The "Movement Engine"
Classical kung fu is mystery, amazement, pragmatism, and beauty all rolled up into a single practice. It is one of the most effective means of self-defence ever developed while at the same time one of the most cerebral and spiritual practices you will ever find.
A key kung fu concept that one needs to be aware of is what I call the "Movement Engine." Movement Engines define the utility contained within the "forms" of kung fu. And in any style of classical kung fu it is the complete set of "forms" contained within it that defines its range of applications, body mechanics, and characteristic uses of energy. For those who don't know, "forms" are a kind of prearranged set of movements linked together for solo practice. In my case, I practice "forms" from the internal martial art of Bagua Zhang and from the long-fist martial art of Cha Chuan.
The idea behind the "Movement Engine" is that strength alone, explosive power alone, flexibility alone, applications alone, perception alone, mind alone, any and all attributes alone, are all just pieces of the whole of whatever martial art we are trying to learn. And more importantly, the sum of all those pieces must be coordinated to work together properly. It seems like a statement of the obvious when you think about it, yet surprisingly few martial arts have anything in their training regimen to satisfy this requirement in my opinion. In fact for the most part, what I see is that each piece of the whole is usually trained as a separate practice with the work of uniting all the parts being left to chance.
Imagine this; you build a beautiful car with an engine that produces say 2000 hp and everything in the car is solid except for the tires which are let's say just bicycle tires. The result is that all the passion and all the hard work you put into building the car is of no use. The car will spin its tires and burn them off the moment even a modest amount of the engine's 2000 hp is used. The point is that to realize the potential of any system the parts it is made from must be balanced with respect to each other.
It's the same thing with martial arts - the sum of all the parts must work together while the mind and body are in movement. Balance, dexterity, and the ability to use strength must all be maintained while moving through unusual and ever-changing paths of motion. In martial arts you don't want to punch with so much explosive power that it pulls you off your feet landing you flat on your face. As a result it is common to find training methods that require you to punch against resistance, using a heavy bag for example, in order to build power. And also to practice punching without resistance, "punching air " as they say, to develop control. Through the combination of these practices we can achieve a balance of power and control in our punching that yields the maximum efficiency in application.
However, in modern martial arts the paths of motion we use to develop our blend of balance and control with are usually quite small. In fact most often these paths of motion consist of only standing in one spot, or at most of just shuffling back and forth a bit, or from side to side a bit while we practice. Classic "forms" on the other hand have been developed to provide a method of practice that explores a much larger set of dynamics in motion. And this is the key. They are composed of linked "chains of movement" which are meant to exhaust every imaginable path of motion within the limits of the style. As a result these chains of movement train body mechanics, energy, breath, and application methods, in a more balanced and comprehensive way. Again, this is accomplished by simply using a larger dynamic range of motions such as shuffling, stepping, walking, leaping, jumping, turning, leading, following, leaning, and so forth to train each technique with. And while it may be more difficult and take longer to train this way. It leaves one with a much larger and more useful skill set.
These chains of movement, and the superior skills they are meant to build, are what I call the "Movement Engines." They have been put together not just as a representation of the skills of a single martial arts sage, but of many sages combined. It is important to understand this in order to see that the "forms" being comprised of collections of "Movement Engines," must be trained and examined as such in order for us to benefit fully in a martial arts sense. The levels of skill to be gained through their practice is not just a normal thing either - it is often truly beyond what we would consider to be our limits. That is why it is called kung fu!
The "forms," the "traditional forms" contained within the many styles of classical kung fu, may not be designed to win a lot of competitive events; and they may take more than a simple "meat and potatoes" approach to understand as well; but if you study them earnestly and practice them diligently and try to find all the "Movement Engines" contained within them, you will be walking along the same paths tread by many of the greatest martial artists throughout history - that's not too bad.
Cheers!
John Spak
Fists of Mystery and Truth Martial Arts
Shifu John Spak has practiced martial arts for more than 37 years and teaches the internal martial art of Baguazhang and the long-fist martial art of Cha Chuan in Vancouver and Surrey BC, Canada. Feel free to contact him with questions or comments through email at johnspak@fistsofmysteryandtruth.com
Visit his Website at www.fistsofMysteryandTruth.com
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