Putting some more pieces together

              In last night’s class we did some sparring drills.  Working on my distancing and timing as the attacker, but also working on my defence.  I focused on just using my lead hand for defending, doing a simple turn of the wrist to deflect the oncoming attacks.  My inspiration, the end of Da Mu Hsing V.  I noticed I really didn’t need a lot of movement for the blocks to be effective and it really gave me some more insight into those final few moves.  Neat to put it into practice practically.  Also helps that we slowed things down and I knew what was coming at me.  

             I also noticed when free sparring that most people only throw one or two techniques at a a time and then back off.  I’ll do this if I’m going against someone who is not as experienced so they won’t get overwhelmed.  I want them to learn, and they won’t if they’re too overwhelmed.  Interesting though that most people only think ahead a couple of moves.  I’ve been trying to string together more combinations.  I know they won’t always work, but it can be helpful to overwhelm an opponent.  I still would like to work on close quarters sparring because I really fall apart there.  I’m good at getting in on my opponent, but if they do that to me I start to panic.  So I’m purposely putting myself in that range and defending, looking for opportunities to strike back.

               Lastly, Tai Chi still continues to provide me with plenty of learning opportunities.  I’m getting more familiar with when something feels off and identifying a general reason.  Usually has to do with either timing of my upper and lower half, and also one arm/hand not being engaged enough.  Funny how an arm, that is fully capable of acting independently of the rest of the body, can really mess with my timing and release of energy.