometimes legs are the more effective target.

 

For O Sensei in wartime, soldiers were fighting on uneven ground, on staircases and amid rubble; storming trenches and barracades, climbing ramparts, slipping and falling and responding from the ground.  Sometimes they were standing in mud or in the trench and couldn't move as freely as we do on smooth mats.  Sometimes pinning or giving aid to one person, and forced to respond to a new threat.  Crouching behind cover, deficating, sleeping, eating and now surprised and forced to act to save their lives.  All of this, and still needing to train for taller, stronger opponents with better mobility and reach.  Hanmi Handachi has a lot of interesting and applicable lessons to teach.

Kawahara Sensei still told us that for the kata katate-dori kaitenage hanmi handachi the actual attack was grab the wrist and kick the abdomen - so we were always reminded to not allow uke to walk up in front of us directly and grab the hand.  Uke needed to come from the side, but really Nage was supposed to control that in theory.

 

While hanmi handachi has roots in Daito Ryu and the old samurai arts, we kept this while not keeping flower arranging, the tea ceremony, or Daito Ryu umbrella retention techniques.  The old arts taught many things we didn't keep, and we treat this as important.

Somehow despite the role Hanmi Handachi can play and the lessons it teaches us, in Aikido we often only attack the pectoral girdle and the neck.  No matter how we are attacked, we seem to respond by attacking Uke above the nipple line.  Lots of classical techniques do this.

So do our leg attacks not exist?  

From Budo, published by Kodansha (the Noma dojo photo shoot).  Admittedly, seven pictures for the entire book does not make these movements common (though there are only four on Tanto Dori, and this did become a common practice).

The movements also still have Nage looking mobile, able to use tools, able to use atemi and aware of the larger environment.  One of these looks like a transition between a leg control and our more familiar arm controls.  The first one looks like an atemi to the ankle to sweep the leg away.  Some of the pins, O Sensei looks to be kneeling or stepping on his partner's spine or hip.  I like the Nikyo lock done while stepping on Uke's foot.

How close are we to the day that an Aikido instructor would say, "Who is this goofball and what is that crap he is doing?  That's not Aikido!"  Some would say closer than we should be.  O Sensei does not have to be the only way to do Aikido, but he should be studied and given his due.  As Stanley Pranin has said, "He was pretty good at what he did!"