Freeform triangle
A feather cannot be placed, and a fly cannot alight on any part of the body.
The opponent does not know me; I alone know him.
To become a peerless boxer
results from this.
(Wang
Tsung-yueh)
Triangle
In the early 1990's Yang Jwing-Ming offered a simple statement:
Striking is defeated by grappling
Grappling is defeated by chin na
Chin na is defeated by striking
The self defence
syllabus serves to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of this
statement.
Students learn how to develop their own response to attack, utilising this
simple triangular premise.
Validity?
The triangle suggests an approach not a technique, and the validity of
the premise can easily be tested.
Try applying chin na to a strike without grappling first.
You may be lucky and succeed, but you cannot reasonably apply a chin na without
prior contact, and that contact constitutes grappling.
Flow
Each side of the triangle teaches you where to go next and what to do next;
making the transition between states smooth and easy.
You do not have to think, you just have to flow.
Striking
When the strike is launched, maintain distance and evade.
This alone is not enough.
Your opponent can throw punch after punch and you are forced to keep moving.
Yet, if you observe the triangle and grapple, everything changes.
Evade as normal, and then cover the attacking arm.
Now you are grappling; and your opponent cannot withdraw the arm or throw
another punch without you feeling it.
See the simplicity.
Your biggest mistake at this stage is to block the punch or move the arm rather
than the body.
You must still evade.
If you become lazy and forget to move your body, you will be hit.
Grappling
Covering the incoming strike gives you the opportunity to shape what happens
next.
(i) Listen
Use the covering limb as a means of receiving vital information.
'Listening' jing is the most useful sensitivity skill; feel what your partner is
doing and move as they move, evading again, grappling or striking.
(ii) Yielding/chin na
A more elaborate response involves greater skill.
You must combine yielding and chin na in order to limit avenues and angles of
attack.
This is the nearest our school gets to actual grappling and is not what most
martial artists mean by grappling.
Commitment must be minimal and strength absent; this is a yielding ability.
Evade, cover, penetrate defences, then employ stickiness to destabilise and take
the balance.
(iii) Resist
You may simply use the defensive jing 'resist'.
Remember that resist is not resisting - the difference is significant.
Push a heavy object and you encounter resistance but the object is not
resisting; it is doing nothing at all.
It is passive.
To be resisting, the object would need to be pushing back.
Can you see the difference?
Remember that resist jing is a fleeting moment - it is not strength on strength
- it is a not-doing and must be gone if your opponent pushes harder.
Grappling prevents further punches and kicks, reducing your opponents options
whilst increasing your own.
Strike or grab?
It is easy to forget that a strike or grab are fundamentally the same
thing.
When your partner reaches for you, they are trying to make contact.
Regardless of their intent, you want to evade.
Whether that limb hits or grabs you is not important, evade it the same way and
counter attack.
Do not discriminate between punches, kicks and grapples - treat them as one
thing.
Counter the body, not the limb.
Chin na
Chin na prevents grappling by limiting your partners ability to move; and
typically involves seizing, joint leverage or a cavity seal.
We never aim to hold anyone in our school because it can easily become a battle
of strength.
Use chin na to destabilise and lever - never to hold.
In a worst case scenario, apply a break; but do not consider this option
casually and certainly never in class.
Beginners only gain a very crude sense of chin na.
The training is far more extensive in the intermediate syllabus with formal
drills studied initially, followed by a lot of freeform practice.
Ideally a chin na must occur as part of the flow - a moment within the
relationship - rather than a technique.
Chin na is best used to confuse a grappler and create the opportunity to throw
or strike.
Escape and strike
If your opponent seeks to hold you, evade and strike them.
If you are unsuccessful or held unexpectedly, use your entire body to create
space, then slip the hold and strike or employ yielding/chin na.
When your opponent is committed to a hold they cannot reasonably deflect strikes
at the same time.
Be awkward.
Triangle
The intermediate syllabus teaches students how to move seamlessly from
striking to grappling and back to striking again.
Chin na is introduced but not expanded upon.
The ability to neutralise each arena of attack is a necessary self defence
skill.
To complete the 5 challenges you must possess the ability to switch between
striking, grappling and chin na without pause or hesitation.
An attacker should not be able to predict the nature of your response, let alone
anticipate a specific counter.
Page created 5 August 1999