stances again!

[mantis]

i already asked a question on how to develop good stances..
i've been practicing and managed to pull better results, still not good enough, but way better than before (instead of 5 seconds in horse stance i can do a whole minute really low)
last night in class we practiced a little bit of transitioning between stances.
now i wonder if kung fu students, and teachers can give me combinations of so i can practice transitioning.
thanks a lot

 

[clfsean]

Easy one...

-- twist to your right from Sei Ping Ma (horse stance) to Ning ji Ma (Bow stance)
-- step your rear leg (L) over your front leg (R) in Ning ji ma to Li Ma (Lady or Cross Leg Stance)
-- untwist 180 degrees back to Sei Ping Ma & repeat

Or just see if your instructor know Wu Bu Quan to teach out as a drill.

 

[dmax999]

Horse -> Bow -> Cat -> Crane -> Monkey -> Scissor -> Drop -> Steal -> back to Horse.

Do left Bow first time, when repeating do right Bow.

Currently we throw in Back stance between Horse and Bow, it is similar to santisan Xing-I stance.

Your teacher should know these stances, but may call them something else. I suggest keep up with horse, one minute is good starting, and work on drop stance. Drop is the one most in my classes have problems doing correctly.

 

[mantis]

Horse -> Bow -> Cat -> Crane -> Monkey -> Scissor -> Drop -> Steal -> back to Horse.

Do left Bow first time, when repeating do right Bow.

Currently we throw in Back stance between Horse and Bow, it is similar to santisan Xing-I stance.

Your teacher should know these stances, but may call them something else. I suggest keep up with horse, one minute is good starting, and work on drop stance. Drop is the one most in my classes have problems doing correctly.

wow..
good stuff

i actually havent heard of at last half of the stances you mentioned..
i believe you mean these: http://dragonyoga.com/stance.html
mission scissors which i know what it is, and steal..

what is a common mistake your students do when doing the drop stance? just so i avoid it.
thanks a lot

 

[Icewater]

What is the drop stance? I think different schools have varied names for different stances. The Sil-Lum that I take has horse, hill climber, bow and arrow, seven star, cat, flat-foot, wu-chi (natural stance), front cross / rear cross (transition stances), and dragon.

 

[dmax999]

wow..
good stuff

i actually havent heard of at last half of the stances you mentioned..
i believe you mean these: http://dragonyoga.com/stance.html
mission scissors which i know what it is, and steal..

what is a common mistake your students do when doing the drop stance? just so i avoid it.
thanks a lot

That site has different names for different stances. I'll translate mine for you from theirs.

Theirs -> Mine
Horse -> Horse
Cat -> Cat
Dragon -> Scissor (Read their description, picture is a higher version of stance)
Monkey -> Sitting (Not a normal stance for us, but we have it)
Unicorn -> Monkey
Crane -> Crane

Don't see a Drop or Steal.
Drop stance is similar to Yang Tai Chi Snake Creeps Down Stance. Problem is most new people are not nearly flexable enough to get into it correctly. Solution is to start working on it and keep at it till it is good. Only mentioned it because it takes longer to get due to flexiablity then others, for most people at least.

Eagle Claw Grandmaster Leung Shum, from NYC, has a video (Video #1 in his set) that demonstrates all of these stances and the "form" that we practice. I think descriptions are also in is book, Secrets of Eagle Claw.

Everything in Eagle Claw beginning translates to most northern kung-fu with maybe minor changes. Crane is a little different, and the way to go into horse is a little different, from Mizhong Lohan.

 

[moonflipper]

Hello... First post, just saying hi

 

[Walter Wong]

Spend time daily standing in your stances as low as possible for longer and longer periods as your legs aquire more strength from standing in them. And then push to keep the stances just as low when you do your forms. Ultimately, you should make transitions from stance to stance fluidly to the point where you're moving through them like you were walking. Like low squat walking with great ease. Remember that your legs should behave like a pair of wheels when moving from stance to stance. In fact in Mandirin the term for Horse Stance is Ma Bu. Bu means more "step". So these "stances" should be viewed and trained as continuous legs moving, otherwise nonstop stepping, as we don't stand in these postures to look pretty let alone just stand there. In fact I feel "stance" is not a good word to call these "Bu's" as really when in combat, you never stop moving til your enemy stops cause they just plain stop or gave up or died. I think it would be more appropriate to call these stances like Horse Stance to Horse Step. Or Bow & Arrow/Mountain Climbing Stance to Bow&Arrow/Mountain Climbing Step. And so on.

The thought of calling something "stance" leads one to think of something that stands still. If anything a Chinese Martial Artist is doing when responding to an attack is moving with legs included and not standing still. So I prefer the word Step than Stance. I'm sorry, did I stray away from the original question?