Nine Dragon Knees
I try and take my dog to the dog park that was close to my home once a week. She really enjoys it and I usually have a couple laughs watching her chase down larger dogs.
One thing I’ve noticed there is you really need to keep an eye on the dogs in general as they have a habit when being chased to run and weave between people and occasionally crashing into people. I have even heard about a lady whose leg was broken by dogs crashing into her.
Since I make as much of my practice 24×7 as possible, this includes when I’m standing around talking. I’ll be standing in Wuji (50/50 weight distribution, under the shoulders, shoulders above the hips). At least with my legs and core body and head. My arms may have hands tucked in pocket or arms crossed in front of my body. An important part of this is the knees are not locked. They have some bend in them.
So a few weeks back, I had my dog at the dog park. I was watching her playing chase with some other dogs. When all of a sudden I feel a force slam into the front of my right knee, hyper-extending it and making me step back with my left leg. During this I hear an cracking noise and notice that 2 or 3 medium sized dogs (65-85 pounds) had just slammed into my leg. The flashing thought was oh no, but I quickly realized that there was no immediate injury. The only effect was a little tenderness in my knee that lasted about a week.
When I looked back at what happened and how I used to stand and many others do stand (with legs locked at the knees). I realized how lucky I was. I have very little doubt that if I would have been standing with my knees locked or even a little less than that it would have been a lot worse. I do not know exactly what, but it would have been either broken, or with ligament damage. Either way my training would have placed or hold for a while.
I have found that where Jiulong Baguazhang has had the greatest effect has been in these everyday events. I am glad to find these benefits in general aspects of my life, which I’ve never found in any of the other arts I’ve trained in.
John Trumbell is an instructor trainee in our Hamilton school. Click here to find out about classes there.
Source: Toronto Bagua