Oftentimes you’ll be fighting with someone who Really knows how to defend themselves, Maybe because they’re just good fighters or because they actually have a knowledge of technique and advanced methods. You attempt to ‘pull-down and hit’ a few times, and a second ‘slap and palm’, but every single time you let go of a limb in order to strike, the hand that you’ve just released flashes up in front to protect them and maybe even initiate a counterattack against you! So what do you do?- how do you get the edge on them? Well being able to occupy Two limbs with One is a good start. It’s a very good way to alleviate the pressure, to confuse an opponent, if you can’t get full confusion as a reaction, at least you have in your favor that it’s probably something that their unfamiliar with, and it is Definitely a way to completely change the tempo of the conflict, effectively trippling the speed of your defenses & counters/strikes. It’s another approach to Sticking/Trapping, Listening and Following, etc. Ok, so I want to use 1 limb to control 2 – How do we do it. Well that’s easy; look into to your forms and see what techniques seem to attenuate themselves with the techniques of the opponent. Now, this can be Sticking techniques, Listening & Following techniques, basic Trapping techniques, or even just ‘Check the Limb’ techniques. Make sure that you have an instructor who can aid you in this learning process, Talk to your instructor and Explain what it is that you are looking for. If they understand what you’re talking about, see if you can get them to show you some examples that they have. See if they’re willing TO to teach you. Hopefully they do understand and they do have the skill to be able to teach you to develop the skill yourself. Okay now let’s move on to actually learning how to do it, and some techniques to get you started.
Let’s begin from a TaiJi perspective. The technique that I’ll be using is Embrace the Moon at Chest, into Ward Off. First, against my opponent’s lead Right Hand to my head I reach up with my right Embrace the Moon at Chest shape making initial contact with my right forearm to deflect his right hand to the lower left, & then deflect-roll his left hand attack high & to the right of his target, my head. Then, maintaining my right arm’s contact with his left & overturning both hands together, my right hand becomes the Ward Off shape as a palm to either the side of his right temple, side of jaw, or side of neck, while my left hand remains in position to deflect downward his own prepared right hand. He never gets the chance to use it, but I’m there nonetheless just in case. If I use just my right hand to to block my opponent’s right hand, and my left to his left, I have no other option but to release one of his limbs & try to attack him with the same even-numbered, matching-limbed type of attack which I’ve just countered. Instead, I let my right forearm/elbow deflect his left hand & using that contact Continue using my right arm to strike him. So I’ve used a single limb to first block two separate limbs (the initial right & left hand attacks to my head) and then I use my right arm to both deflect and counterstrike. This gives my Two limbs Three points of contact, the third point being the final stroke.
Next, White Crane. My opponent throws a right and left at my head, I use the right partial Embrace the Moon at Chest shape to deflect his right hand diagonally across me left to right. I Wait. Of course, completely dissatisified with the results of his right punch he throws a second, left hand punch at my face. My right hand, already having waited for this attack, already in position for what I knew will come, gently attaches to his elbow/upper arm and applying light – but direct – right to left pressure to his humerus succed not only in deflecting his fist across me, but also to throw him off balance. One limb defeats two.
Let’s now move onto the most Basic of BaGua techniques – Sparrow Leaves Flock. By now I think you can see how I’m initiating my contact with the first attacking hand with my own limb, & again, maintaining proper positioning I wait for the second hand which seems to practically Throw Itself into the trapI’ve laid for it. My right hand again goes out to either the side of his right temple, side of jaw, or side of neck as part of the same gesture. Three sequential points of contact. I continue my ‘right hand’ Circle Walk in order to gain control of his own waiting right arm and to out-flank him in order to continue my attack and finish him off. Knowing where & how to ‘Wait’ is a singlular skill unto itself. This information/skill is Directly derived from both practice of the form as well as Countless connect/stick/follow drills both in cooperative & uncooperative situations
Next, I use the beginning of Double Palm Change in almost exactly the same fashion, but this time Vertically instead of on the horizontal plane of all of the previous examples.
Lastly, the Shaolin perspective. I’m setting it up from the left side punch of Nien Shou. The truth of the matter, is that the simplicity and subtlety of the application displayed is so much more ‘internal’ than anything most Shaolin techniques exhibit that I’m just going to let the previous lessons serve as explanation for this one as well – and as a ‘test’ to see if you’ve been paying attention & can see how truly simple the shape of the technique, the structure of the limbs, and the extremely small range of motion all serve to fulfill my needs for the technique in this specific moment.
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All of these techniques are illustrated in this video, at varying speeds, to give you a sense of both the efficiency and the economy of this methodology. And Y’know, I think there’s room on this reel for One More application – Enjoy!
The sooner you can get a grasp of this methodology and some ways to compare it to other techniques in the system of martial art that you practice, the sooner that you can go back and start looking at all of the techniques that you know from all of the forms and start Plumbing them for what before now were Hidden treasures, suddenly made available for you now. Practice.
