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This video invites you to be part of a training session in our Shuang Yang (Sun Frost) White Crane art with Master Iain and Jon on a very misty and slightly chilly morning at Doi Kiew Lon viewpoint on a mountain top near to Pai. Altitude about 1000m (3,280 feet).

A few tips from Master Iain.

Key principle: fluid movement stemming from the core.

Two swallows spitting. Embrace fluidity, let go of tension, practise loose movements Let go of tension. Imagine your arms as pieces of string, loose and relaxed. The driving force of your movements should come from your core, the tan tien. When you flick your arm, ensure it's free of any tension, allowing the energy to flow effortlessly from your core. As you practice, focus on emptying your arms of tension. This practice is about achieving a state of looseness, enabling a more natural and effective movement. Remember to keep your back upright when sinking down, as leaning forward can strain your lower back.

The boatman rowing the boat. Begin by circling your arms around your elbow and open your hand, then step into a bow arrow. Shift your back foot, close it, and push forward with your knee. This move is named the mischievous child pushing out the boat, evoking the image of a naughty child pushing a boat into the lake.

The lotus flower sprinkling water. Open your front foot, swing your back foot around, and sit into a cat stance. Place your right hand on top, bend your wrist slightly, and rotate your left hand inside the right. Step back, returning to the cross position, with your right hand in front.

Full Video Transcript

For two swallows, spitting. The arms should be really loose, like a piece of string and all the energy comes from the core, from tan tien. So you flick and the arm's just lose and the driving force comes from there. Do you want to give it a little try? Yeah, that's much better.

Yeah.

So when you practise this technique, you're kind of practising to let go to empty the arms of any kind of tension. I say it's a practise to be loose. Pull back for the jump. Quite a long stance. Keep your back upright as you sink down. It's really bad for the back to lean forward. It puts a strain on the lower back. I just dropped down here. This is called the boatman rowing the boat. From there we do the next one. Circle the arms around the elbow. Open your hand open your front foot. Come into a bow arrow stance. Lift up, back foot closed, and press forward, push forward. The name of the move is something like the mischievous child, the naughty child pushing out the boat. So imagine you've got a boat moored in the reeds at the side of a lake and a little kid, a naughty kid, is going to push it out into the lake. Master Tan liked this translation: a little devil meaning a naughty child. Okay, let's try that little sequence together. We go right back and we'll do it from the tyrant stretching his bow, the lion cub opening its mouth, the rock spreading its wings, the immortal pointing the way, two swallows spitting, the poisonous snake grasping the throat, the white crane soaring to the sky the boatman rowing the boat, the little devil pushing out the boat.

Now from here, we're going to open the front foot, swing the back foot around and sit into a cat stance. That's great. Right hand on top this time and bend the wrist down a little bit. Rotate the left inside the right. Yeah, like that. And come back to here. Yeah. So from here the foot is going to come back to there and the hands rotate. So you end with the right hand in front. From there, step back. Returning to the cross.

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