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.
No comments:
Post a Comment