Snake Pierces the Sky
Submitted by jfink on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 18:21
Help! I’ve been practicing the new detail on the move “Snake Pierces the Sky” that Instructor Josh Grable taught us in the April 18 Master Class in Needham (congratulations to Instructor Josh on his new belt, by the way). I’ve broken most of it down into bite-sized pieces, but it still doesn’t feel right. Starting with a stomach circle, I added in a taiji-like steering of the waist and weight shifting from the back foot to the front foot. In other words, the basic body movements of the block are in with the stomach to engage the core, twist to the inside and shift the weight forward. Then, continuing the circle, I used the stomach circle to shift weight back, while adding power to the turning around my rear hip socket like we do with sweeping drills, in order to swing the front leg around and launch a low uppercut. Somehow, the upward movement of the stomach circle and the power from the hip are supposed to make it all feel connected, but my knees are sore from being torqued too much. Thinking about it further, a push off the front foot to start the turn (snake=earth) gets even more power into the twist and punch, but at the expense of knees that hurt more too. Everything I’ve tried either starts with a grinding twist to a back leg that still has some weight on it or ends up with a very un-snakelike jump into the final position. Does anybody have any thoughts about what’s missing?
Follow-Up with Master Tom Adams
I finally had a chance to follow up with Head Instructor Tom (Master Adams for those in Nashua). The answer has a few extra twists, turns and pops of energy - really too complicated to describe here, but it feels powerful and connected when it works. If anybody wants to discuss it further or do some practice, let me know.
After doing some repetitions
After doing some repetitions on this movement, I found that if you keep the back foot at 45 degrees and the front foot facing straight ahead; and while in that stance, by pushing your knees outward like in a brush knee stance it doesn't torque your knees at all. While practicing the movement the way you described above, I found that my back knee was being torque as it collapsed in and began to get sore but i simply fixed it by pushing my knee out so I'm in more of a brush knee stance. Doing so allows me to push off of the front foot for more drive and it also connects the whole movement together so that it flows more smoothly. But uh, I really have no idea what you're doing wrong unless I see it myself but I hope this helps you. :D
If something hurts...
It looks like you have stumped everyone here. The best thing to do any time you are hurting yourself is to grab an instructor and ask for help. Some mild joint soreness can be normal but for anything beyond that seek one-on-one assistance. Any of the instructors will be happy to help. If you a really hurting, you should definitely ask Master Instructor Tom. He is a wizard at this sort of thing.