we are getting dangerously close to me coming off as if I'm just ripping on kenpo with a good dose of sour grapes, and I don't want to do that. I'm seeing the issue as a recognition that the kenpo way is not a good match for me, while others may feel it works quite well for them. I don't want to just insult all the kenpoists, that's not my intention. Maybe I've already crossed that line and it's too late, I dunno.
What I'll put forth is a brief description of how we do things in white crane, and what makes sense to me about it. Maybe that perspective will give some insights and kenpoists can compare how they personally see and do kenpo, without me making a list of what I feel doesn't work about it.
we have a very specific method that we use in delivering our techniques in white crane. And by "technique", in the context of white crane I mean every type of punch or strike, I am not referring to the often lengthy Self Defense techniques that are common to most of the Parker-derived kenpo lineages.
We use our foundation and stance to drive everything. Beginning with the feet, we learn to press and brace them against the ground and create a rooting effect that gives us stability. From there we practice a waist turning exercise, which teaches us to rotate the torso by driving the feet against the ground. The feet actively press into and turn on the ground, and that action travels up thru the hips and into the torso and makes it rotate. The rotation of the torso is specifically driven from that action with the feet on up, it is not done by turning at the shoulders and leading the turn from the top. I always say, drive from the bottom, do not turn from the top.
When we deliver almost every type of strike or punch or technique, it comes from this rotation. We very specifically link the travel of the punch to the turning of the body and we are very precise about matching those movements together. The rotation drives the punch out. In my observations, people often "pivot" their feet and throw a punch, but the timing is not together and the stance pivot actually did nothing to power that punch. If they are not together, it does no good. We practice this rotation back and forth all by itself, over and over, and we practice our various striking techniques with this rotation, over and over to develop that timing and ability to engage the whole body in delivering the technique. The change from one stance to another as we rotate back and forth is where the work is being done. The stance itself is just the ending posture. The real work is being done between the stances, and if you screw it up then you diminish the effects.
We do not have a list of self defense techniques like kenpo has. We do practice a curriculum of forms, some of which are quite long and taxing. The forms can be fairly complex and challenging, and most people make the mistake of believing the forms are meant to teach self defense combinations. They focus on the use of the specific movements, i.e. "when I step like this in the form and move my hand like THIS, I can use that combination to defend against a punch in THIS manner..." I agree that this type of analysis is important. however, I believe it is only of second importance and is not the most important thing.
What the forms teach us first and foremost is to keep that foundation strongly engaged no matter what we are doing. The complex movements in the form make it challenging to keep the integrity of the foundation, but a real fight is even more challenging. So the forms are an intermediate step towards being able to fight and being able to maintain that foundation during a rapidly changing situation with a lot of stepping and movements. As we work through the form we keep the stances strong, the rooting engaged, and use that body rotation to drive every technique. Like I said, the forms are long and we've got a fair number of them. It is a challenge to work through a form and keep all the foundation engaged and deliver every technique properly. Racing through your forms does not allow you to get the training benefits of this. It is important to be methodical, and not go any faster than you can while maintaining all the foundation aspects. Sifu harps on us about that and says, slow down and get it right. If you race through and just go thru the motions, you get no benefit, you are only exercising, you get no martial development. The form is NOT a dance, it is NOT an artistic endeavor, it is NOT a performance item. It is a training tool and you only get the benefits when you know how to practice the form correctly and mindfully.
From there we can progress into partner drills to practice specific techniques with a partner. Like my earlier post where I kept saying, "Pek chui to Chuin chui", we just work that on a partner. He throws punches at me and I use my pek chui to smash him down and then counter. But the point of the drill is not to just "do the movement". It is to deliver the technique with that foundation that we've been working so hard to develop, so that it is devastating. We have to wear arm pads when we do this because if not, we'd have to quit after about four shots, it is just that painful and destructive. So we beat the hell out of each other's arms, but we aren't just swatting with our arm; we are delivering technique with full body engagement and rotation, rooted in.
This is in a nutshell the whole idea of white crane: to learn to use the whole body to deliver every technique that we do. There are a few basic principles that permeate all of the system: rooting, rotation, extension, that's mostly it. The whole system is built upon that, and those are the things that drive it all, that is the engine underneath it. Once you understand this and develop the ability to do it, then any and every movement can become a devastating technique because it is all driven with the power of the whole body.
When I think of principles, I think of that kind of permeation, what drives everything. Sometimes people talk about principles, but what they are describing are simply ideas that may be useful under specific circumstances. That is not a principle, it does not drive the entire system, it is of limited use and depends on special circumstances. The principles I consider do not depend on circumstances, they permeate everywhere in the system, under all conditions, almost without exception.
) I've said that there should be a smaller list per belt. That way, more focus could be devoted to the material. If you have 20 techs/belt, plus 2 katas, how long do you honestly think that someone is going to have to stay at that level, in order to really be competent? Now couple that with the fact that many people seem to be in a rush for rank. 
