Pranam.
In my first post I remarked that Sifu's teachings on Standing have even influenced the way I approach my percussion practice. Last week I found another somewhat unexpected intersection.
About 2-3 times per year I have the opportunity to attend regional SWAT training here. I don’t jump out or off of anything, and I don’t rappel down buildings etc. with the young guys. Instead I practice shooting as much as possible - since I’m not the one paying for ammo.
An observation: most SWAT operators by the time they reach their mid-30’s are pretty much physically destroyed. The sheer weight of wearing and moving under all that gear – vests, battle -belts, and Level 4 Armor plates…when you reach a certain age and hit the proverbial wall, it all comes back to take its toll.
This weekend something occurred to me. Sifu has observed and remarked that my previous Internal training -at least posture-wise - was based on “collapse”. I didn’t fully understand until I completed the first week of Standing according to Sifu’s teachings. I felt compelled to ask Sifu during my second (?) lesson “why would anyone “devise or practice a system based on collapse? Sifu’s paraphrased answer “that’s how you have to practice if you’re not healthy”.
I applied UCB standing principles of backstop, foot-couple, etc. this weekend while shooting. Not only did my marksmanship improve dramatically, I was also able to deal with recoil like it was nothing. Even while wearing as much gear as I could hold, I didn’t feel heavy, weighted down, or “compressed” internally the way I have in the past.
It became very clear how the heavy/compressed/collapsed “way” is sustained by someone who is indeed not healthy. In the recent past I would finish a 20-minute standing set in a t-shirt and jeans and physically feel the same heaviness as I would if I had been wearing full gear for that same amount of time. I think over time you just check-out mentally until you hit the wall and can’t ignore it any longer, and then it just gets worse from there. I’ve observed this particularly in a certain Taiji teacher I recently studied with (not to name names) who I watched deteriorate physically and mentally/emotionally over the course of almost 10 years.