The last few days I’ve been working in cloud hands. I don’t know what to say about that, except that when I started, my first problem was to stop going so fast through it, and my second step was to figure out why I felt it was a weak part of my form work. I think I have that answered now, because I’ve had a chance to see how it comes out of Step Back to Drive the Monkey Awah, and leads into tie Diagonal Single Whip.

And I have to conclude that I didn’t learn this particular movement very well, and my teacher never helped me deconstruct this movement. Or maybe he did, and I just don’t remember. So I’m left with this mysterious movement that doesn’t really quite work, in between two movements I know well. Can I deconstruct what the opening and closing movements are telling me about the middle?

First, there’s a sweep of the arms. The wrists are “locked” or “hooked” to catch inbound attacks. The right arm goes behind the left arm as they float past one another. Where in this process does the step occur? I don’t know yet. I know there is one, but not where.

Things to work on for the future, I guess

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