Repulse Monkey

After class on Monday, I asked my instructor about this move. I’ve just had a sudden insight into what he told me…

While I was taking classes in Yang style taiji in Beijing, my instructor was very clear that the rear hand, as it moves forward, should slide along the front arm, keeping contact along the forearm and over the wrist. He didn’t explain why, and I assumed it was about breaking a hold – ie, if someone was grasping your wrist, this was a way to lean back, make them bear your whole body weight, and then break their grip.

On Monday night, my instructor laughed at this interpretation, and said no, it was a way of using the relationship between left and right arms to bring one hand forward as the other went back; he demonstrated it as if the rear arm came forward into a chopping movement, which somehow didn’t seem right.

However: I’ve for some reason just had a flashback that gives it a real context. Here, it’s important to know that MIchael, my taiji teacher in Wales, also taught Hung Gar, and I’d taken a few lessons in that.

One night, I was walking along the seafront, minding my own business and watching the sunset, when I was almost knocked to the ground by a guy hitting me from behind. As I regained my balance, I saw that he was holding an empty pint glass. I had no idea what he was going to do next; I was very scared (having almost been knocked down from behind, remember), and I wasn’t sure what he was going to do next. So, after giving him an opportunity to back off or move away, which he didn’t do, I took him down using a pretty brutal Hung Gar technique. I say brutal: I mean by that, it was very fast, very effective, and allowed for no mistake. The guy wasn’t hurt; he was just taken down very effectively and removed as a threat.

Still, even at the time, I wished I’d known a way to remove myself away from the threat of the glass he was holding without having to take him out. I’ve just realized that this is what Repulse Monkey is: a way to back off whilst always keeping a defensive hand to the fore, ready to act if need be. Wish I’d known that a couple of years ago…

The Project has begun…

I happen to enjoy reading Terry Pratchett’s novels; in fact, I read his first book, The Colour of Magic, when it was first published, and I’ve been a fan ever since. As an aside, it gives me faith, as someone who aspires to write: because I’ve been a fan from the beginning, I can see how his writing has developed since those early days. Anyway, I went to one of the second-hand book shops in the Bras Bahah centre recently and found a copy of Witches Abroad. It starts off with something that’s absolutely true: Stories exist independently of their players. If you know that, the knowledge is power. I can feel myself in the grip of a story….

I’m not going to tell you what The Project is just yet, because I’m still working on the details. Enough to say that a couple of things happened today to confirm that it’s taking on life.

I’ll tell you about one of them. I went to Rennie Chong’s class on the Cheng Man Ch’ing taiji form. I’ve been once before, but Rennie himself was away then. Tonight’s class confirmed that yes, he does teach it as a practical martial art, and yes, he does know what he’s talking about. He described Seva, who I know (though not very well)as his best student – which convinces me that with dedication, I can learn a lot. I’ll be studying with Master Chong on Saturdays from now on.

CMC Taijiquan: last night’s class

Just to recap on what we studied last night: I joined the group who have studied the whole form. We went through the whole thing twice, and then focused on the set of moves from the end of Fair Lady spins shuttles to the end – that is:
- ward off left
- ward off right
- Roll back, press and push
- single whip
- single whip squatting down
- step up to seven stars
- retreat to ride tiger
- turn and sweep lotus
- bend bow, shoot tiger
- deflect, intercept, punch
- withdraw and push
- cross hands

A lot of this is of course familiar, but I haven’t worked on the distinctive moves of this section – step up to seven stars, retreat to ride tiger, turn and sweep lotus, bend bow and shoot tiger – for a very long time. The footwork, especially around bend bow, shoot tiger, is much more intricate than what I’ve been taught in the past. I will need to work on this at home (note to self: get up earlier!).

Other notes from the class: the warmup is longer and more physical than any other taji class I’ve attended, with lots of kicking – although not as much kicking and stretching as with the bagua classes in Beijing. It seems to have identified a postural problem (and I know I have them) because I’m getting a lot more resistance and ‘popping sounds’ from the left side of my back and shoulders than from the right. The number of students makes it difficult to see the demonstration of the moves clearly.

I’m going to start attending the Saturday afternoon classes once they resume after the upcoming May holiday; these are smaller groups, so I hope I can improve quickly. Not sure if I will continue with the Monday night sessions after that.

Two Welshmen at Dharma class

Sounds like the start of a joke, doesn’t it! I decided to attend dharma class tonight at the Odiyana Buddhist Society, which is just a short walk from my new apartment. I’ve frequently attended their Friday night meditation sesions over the last couple of years, but this is the first time at the Buddhist study sessions.

Tonight’s session was the first of a short series entitled “The freedom of control”, and this talk was on “The Inner Enemy” – that is, the delusions of doubt, anger, fear and so on that disturb our peace of mind. As Buddhists, we seek nirvana, which is a state of undisturbed tranquillity and joy. We work towards it by trying to be aware of the attachments and delusions, and carefully seeking to loosen their hold over us.

Wangchog led us through some guided meditation, then read some lessons from Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way Of Life, which was followed by group discussions.

I had a quick chat with him afterwards; it’s the first time that we’ve caught up since I came back to Singapore. He’s learning Chinese as well, so we may get together to practise. Two Welshmen, one from Cowbridge and one from Neath, one now a monk in a Tibetan Buddhist order, practising Mandarin Chinese in Singapore. You couldn’t make it up.

