Stance Rooting
One of the primary differences that can be seen between someone who is trained in an internal martial arts system and an external system is how the student takes a stance, and how they move in that stance. This is because, in an external martial art (one dedicated more towards physical outward expression), the act of centering the student within the Force is, at best, and afterthought. Most often, there is little or not direct Forcework taught, under any name.
That is what makes an internal martial art different. The student is trained to move with the Force first, before they are ever taught to strike, block, or kick. The Jedi Budo Arts are these kind of arts. Just as the Jedi Way is rooted in the Force, so too are the movements of the Budo Arts built for the Path.
The skill for Stance Rooting is simple, but takes some practice to maintain while active. However, we must stand before we can walk. So, let us pick a stance from the Stances page presented earlier on the site. For the demonstration, I chose to use Horse Stance. After settling into the stance, close your eyes, and feel the Force inside of you. Feel how it makes up the shape of your body. See yourself as a being of light, captured in a physical vessel.
Next, let that light drain down, through your feet, into the ground beneath you. See yourself connected to an upside down version of yourself. The upside down version we call the Mirror. At this point, you are rooted into the ground, and more stable because of it. However, once you are comfortable with this concept, we are going to go a bit further.
Stretch the Mirror down, deeper into the ground. Let it become distorted, and twice your height. This will root your stance even more thoroughly, making your stances stable, even during transition.
Many people have done similar techniques when grounding, however those are more geared towards static stability. The reason that we keep the Mirror as a version of ourselves is to maintain its ability to move and flow with our movements, while holding us in a more stable position. Here is a quick visual to help make better sense of what I mean.
Martial Forcework
As Jedi, much of our training talks about the integration and use of the Force. The Jedi Budo Arts are the same. The primary difference, however, is how we will employ the use of the Force in a more direct way. This concept is relatively common in internal martial arts systems, and that is the direction of energy into a strike or hard block, and the diversion of energy for a soft block or redirect. First, though, let’s review a few things.
Before we get into the specifics, thought, I want to touch on a few points of using energy in combat. The first is that when we are drawing and directing the Force through our bodies, it is best to maintain a visual of the energy spiraling as it goes. The energy moves easier in a spiral, and reflects the way our internal energy systems work, as will be more apparent when discussing deflection.
PROJECTION
First, we are going to discuss the projection of energy found in combative systems. This energy is typically, from a grounded stance, drawing the energy up through the legs, up the torso along the spine, and out the active hand (or out the leg bypassing the spine, in the case of a kick). In empty handed arts, this comes out the hand in or around the palm. It is of highest focus at the point of impact (palm, knuckle, or wrist depending on strike/block employed). This is why we have to have strong stances, and good balanced body position, so that the Force can flow more easily through our movements.
When discussing this type of applied Forcework, we will often call it the Dynamic Force, in that it is an energetic bolster to the action already being performed. The Dynamic Force is a state of interaction between the Internal Force and the Living Force, and is seldom used for any type of explanation outside of this type of projection.
Here is an image describing the direction of Dynamic Force in an empty handed backfist strike.
This same thing can be done with a weapon. The more natural a weapon, the more it still tingles with the Living Force. This allows for the movement of the Dynamic Force more easily in the movements. This is why, when discussing the selection of a staff, it is recommended that it be wood rather than a polymer or carbon fiber performance weapon. Plastic are so over-processed, they lose their soul, and are must harder to connect to with the Force.
The energy projection is not really different, but until the Jedi gets more energetically aligned with their weapon, it will not be as effective. The stronger connection you have with the weapon, the more at one the Jedi becomes with it. Below is a very similar image, showing the minor change in the extension.
As we work our strikes and blocks, keep this visual in mind, but don’t just stop with the image. Feel the Force flowing in through your feet, up your legs, and into your torso, and then out your hands into the staff. Fill the staff with your Internal Force, and allow it to becomes part of you, just as you become part of it.
DEFLECTION
The second way that we can use the Force in combat is by using our own energy to redirect the energy of an incoming strike. A hard block would be done the same as listed above, where the energy point is a hard impact. However, we can use deflecting soft blocks as well. These take more time to learn, and can be difficult to implement at first, but the principle of receiving and defusing energy is just as important.
In the image here, the aggressor is shown with the red energy line, and the defender is shown with the blue energy line. As the hard strike is shown to come in, with the focused impact point being the back of the hand, the soft block is shown to just trail off in a direction, not really having a hard impact point. This is because of how the energy is redirected in a twisting motion, rather than stopped.
This type of deflection allows for the Jedi to put an attack somewhere else, and just allow it’s Dynamic Force to dissipate rather than have to be stopped forcefully (no pun intended). This type of deflection is also typically coupled with a twisting of the torso, to as to aid in the deflection. This also takes advantage of the spiraling nature of the Dynamic Force within the action.