Thursday, November 3, 2011

Yang Long Form

Yang Chen Fu — Ward Off
My practice since the summer has been to concentrate on the Yang Long Form (108 forms). It has been a delight and is now my daily practice.
It was daunting at first to think about learning 108 forms, but less problematic when I got down to it. Many of the forms I had already learned in Yang Short Form, and Simplified 24 Form. There are also a number of repeats during the routine. They occur like a chorus and weave into one another.
It has proved very satisfying ... more so than the short forms. I am pondering why this might be the case. Best guess is that, as the long form takes about 17-20 minutes to complete, you enter a deeper meditative state. It is also the traditional form and so I assume that the masters who designed and refined it did so for a reason.
It has also been good too to have my postures looked at and corrected by Master Jesse. He can spot issues in a second or two and the corrections he gives make so much sense. It serves to show that to have a good teacher is so important.