Intent

Lately, I have been trying to improve my punches. I had not been bringing my hands straight back to my hips. This was disconnecting my hands from each other. So I was working to correct it. And after about a weeks worth of practice, I wasn't making much progress. My hands were feeling even more disconnected than before. So I asked for help during a one on one. 

I was told to change my intent. 

Instead of focusing on bringing my hands back to my hips, I focused on the direction of my power. I focused on it going straight out, in a linear way. My punches improved pretty much immediately. It seemed almost silly how much of a difference changing my intent made. 

Because of this, I've been trying to look at my Kung Fu a little differently. I have been really focusing on my intent. When training, or when I get corrections in class, I have been asking myself why. Why am I doing it this way? What is my intent? This helps me to find the route of the problem, as it is often not what it seems to be.