This coming Sunday, there will be an all-day study session on the Heart Sutra, which I might go to…

The Cheng Man-ch’ing form of taijiquan

A couple of things have come up that have got me thinking about the Cheng Man-ch’ing form of taijiquan. Partly, I’ve been looking back at my martial arts history, such as it is. I saw classmates having taiji lessons while I was at school, but at that time there were other things that I wanted to do, and I didn’t pay any attention. Still, I would occasionally see them practising in the school gardens, and the image stuck with me. Then, just before I went to work in Lesotho, I watched Apocalypse Now; in amongst the violence and craziness, the glimpse late in the film of the guard practising taiji in the silent, cavernous corridors of the lost temple really caught my imagination, and I decided then that I wanted to learn. I had dreams of practising taiji high in the African mountains but, even though I did find a book on Wu style during one of my trips to Johannesberg, I never studied it. Eventually, in my first year as an undergraduate, I saw a copy of Paul Crompton’s Chinese Soft Exercise in a small Cardiff bookshop. I used that to slowly teach myself the form, and kept it going for a couple of years. Gradually, I stopped practising and forgot about it. A few years later, I had some lessons in the Sun style, but never really got anywhere. When The Matrix came out, I got really motivated to start learning again (OK, go ahead and laugh, I know it’s corny!). Coincidentally, a new martial arts teacher moved into the area at around the same time. Michael taught the Cheng style, and in both Aberystwyth (where I lived) and Lampeter (where I worked). So once again, I studied the form for a couple of years. When I moved to Singapore, I wanted to carry on studying the same form, and managed to find a teacher. It wasn’t very satisfactory, though – the teacher was very good (he’s also a practising TCM doctor), but he was often away, so the classes were often cancelled. At that time, I didn’t know how long I would be in Singapore, so I looked for another school. That’s how I wound up at Nam Wah Pai, who teach a slightly modified version of the Beijing 24-posture Yang style, so that’s what I learned, and forgot the Cheng style. When I moved to Beijing, I eventually got a bit fed-up with the 24-set, and used Crompton’s book (still have it with me!) to start with Cheng again. It came back fairly quickly, and I’m still working on it now that I’m back in Singapore. Having tried both now, I find that I always feel better after practising the Cheng form. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m hoping to start lessons with Rennie Chong. I saw that he’s written a book, so a picked up a copy in Kinokuniya, and I’ve been using it to help my solo practice. This brings me to other reason that this form has been in my mind – I read a post the other day on the Cloud Hands blog about Fair Lady Works the Shuttles. I was always a bit confused by this set of moves: Crompton doesn’t give particularly good descriptions for it, and Michael in Wales taught it as a very exaggerated posture, stretched low and forward, with a bent back so as to push upwards – which never felt right or seemed feasible! Rennie Chong’s book explains it much more clearly, so now I understand why Cloud Hands’ Mike Garofalo said “I really feel the martial roots of this movement” – I never did, until today!

The drums are beating in Singapore

This evening I went down into Chinatown. There’s a big Cantonese clan house near the MRT station, and there was plainly something going on at the 3rd floor, since the Lion Dance drums were beating until late into the evening.I stopped at a coffeeshop a couple of doors down. It looks like it used to be a motor garage, or something, with black ceiling and beams, from which once-silvery ventilation tubes hang down, listlessy swaying in the breeze from all the fans on the wall. It was a seafood restaurant, with all sorts of sad fish and other creatures in tanks. I sat outside, watching some Chinese TV series, next to a stack of tanks that contained 3 sullen crabs and 5 lugubrious frogs.

Later, a large group of people – prosperous-looking Chinese of a certain age – emerged happily from the clan house and occupied the tables next to me, all chattering happily, and plainly there for a feast! In fact, the place was just warming up, with tables inside attracting the tattooed, orange-haired kids who were watching soccer. I’ll have to go back sometime to people-watch a bit more (taking care not to get into ’staring’ situations!), but last night I was tired and came back home…

Meme transmission alert!

One of the martial arts blogs I read via RSS, The Traceless Warrior linked to this: How quirky are you? – here are my results…

Your Quirk Factor: 72%

You’re so quirky, it’s hard for you to tell the difference between quirky and normal.
No doubt about it, there’s little about you that’s “normal” or “average.”

How Quirky Are You?

Return to Singapore…

Well, I’m back in Singapore. I’m happy to be here, but still feeling rather homesick for Beijing’s noise and energy. For a while I will be staying with friends in the north of Singapore, near the causeway to Malaysia; once I get a job, I’ll look for an apartment downtown, near Bugis or Tanjong Pagar.

The job outlook right now is one strong opportunity (the offer I had last week), one possible, one outside chance. I’m more positive now about the offered job; I spent yesterday doing some work with that company and it seemed to go well. I’m seeing them again tomorrow to meet people, and I guess we may get down to negotiations later this week.

I’m starting to practice Taiji and Bagua on my own, to get limber again before I sign up to classes – which probably won’t happen till I get a job. Need to make sure I keep working on my Chinese, too…

Sad to leave Beijing