During a break in the intense training of Qian Zhaohongs Xinyi camp, I finally sit down to write down some notes. I’m in the very charming and authentic Japanese sword dojo in Hörsholm, well outside of Copenhagen. I still have not found out which sword tradition they practice here, they being a little secretive about it.
It has been five days of intensive training, from nine o’clock in the morning everyday and it’s starting to tell in my body. Despite that, this week feels suprisingly more managable, since the previous training weeks with Qian ZhaoHong have felt much heavier. Perhaps this is a sign that we have started to relax ourselves in the techniques. “Song” is a word which Qian ZhaoHong has repeated many, many times this week and it means just that: “Relax.”
The group out on the mat training has started with the exercises again and it’s time for “circle walk.” This is a coordinatory exercise which demands alot from its performers. The legs move as a cross, while the arms do two externally cutting circles. It is evident who was there the earlier occasions when Qian ZhaoHong was here in Denmark.
“Open and turn” echoes in the room as Qian Zhaohong counts the tempo of the different excercises.
– Waving Clouds is the opposite of The Cat washes his Face, explains Qian Zhao Hong.
He walks around the students and to show them his attacks slowly and controlled, so that everyone can experience how the techniques work.
Anders Gjerlöv come inside the door. He is the one who invited Master Qian ZhaoHong to Narum. At these events there is alot to do. For instance, since the dojo is a bit outside of the small village, someone has to drive there every day to get food. There is also a lot of other things that need to be fixed. Making sure all the seminar fees are payed, diplomas to be written and ofcourse; buying a present for Qian ZhaoHong. Anders is very careful with these things.
Those who read the previous article on Xinyi Liuhe Quan and training it here in Denmark, may remember that it was exceptionally cold in the dojo last time. This time, it’s not been as stunningly cold. It may be this that makes the body not feel quite as stiff and beaten this time.
Since it is the last day here in Hörsholm, the pace of the training is high and Qian ZhaoHong switches between the different exercises frequently.
The group moves to the “Snake excercise.”
There have been alot of partner exercises this week. It has been a lot of everything, in fact. On weekdays, it has been seven hours of exercise a day. Seven hours is a lot and it shows that we built a lot of technical training into the body. Even if you are tired, the body moves by itself.
During the week, there has not only been training in Xinyi Liuhe Quan. During this, his fourth seminar in Denmark, Qian ZhaoHong also teached in Xinyi Chan Si Taiji Quan (spiral tai chi). One can imagine that the gentle and calm training is like resting for the body, but it’s not. Those not sufficiently trained or that have a difficult time relaxing, may find it very tasking.
Classical Tai Chi training is an enormously tough workout form and its applications are sometimes frighteningly effective. What makes me think Xinyi Liuhe Quan is sharper than the Tai Chi is that it is more direct and aggressive in its structure. There are no detours in Xinyi Liuhe Quan, it is always straight to the point.
We’ve laughed a lot in the dojo. Qian Zhao Hong goes around and gives tips on things you can find in the various applications. Although all based on the same basic training, there are still a multitude of variations depending on how the different practitioners interperet the system.
Qian ZhaoHong is back to mending a student’s foot injury. It did not arise in Xinyi training but is an old injury. Many students have different such old training injuries and they sometimes cause problems. This is perhaps a small hint that some martial arts are not that good for the body and should perhaps be exchanged for something else. The older you get, the more important it is to select a martial art that is friendly to your body.
The floor inside the dojo is coated with tatamis, which makes it convenient to practice throws and takedowns. There have also been lots of that this week. Exercises after excercises and people tossed all over the dojo floor.
There have been many new exercises and combinations that we haven’t seen before. Not that we do not have enough exercises or that we’ve somehow already mastered the old ones, but it is always fun with something new. Qian ZhaoHong has a large arsenal to pick from. He will probably teach “13 Shaolin spears” in Odense, or perhaps fighting with a stick.
During another well needed break, Qian ZhaoHong shows the student with the injured foot how to do Xinyi exercises while seated. Another student asks about his bad knee. Qian Zhao Hong then starts showing various exercises that are good for the knees. After a short while there is a whole bunch of people on the floor, trying them out… and that was the break. It’s often like that here. “Health” came up as a subject of conversation, and reshaped this break into a lesson in classical Chinese medicine.
After the break, Master Qian begins teaching in the Tong Bei style, for some reason. It turns out that if you understand a little of this style that has long reaching techniques, you can better understand Xin Yi which uses short reaching ones. Fighting in the Tong Bei style strongly resembles some styles of karate, but its power generation is very different. During this session we learn three different Tong Bei strikes.
We later return to the various attacks in Xinyi. The key is to generate power from the waist (dan tien).
Many partner exercises contain collisions. This is a form of conditioning. But it’s not hitting bone against bone. It is the muscles that are conditioned and not the bones. They prefer to turn away the opponents force and be soft. One of the guys doesn’t understand the concept of softness. He is asked to punch Qian ZhaoHong in the stomach, and his hand just slips harmlessly by him. Even if the opponent punches you in the stomach, the trick is to be relaxed.
A combination of “Rooster” and “Dragon Steps” is the next partner exercise. Earlier occasions when Qian ZhaoHong was in Scandinavia we have been given slightly easier excercises. This time, when many have started to grasp these, Qian ZhaoHong was able to move forward, both in technical depth and combinations of techniques. Xinyi Liuhe Quan is really just basic exercises. Qian ZhaoHong therefore believe that Xinyi is linked to the taoist concept of Wuji (emptiness), because there are no longer, complex forms. The combinations will come spontaneously in the struggle and not in a specific order.
Partner Training was given a rest for som more Spiral Tai Chi. The noise level went down, and only Qian Zhao Hong instructions were heard in the dojo (along with translator Søren’s prompt translations). The “Qi-feeling” came directly in these excercises, quite a strange phenomenon…
Text and image: Henrik Nilsson