Yep, another attempt at poetry instead of an entry about my tai chi experiences. I’d expect this to go on for a while — Maybe a month or so.
From this braced posture, the right hand retreats,
but right elbow remains just in its place
The left hand rises too, and it entreats
the opponent as it travels through space
until fingertips graze the bent right arm.
Thus a right angle is ordered — and stands
between the forearms on the right and left:
This is a posture of defensive hands,
for the arms can shift with movement so deft
to deflect the strike. Once the hands are firm,
weight can shift away from the front right foot;
the left leg can carry the weight a term —
but neither leg should move from where it’s put
Sweep both hands down and sideways to the left,
to guard the flank that in this move’s bereft.
[…] did the middle part of the form at all. When I got to the next Roll Back, I rolled back to the first one. And so on. Every time I came to a point where I hit a repeated movement, I simply shifted to an […]
[…] feels more natural, but there are parts of it which are surprisingly aggressive: during Roll Back, for example, it feels like I’m trying to jerk my opponent off his feet toward me and to my […]
[…] post about this movement, in the sonnets, is here, in Day 129 — but I revisited this poem twice. I’ll have to wait to hear from commenter Quin about […]
[…] maneuver is called Roll Back. I’ve written about Roll Back before, but I’m not even going to look at those other entries before I write a new […]
[…] roll back, press, push, single whip, stand like tree, shoulder strike, white heron spreads wings,brush knee/twist step, playing pipah, brush knee/twist step, grab needle at the sea floor,spread hands like fan, throat strike, retreat to the mountain camp, false close […]
[…] roll back, press, push, single whip, stand like tree, shoulder strike, white heron spreads wings,brush knee/twist step, playing pipah, brush knee/twist step, grab needle at the sea floor,spread hands like fan, throat strike, retreat to the mountain camp, false close, (I had to make a number of changes in the order of movements here… why did I get it so wrong?) […]
[…] Opening, circled hands, ward off left, ward off right, […]
[…] Opening, circled hands, ward off left, ward off right, […]
[…] There’s this little flip at the end of False Close, from yesterday, that really should have been included in that poem, rather than in today’s. It’s not a separate movement, really, just a step behind, followed by a Roll Back. […]
[…] see… Opening, circled hands, ward off left, ward off right, roll back, press, push, single whip, stand like tree, shoulder strike, white heron spreads wings, brush […]
[…] daily until … Let’s see… Opening, circled hands, ward off left, ward off right, roll back, press, push, single whip, stand like tree, shoulder strike, white heron spreads wings, brush […]
[…] seventh movement from the beginning, after opening, circling hands, ward-off left, ward-off right, roll-back, and press. Overall, it’s also part of a series of movements that repeat five times over […]