Snake chi sau

Had to cancel today's lesson with CC- rats! By late last night, my armbarred arm didn't want to move much. This morning it was better, but didn't have full range of motion. I e-mailed CC and told him that I might have to cancel, but that I'd check back with him after the ibuprofen kicked in- but he just wanted to go ahead and cancel.

Luckily the arm was sore but functional by tonight for Sunday kung fu (formerly Tuesday kung fu). We met in the rec room at JoE's apartment building- it wasn't too bad once we moved the furniture and opened the sliding glass door (it was very stuffy), but a bit small for our purposes. There is an alternate location being scouted- hope it works out.

Another plus- the commute only took us about 20 min from Bellevue (plus an extra 30min for me to get to Bellevue from Redmond). That's sure an improvement on the hour it takes us during weekday commute.

After a short forms warmup (we had to go one at a time- each of us picked one form for the next person in line to perform), we reviewed the section of Kiu Two that we'd done last week. JM and I also did some Kiu One, after we'd gotten sick of doing reps while waiting for SK to teach JoE the first part (he hadn't been in class last week).

The another short portion of each piece.

Part A- Right Snake hand wraps around opponent's upper arm (don't cheat the pullback before you start the wrap, though) and finishes palm-toward-you face level while left hand bong-sau's to forehead level. At the same time, you're scissor-stepping in by crossing the left foot behind the right. Then disengage by turning and taking two retreating steps to finish in a right-foot-front cat; while double Snake hands do a Dragony counterclockwise circle, dip to left hip, end in double Snake guard stance with right Snake on top. Remember to keep arms in front of body and not circle out too wide.

Part B- Same bong sau with left hand, but you're sticking your right arm out and bent downward at the elbow to counter the wrap. Same scissor step. Then the exact same Dragony arm circle and same ending stance as part A.

Done together, with Part B person not allowing the arm wrap to happen, you're coming together with your respective bong sau's touching, like a dance pose on a Grecian urn or something. And then splitting apart to face off in identical Snake guards.

After we'd practiced this a lot, we did some chi sau (sticky hands). Snake chi sau differs from Wing Chun chi sau in that the Wing Chun is always striving toward the opponent's center, and the Snake- well, it is too- but by going around, down, over, in a less forthright fashion. Both are supposed to be RELAXED, of course, which is the hardest part for both JM and me. We did one-handed chi sau and then two-handed chi sau, and then switched partners and I did it with Nemesis.