Sparring a biter

…Violence… is the most international and oldest language there is. It is common to all societies. It is attached to the very fabric of life. Depending on their fighting ability, every animal on earth ends up taking on the role of predator or prey. Not only nearly all animals fight, but even the cells inside our bodies fight against germs and bacteria. No one who lives in a physical body can completely ignore the language of violence. Whether by choice or not, anyone may have to deal with it. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path

Today's FOD is Little Red Dragon.

Knock me over with a feather.... DD actually sent me vids of CM (the Tiger Master) doing Five Points Of The Star and Tiger Versus Crane. DD's reluctance to let anyone besides his pets have- or even see- any videos (even of forms we've been doing for years) has been one of my ongoing complaints. He and his pets frequently reference these mythic videos in classes, and will say things like, "RS does this technique with a left uppercut in the video, as you know...." "NO, I *DON'T* know, because I never get to see any videos." I can't believe he actually sent me two videos. Of course CK is in town... she usually guilt-trips him while she's here, regarding the way he neglects me.

CK looked silently at my broken finger for a long time, with the sole comment of "Oh dear." She thinks it needed a pin, and is exasperated that I didn't see a doctor when it happened.

Relay sparring with CK and JB. Stuck in my mind from Sunday evening was CN telling us that Dragon does the thing- and goes in the direction- that doesn't make sense. From this, I took the following: I played chi sau with my left hand, letting it lie heavily on my opponent's forearm... and at random moments, I would bring it up and BACKHAND the opponent in the face, on the side (ie, from the direction) that made no kinesthetic sense. True I couldn't get much power into it, but I got clean strikes with zero resistance (even on CK); if I'd gone for an eye poke or something, it could've been brutal. It was distracting to them, as well. It felt *totally* like something CN would have done. ;-)

Another thing I was trying that worked well for me (even with CK) was to chi sau heavily on the opponent's forearm with my left hand while I tried chained strikes at multiple levels with my right hand. After the opponent was fully occupied with dealing with my right arm, my left hand popped up and (surprise!) Crane's-beaked them in the chin.

Two lengthy groundfighting sequences ensued while sparring with JB. It gets much more complicated when you are not playing by sport BJJ rules, and thus the opponent has free reign to punch you in the stomach, spear-hand you in the adam's apple, or (if you are unfortunate enough to be fighting a Monkey stylist like JB) pinching, tickling and BITING you. She also started untying and removing my pants at one point... yes, that was indeed an effective distraction that inspired me to immediately become more concerned with preserving my modesty than with punching her in the ribs.

I got a guillotine that wasn't really on correctly, but I knew she couldn't get out, so I just cranked it (carefully and slowly) to the side till she tapped.

I tried to armbar her once, and slammed her head down on the ground with my legs harder than I intended to (we were not on mats, but grass, and the ground was really not soft enough for that sort of thing). I felt really bad.


We also went though the Tai Chi short empty-hands form a few times. Note that I found an error in my transcription; need to go back and fix that. I needed to be reminded once more to tuck my butt under and minimize the curve in my lower back. Note also that the slight pushing-out at the apex of the "zombie pose" at the beginning- if it's pronounced enough for her to SEE it, then it's too pronounced.

Wave Hands Like Clouds. Bottom hand needs to be "active", both arms should be out a bit further from the body, and both elbows bent at about the same angle. Hips move more. Rear-stepping leg isn't exactly stepping, if you are doing the hips correctly- you just take the weight off the leg and it will swing into place because you have twisted in that direction already. Remember to not have the hands *OR* the feet leading the body- they must all move at the same time.

I think that prior to this, my idea of Moving From the Center has not been including enough hip. I think I have been twisting too much at the waist... partially because of fear of moving anything below the waist.