Open hand forms provide the foundation for health, application and improved mental focus for the Kung Fu practitioner. They link together basic stances, strikes, blocks and kicks into one long continuous movement. The open hand form can be viewed as a type of "shadow boxing" where you are applying technique against an imaginary opponent.
Open hand forms can be practiced a number of ways to enhance health and develop martial conditioning. If worked slowly it will build static muscle and connective tissue strength and correct natural body alignment. Correct alignment will help the body work in its most efficient way and will help enhance internal energy flow. Efficiency in self-defense allows the martial artist to stop an altercation as quickly and appropriately as possible. If worked at medium speed, the form will help to increase dynamic
flexibility and power and enhance a feeling of expansion and
contraction that is the basis for how the body is trained to generate
power. It also allows the student to start getting a feel for
continuous movement which works the respiratory system and increases
blood flow. Continuous movement also trains the martial artist to
respond to an attack with a number of counter techniques - one after the other after the other etc.
Working
the forms at full speed develops stamina and anaerobic capabilities. It
starts to develop dynamic and elastic muscle responses. The student
gets the sense of how to use the entire body and the connectivity of
the body for effective counter offenses - penetrating power when
striking, kicking or blocking- full body momentum when sweeping or
throwing.
Sequences that make up parts of the form can be
worked separately as a means of getting a feel for practical
self-defense. The practitioner can take a sequence, have a partner
simulate the attack the sequence represents and then practice applying
that self-defense to get a feel for its practical uses.
Certain
aspects of the open hand forms repeat, but then end up at a different
end point. Because of this aspect of form practice, along with
the memorization of the proper movements, the form sets are great tools for
increasing mental clarity, recall and concentration.