by Walter Wong » Tue May 03, 2005 11:05 am
Same here. I am very traditional and yet I don't often stress ending up in the exact same spot I started my form in. I find often times I don't end up exactly in the same spot I start my forms for the past 9 years I trained forms at YMAA. Sometimes I maybe 1 foot away or 4 feet away from where I started but I never found myself in the same spot. If you end up finishing in the same spot you started, then that's nice. But I wouldn't make the starting/ending same spot that heavy of a focus. Concentrate on making your forms alive and combat effective. It's more important that you hit your opponent accurately than accurately finishing in the same spot you started fighting from.
On a side note, the Jian or straight sword is the most complicated weapons I have ever worked with. I am in a 2nd session of a sword workshop with Master Yang and from what I've seen of the books and videos of YMAA's Shaolin sword, although great book/video, the subtleties can't be felt or seen from books and videos alone. It's those subtleties that'll mean life and death when concerned with actual usage against another sword. Subtleties that you can only get from direct instruction from Master Yang or other qualified instructor. Currently I haven't learned any of the sword forms from this workshop, just the practical applications with lots of partner work which will be easily fused with the forms. The book/video is great reference for sure after you've recieved live instruction, but you can only do so much with the book/video alone learning from scratch. Do what you can with the book/video, and definitely try to attend a sword seminar or workshop with Master Yang.
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