Staff Flow Drills: Part 2 - Figure 8's for Fun and Profit

When you first learn northern staff, one of the first things you practice is the figure eight.  It's an essential movement, you are told: it's for blocking, they say.  And while you might agree that you would not approach someone wildly spinning a staff in this manner, you may not be certain of how to do much more than intimidate novices with the movement in your own practice. The drill, as introduced here, focuses on one half of the figure eight and provides both defensive and offensive interpretation of the movement.

I'll start by saying that there are two versions of the figure eight that one often sees.  One is a badly done (but fast) version that is sometimes seen in contemporary wushu wherein the staff is held at a distance from the body.  This version uses mainly the arms to effect the spin with minimal reinforcing body motion.  It works great for show on thin staffs, but is much more difficult to do using anything substantial.  Anh once had me using a lead pipe to practice, and I can't imagine controlling the staff at any distance from my body. 

Fig 1: The tuck in blocking an attack.

The second version, which I am also seeing some from some of the better contemporary wushu athletes, involves a body turn and tuck and keeps a portion of the staff against the body for a fair portion of the movement.  The tuck and body contact provide reinforcement against impact when one blocks (Fig 1).

Fig 2:  Beginning of the drill.

And now for the drill.  Person A (on the left) initiates a downward sweep toward person B's (on the right) front leg.  Person B begins the figure eight with a right side tuck while bringing the top of the staff quickly downwards towards his left side.

Fig 3: Movement continues

Notice that B retreats with the left leg to open up more distance (Fig 3) while A is doing a back cross-step (stealing step) to gain distance in the attack.  B's torso still faces front, but it has rotated by perhaps 30-45 degrees since Fig 2. 

Fig 4: Interception!

Finally in Fig 4 we see A's attack intercepted by B's staff.  B has now fully turned his torso, linking his staff with his body in order to maximize power and reinforce against the attack.  The stance has grounded, so that although it is not deep, B is rooted to the ground.

Fig 5: Follow-through

Having finished the block, B's staff now has considerable velocity and is moving quickly around for a counter.  On the other hand, A's staff has be stopped dead and needs to be repositioned for defense.  A is, therefore, pushing with the left leg to come out of the stealing step and gain distance, and starting to reposition his staff by coming out of the tucked position.

Fig 6: Counter attack

In Fig 6, B has finished unwinding and is now rotating his torso to the right to reinforce his swing.  A is frantically pivoting his staff to prepare for B's upcoming attack.  Both individuals have shifted their weight.  A is in the middle of a backward step whereas B has shifted his weight to the right foot to prepare to step forward to press the attack.

Fig 7: A downward strike

In Fig 7, A has completed his backward step, but has not grounded into a stance, nor fully raised his staff in a high block.  B's left foot has stepped forward and his torso has turned to the right to reinforce the staff motion in the attack.

Fig 8: Contact! 

At contact, A has grounded into a bow stance to support his block.  B's weight has settled on the left foot.  Whereas B's stance could be a bow stance for added effect, in this case it is a four-six stance.  The right leg is not fully grounded here as it is preparing for a back cross-step and the next attack.  Notice one other thing: B's staff has three points of contact, the left and right hands as well as the belly.  This gives the staff a very solid connection to B and means that more of B's turning and grounding energy transfers through the staff towards A.

Fig 9: Roles reverse

While B could also slide across A's hands (and A could rollover for a counter), instead, B pivots his staff using both hands to start to tuck it under his left armpit and begin a lower sweeping attack towards A's front leg.  A pivots and begins a tuck of his staff under his right armpit while shifting his weight back.

Fig 10: The second counter attack and interception (see Fig 4)

The movement continues as per Figs 2-4 and the drill cycles.  The video below demonstrates the flow drill in action.

If you are clever, you can put this flow drill together with the first staff flow drill to improve reaction skill and better understand how to flow between techniques.  In upcoming posts we'll add some more flow drills to your repertoire.