A PYRAMID SCHEME?

 By Phillip Starr

“Use your hips!”, my teacher would often bark as I practiced fundamental techniques. He would also remind me to “use your waist.” Whenever I heard him utter those words, I knew that he was reminding me of the importance of engaging the lower part of my body rather than relying on the strength of my limbs alone. Certainly, I got tired of hearing about it...he even went so far as to insist that I perform mundane, natural movements (such as opening a door or sitting down) “from the hips.”

Although there are no significant differences in the anatomy and physiology between Asians and those of us who hail from the West, there have evolved considerable cultural differences in how these cultures view, and generally apply, power. In the West, for instance, we often consider the measure of strength to be that which comes from the shoulders, chest, and arms. We use expressions like, “putting your shoulder to the wheel”, we admire a broad chest and muscular shoulders...the narrow waist and broad shoulders of the body builder.

However, in the East (in China and especially in Japan) the seat of one's power has always been lower, in the hips. “Koshi nukeru” is a Japanese phrase that refers to losing one's nerve. It means, “hips are loose” and a “koshinuke” is a person “without hips” - a coward. When using a Japanese saw, moving on the stage of a Noh play, or even making tea, the emphasis is on proper use of the hips and waist.

The personification of the typical Western perspective of strength is the broad chest and shoulders of our athletes. However, the Chinese – and especially the Japanese – ideal is in the thick, muscular hips of the sumo player and other such athletes. In a kind of abstract sense, the Western idea of strength would look like a pyramid turned upside down; wide at the top and narrow at the bottom (broad shoulders and slim hips). The Eastern idea is just the opposite...a pyramid set with the wide base at the bottom. Now, I'm not advocating anything like downing lots of beer in the hopes of developing a wide beer belly – we're talking about STRONG hips, not flabby, fat hips that lack any sort of tone.

I constantly admonish students to engage the waist and hips when they're performing various techniques, forms, or applications. I also remind them, as my teacher did, to do the same thing when they're moving about in daily life. This brings to mind an important distinction that must be made regarding the words “waist” and “hip” as they are used in China, Japan, and the West. In the West. The “hips” are generally regarded as the actual hip joints and the buttocks. In China and Japan, however, it refers to the area of the body from the upper thighs to the lower back and abdomen. When the gong-fu teacher tells you to move your “waist”, he means more than just the lower abdomen and when the Japanese instructor speaks of moving from the “hips”, he's not referring only to the ball and socket joints of the hips.

There's no magic in the movements made by the limbs when practicing various martial disciplines. All of them require the proper use of the hips and it's something that must be be studied assiduously by those who are serious about their training.