Originally posted by omarthefish
[B]Nevermind…
What’s funny is I never bothered with a web search before since I had already discussed the 5 steps with my teacher. I say “funny” because I’ve watched Shooter bring up “the 5 stpes” ..*ooooohhhh…:eek: * time and again and each time people get annoyed or tease him or make up wierd theories about what they are and a simple google search for “taiji 5 steps” turned up good explanations immediately…several of them.
Google is your friend.
Now how they apply to combat and how you train and implement them is another story.
[/B]
I’m glad you took the effort to talk with your teacher about them. But did that talk get into the philisophical espects? And more importantly, google is only your freind if you actually read past the first few lines of info it gives.
this is an exert from embracethemoon.com :
[I]"To complicate the issue there is very little available material exploring this subject. Most books provide at best a cursory explanation or a simple list. The main difficulty arises from questions related to function. Just what are these five things anyway? Are they postures? Are they stances? Are they positions? Are they techniques? Are they sensibilities related to the “five elements?” And just what are the “five elements?”
The Wu Bu relate directly to the fundamental operation of the legs, hips and waist, particularly in relationship to the Ba Men (Peng, Lu, Ji, An, Tsai, Lieh, Jou, Kou). Yang Family classics address this directly:
“The division of the steps contains the concept of the five phases and allows us to control the eight directions.” “Our body contains the eight trigrams, and our feet step out the five phases.”
Compare this to text from the Taijiquan Classic:
“The root is in the feet, Jin is generated from the legs, controlled by the waist and expressed through the hands and fingers. From the feet to the legs to the waist must be integrated with one unified Qi. When moving forward or backward, you can then catch the opportunity and gain the superior position.”
The legwork in Taijiquan is distinctly different from that of other martial arts styles. The approach to mobility in Tai Chi is designed to give support to the all important tsan-nien jing (sticking-adhereing energy). Without studying and integrating the specific qualities of the Wu Bu, it is virtually impossible to develop accurate or functional sticking energy. The revered text, the Song of Sparring, is the oldest literary source to directly describe the requirements and purpose of the Wu Bu in Taijiquan. It states:
“In advance, retreat, gaze left, look right and central equilibrium, you must stick, connect, adhere, and follow, distinguishing full and empty. The hands and feet follow each other, and the waist and legs act in unison.” “Drawing the opponent in so that his energy lands on nothing is a marvelous technique.”
Since the legs and waist are so obviously important, study of the Wu Bu should be one of a serious Tai Chi student’s major and critical focuses."[/I]
Take special note of this part: “In advance, retreat, gaze left, look right and central equilibrium, you must stick, connect, adhere, and follow, distinguishing full and empty. The hands and feet follow each other, and the waist and legs act in unison.”
How one does this without mental preperation is beyond me. I say this because the primary goal of forms and drills is to prepare the mind to use the techniques. To memorize the technique is simple. To use it requires one to know and understand it. Remember, the mind is a truely amazing thing, but useless if you don’t involve it in every aspect of your training. You may be able to spar. But that is not to say you will be able to use what you have learned while sparring unless your mind understands how to use it. This is why many people’s sparring “doesn’t look like what-ever-style”. They do train it well, but in a fight or even a sparring situation, the mind looses controll and the reflexes take over. Train well and you will do well.
Train your mind to take control, and you will do better, because your mind has much more to offer than “duck-jab-jab-hook-DAMN… I just got nailed and lost my consentration!” (admit it, we all spar like that at least from time to time. )
It’s an image rather than a physics based explanation.