FOOTRING AND LIP.

 

If you start correctly and finish correctly it is just not possible to go wrong in the middle.

 

After my Spinal Fusion surgery in 1996, I decided to try a new career path so I studied to be a Ceramic Artist, part of the three-year course was reading up on the history of Ceramics and Ceramic Artists from all around the globe.

It should be no surprise that the approach of many of the Japanese Potters was very closely connected to Zen Buddhism, it was impossible to read about a period or pottery area without deviating into Ikebana, Rock Gardens, the Tea Ceremony and even the Martial Arts.

Everything was interrelated, positions for fighting were used in flower arranging, advice for throwing clay was used in fighting.

One particular thing from pottery that has had a deep influence on my training and teaching of Kung Fu is that when making a vase or teacup only the footring and lip are of importance, and these must be correct and as near perfect as possible.

The IDEA is that when the footring and lip are perfect, nothing in between can be wrong.

 

When my students get to Chum Kiu this is when I introduce them to this thinking, start perfect, end perfect ignore the middle.

When I have a guest or casual students from other schools I notice that they tend to put most if not all of their attention on the movement in the middle, as a result, they struggle to perform or properly understand Chum Kiu.

So many students think that it is about the moving of the body that they ignore the simplicity of knowing what shape we are in now, and what shape we wish to be next.

If you start correctly and finish correctly it is just not possible to go wrong in the middle.

If the Footring and Lip are in the correct alignment and relationship to each other the pot pretty much shapes itself and does so perfectly. if they are out of synch the pot will throw itself from the wheel.

Our eyes may not see it but our senses feel that when the footring and lip are in harmony the pot breathes, it comes alive and we can feel its practicality.

When the foot ring and lip are out of synch the pot may well be very beautiful, but we see it in a sculptural way, solid but stationary and ever so slightly dead.

This is true of any movement set.

If we start correctly and finish correctly by default with no effort on our part the middle becomes perfect.

If the middle was not perfect we would struggle to finish at all let alone finish correctly.

 

STARTS AND FINISHES from WC INCa’s on Vimeo.

 

Bringing this into line with my posts on conditioning I would like to offer a quote from a book I am reading…

“Correct human movement is not open to debate. Technique is not some theoretical idea about the best way to move; it provides the means to fully express movement potential in the most stable positions possible’.

 “Becoming a Supple Leopard”.  Kelly Starrett.

We should work hard to keep this attitude, things either work because they are correct or they fail because they are not, the result is usually injury and not just failure to fire, this is not a critique of your Sifu or Lineage.

 

WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESS, PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTH.