(recently posted on Facebook by Mr. Ron Chapél)
I. Stage One - Alphabetic
This is the preliminary physical stage of learning in any physical activity, where the alphabet letters or basics are learned and physically pronounced singularly and properly in preparation for subsequent stages of learning. Some Stage One alphabets crossover into Stage Two because in physical activity, some alphabets of singular action require multiple “letters” to function as a unit, therefore, becoming “phonic” in nature. This is most apparent in the complexities of the Martial Sciences, particularly in interactions.
II. Stage Two – Phonetic
This is the second stage of learning in any physical activity. It stresses the basics of proper execution and constant and consistent physical correction, anatomical alignments, and structural integrity, as its primary function. Like Stage One, it requires a significant teacher with knowledge of, and the ability to identify improper execution of the smallest detail and a student with the personal discipline to execute and accept the critical corrections.
At this stage, in many ways, it is like a subjective dance, in that students do not know what they are doing and everything is abstract in nature. The student must trust the instructor’s guidance to reach their goals. This can usually be accomplished by observing others that have undergone the same process, who are further along, and their acquired skill level.
Its primary goal is to begin the process of training the body internally and creating muscle memory and synaptic pathways associated with the activity in preparation for the next stage of development. This process is also known as building a “Mind/Body Connection” for the specific activity. It is the highway path the brain will use to send signals to specific body parts to function. However, laying out the path of the highway does not yet make it ready to support intense traffic and this is considered a “soft memory.” Here the term Phonetic Basics is appropriate to distinguish what is learned from more expeditious and intuitive actions to come later in one’s development. The individual alphabet components of Stage One, are combined into a Phonetic Unit.
III. Stage Three – Script/Cursive
Here the movements began to take on a more fluid look as the mind in conjunction with the body become more comfortable with the activity. The corners are becoming more rounded although the movements are still significantly large and pronounced as we execute with a more flowing, smooth, and unhesitating action.
It can be compared to drawing a square as opposed to drawing a circle. A circle may be drawn rather quickly but a square takes more time and is much more difficult to do proportionately correct. The square is essentially phonetic, while the circle is a scripted or cursive movement with a greater tolerance for error.
IV. Stage Four – Shorthand/Abbreviated
When the movements externally begin to become significantly shorter and more direct in their scripted execution, it becomes “shorthand.” This is where external speed begins to emerge beyond the ordinary. Although the movements originally learned in Phonics are present, they now flow with a shorter more directed action, but still, retain the structural integrity of the now well-trained substructure anatomy. It is important to understand, that if training begins at this level, it will not have the foundational structure for consistent success and long-term sustainable synapsis.
It is important to understand abbreviated or shorthand actions may not achieve the same results if all the previous stages of development are not significantly met, before moving to the next developmental stage. While a person may be taught abbreviated actions as a starting point as in some interpretations in some arts, this quick method although expeditious is not capable of supporting the mind-body connection, in conjunction with the structural support achievable under proper Index Stages of learning and training.
Although some shorthand methods may develop to an acceptable level, they will always fall short of the efficiency obtained in the slower more methodical method that produces internal support and efficiency over external movement. Mass-market applications of martial arts training rely on the expeditious method for student retention. Older methods screen students for discipline factors and goals, train without little regard for retention and instead focus on maximizing skill development. Thus, these institutions are fewer, and less popular with the masses, although they traditionally produce a much superior product.
V. Stage Five – Internal/Chi
This is the esoteric “dragon” we speak of or the true professor stage. In practice, it really does not exist. What it is, is the culmination of the proper understanding and execution of the Four Stages of Indexing or learning, coupled with the time element needed to fully inculcate its lessons into the human synapses’.
Here sometimes the indexed movement may be externally imperceptible, creating all the alignment and structural integrity necessary for the functional activity internally, because the mind controls the body alignment, not the body. This is “why” you train the external to nurture the internal. This is the ultimate in functionality and speed with the true economy of movement created by the external training of the body to have the subsequent effect of training the internal to the extent that the exaggerated phonetic external movement is no longer necessary to achieve structural integrity or anatomical efficiency.
This methodology although expressed differently in other disciplines, is well documented within the older cultural arts from the Chinese, Indonesian, and East Indian, and movements that may appear excessive or unnecessary have only to be properly interpreted. Nevertheless, all stages are functional, although as you develop physical and mental familiarity with any movement, anatomically correct or not, it naturally becomes more expeditious in execution.
But just because some movements may be internalized does not mean that all applications allow such execution. Some applications require large movements to maximize efficiency physically in a real-world interaction. It is here we fully begin to understand the philosophy of execution of what I term American Chuán-Fa™. The idea is nothing is arbitrary, and has always had a position of significance in the Chinese Methods that Mr. Parker learned, and that I embraced fully under his guidance after beginning my journey under Sifu Ark Wong.
Its meaning becomes clear in that it encompasses Mr. Parker’s “Four Depths of Combat,” found in his Modern Kenpo and expeditious motion-based vehicle, (which serves its purpose), but also includes its many subcategories, as well as the Four Stage Method of learning as he taught me. All are valid but not all can produce equal results. You cannot get to stage five by any other method, other than significant time properly spent in the preceding stages, guided by someone who is knowledgeable. You cannot begin stage four until you have progressed through the previous three stages. With little effort, videos can be found of Mr. Parker philosophically speaking of Phonetic Motion, Alphabets of Motion, Scripted/Cursive Movement, and even Shorthand, and how you must proceed through the stages. Some presumed you could do it all at the same time as a mental exercise. The process requires a specific foundation of material to be taught, over a time period at each level to be functional. Without that foundation, and the time element removed, students gravitated to Level Four, without the physical or mental foundation to get to Level Five.
It is an accelerated self-defense vehicle as he intended. I believe if he had lived, his Four Stage Methods of learning would have become a vehicle for those willing to move to higher levels of learning. It would have been the next level of learning His Kenpo. However, unlike other interpretations, it requires significant knowledge of all that may teach, it moves beyond quick self-defense skills and is not as easily proliferated because of the labor-intensive efforts on the part of its teachers, and self-discipline demands on the casual students.
Therefore, at the time, it was not his primary focus. While he worked on it personally, the masses only saw it when Mr. Parker demonstrated, moving quickly and explosively with power, while he never explained all that head movement, stomping, slapping, or any subtle movements of execution, for the knowledgeable they were very significant.
Mr. Parker always said it was a matter of choice and that the masses would not be inclined to submit to this level of training, and the dearth of those qualified to teach contributed to his preliminary approach to get the art to the masses first, with an eye on raising the bar later for those who could graduate to the next level, while maintaining a large and strong base of practitioners to draw from.
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