Tuesday, March 6, 2007

How do you start Erluquan?

Last week Shifu corrected how I started Erluquan. You know - that move right at the beginning after you swing your right arm to the side and swing it back to the front as if you're hitting somebody's throat while doing kind of side Gongbu.

So I think Shifu told me to do this....



...because he told me to do the move like what we do at the end of Yiluqan where you hold your two palms up while doing the side Gongbu - he told me to do that and then chamber my left hand and flip my right hand. So the end result is the picture above.

But now I'm not sure that I understood him correctly because I looked at everybody else doing the form today. They all did this...



I think I'm going to keep doing the Fig. 1 and I'll be different... :) But how were you taught to do this particular move?

(I'm stealing Ellen's idea doing the stick figures. I'm too lazy to draw faces though so I'm drawing them from the back...)

7 comments:

  1. Yeah, I'm confused about that too. I thought figure 1 was wrong when I saw someone doing it last week during the day class, but I think it's actually right-- it only seems wrong because most people don't do it that way.

    I've been finding Erluquan particularly confusing because different people teach different ways of doing it... Oh well! Train harder!

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  2. After just doing it a few times in my hotel room in Xi'an I'd say I do it with my upper body much more at an angle than upright. When I learned it, Heng Chu emphasized popping my right hip out, which I suppose means the same as yiluquan.

    Also, Heng Fa always says hold your hand like you're holding a teacup. He usually knows those little philosophy-in-the-forms things too.

    With forms it's true it's like a game of telephone, Shifu teaches someone who teaches someone who teaches someone who teaches someone else.

    I generally stick to the rule do what Shifu says, and I don't hesitate to ask him if someone says something differently or I'm unsure about something.

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  3. I'd say bottom line is go with Shifu's suggestion which is Figure 1. After all, he is Shifu. :) Thanks for the reminder!!

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  4. FWIW, I learned it halfway in between, leaning forward so your straight leg, back and arm are flat, but chest forward, not sideways.

    But, you know, if sifu told you to do it a certain way, you should probably do it like that.

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  5. I'm sorry. Me again.

    In these situations ask your Sifu what is the application of this move. In theory it really doesn't matter if this leg comes out more or arms out there. All that matters is that you can use it in a practical situation. Kung fu comes from a martial application therefore if you know the martial application it will be easy to find out how it should look like and how it should feel. Hope that helps!

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  6. Today in class during forms, Shifu was working with Kris on the start of erluquan and made him to the yiluquan end position and then switch his arms into the erluquan one.

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  7. I thought you guys might like this.
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=faxW0GcyyDo

    It's not exactly the same erluquan at the temple but the beginning is the same. Plus the girl is just god darn cute. =)

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