Tother hand Chapter 3 part 1

Chapter Three

This discussion took place over several days as 9001 studied and rested. On the third day, she was able to move about and eat solid foods. Her father immediately moved her outside to teach the martial arts.

He said, since you are not yet skilled in mastery over the body, we will resume your training in the basics. I attempted an advanced training session, in the night, with blades and in tandem. The student never fails if the teacher is present. So that incident was not a failure. It was instead an invaluable learning lesson. We start with stretching. Stretching the muscles releases all tension from the body. You cannot hit or move quickly if there is any tension anywhere. We stretch the arms, shoulder, chest, and neck. Although you will skip the neck for now.

Next, we stretch the torso and hips, doing circles forwards and backwards. We always go to the left first and then the right. Next, we stretch the legs and feet. There must be no tension to block the flow of energy throughout the body. Now we perform the first motions to gather energy and practice the flow. Start with the _man sao_ which is the seeking hand. What are we seeking? The enemy contact. We move toward the enemy to seek a bridge, or contact with them. What will they do? Punch, kick, move, block? Whatever it is, we will make the contact and proceed. Turn the hips while switching the feet and now the _wu sao_ moves from guarding hand to the seeking hand. The seeking hand moves back to guard and prepare for a strike. Notice that we are now in the opposite form from where we started.

We repeat that once more, like this. _Man sao_ seeks a bridge, the guarding hand strikes and seeks a new bridge while the seeking hand becomes the _wu sao_. Notice how easily the hips and feet follow. Your weight should be completely evenly balanced at all times. If you lean forwards or backwards, you will fall or be pulled. If you are standing too tall or down too low, you will be easy to knock over. You will also lack the strength to hit with full force.

We do that two more times. Now the _fuk sao_ subdues the attacker’s hand and we pull it back, almost like _lop sao_. _Lop sao_ is not the grabbing hand. We do not use the thumb because the fingers are weak. The thumb stays next to the hand and is closed. Nothing can go between the fingers in the hand. Not even the edge of a blade of grass should fit between all the fingers and the thumb. The hook of the subduing hand keeps control of the bridge and contact between you and your opponent. They cannot bring the bridge up like this, and if they sink, then they yield to our subduing motion. They cannot bring the bridge closer to you without pushing their hand out away from, or even past, your body. They cannot pull the bridge away without taking you with them.

In this way, you control the space and the angles of the contact. This is the most important thing to remember as we repeat this twice more. You must always control the space and the angle of the contact. If you are not in control, you are yielding. If you are forced to yield, then you must keep control. Balance both control of force with the replenishing of energy in yielding. The flow between these is the essence of the martial arts. When you control the space, it means you set up the distances and directions of motion and body. When you control the angle, it means you direct the forces away from your body, or toward your opponent.

Now we strike. Lead with the left. Always strike in a straight line with the hands turned vertically, the thumb bent and closed on top. Keep the fingers closed so not even a blade of grass can slip between them. Pack the fingers and palm so that they are solid as one rock. We repeat this eight times for a generous helping of fists. Remember that all of these hand and arm positions are the same with or without the weapon in them. We train the same way whether we hold the blade or do not hold the blade. If we hold the weapon, then we are happy. If we do not hold the blade, we are just as content. It doesn’t matter to the form.

We repeat the eight strikes four times, a generous death. When you strike, the feet and hips move as well. We block, strike, step, and twist in one motion. This generates power from the ground. The earth spirits join our feet, go into the legs, add to the water spirits of the heart and torso, amplify with the air spirits of the mind and lungs, and combine with the fire spirits in the heart. If all of these are in complete balance, we deliver death by hitting the head. Whether you are using a knife or not, we strike at the neck on either side for targets number 1 and 2 on the right and left, respectively. If you aim lower, we cut the lung, heart, or lung in targets 3, 4 and 5 from right to left. Then, if we repeat this the last time even lower, we strike the inside of the legs at targets 6 and 7.

These are the only valid targets. Anything else will only wound an opponent and allow them to strike back, defend, or run away.

Now we practice the bridge form together. I seek the bridge thus, and you meet the bridge with your seeking hand. Now the bridge is formed, what do we do? If you go up, I can subdue for control like this. Or, I can yield and _huen sao_ or circle hand around the wrist without breaking the bridge. Always circle away from the opponent’s thumb. Do not break contact, like this. Now since you are going up, I yield but then control you from the bottom and now your arm goes flying into the air. I use the _wu sao_ that has been patiently gathering force to strike straight to the ribs in target 3. You try it.

Starting over, we seek the bridge in an open form this time. The open form is when the opponent’s angle is in the same line as yours as I am. Our seeking arms point at each other, left to right. The crossed form is when the angles are crossed like this. The seeking arms point against each other, left to left or right to right. In the open form, though, I seek the bridge and you do, so what do we do? If you turn and strike, then the receiving hand, _tan sao_ easily pushes the strike outside, away from the body. The _pak sao_, slapping hand, pushes the elbow without breaking contact and the _wu sao_ easily strikes in a straight line the ear or target 2. If they are taller than you, hit the ear or head. If they are lower, hit the jaw, neck, or try the rib.