Earth Bending For Beginners

Humans first learned earthbending by observing and imitating the Badgermoles, large subterranean creatures that use earthbending to see and interact with the world. The first people to learn earthbending were two lovers from warring villages who used the art to meet in secret beneath the mountain that separated their people.

Earthbending is generally based on the Hung Gar style of Kung Fu, which features heavily rooted stances and strong kicks and punches. The martial art is based on the movements of animals, among them the Tiger and the Crane. The Tiger represents Hard Power, while the crane embodies Soft Power. There are exceptions to this facet, as the blind earthbender, Toph, uses a style based on Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Unlike other bending disciplines, earthbending stresses the aspect of neutral jing, which involves listening and waiting for the right moment to attack.Toph uses this discipline having learned it directly from Badgerrmoles, and teaches this form to Aang.This discipline also allows Toph and Aang to feel minute vibrations in the earth when in direct contact and use these vibrations as a kind of radar, allowing them to detect other people's positions, movements, and even heartbeats. Toph also uses this sense for lie detection.

Earthbenders are known to stand their ground. More skilled earthbenders absorb and intercept attacks before overwhelming the opponent with superior force. Some can tunnel through the earth to out-maneuver their foes. Earthbenders have been shown to use objects to augment their bending.

While a bender's victory in battle is usually based on skill and technique, an Earthbender gains a notable advantage or disadvantage over other bending arts depending on the amount of earth in their vicinity. However, Earthbending is not limited to rock or soil alone. An earthbender additionally can manipulate other earth-based substances; these include mud, slurry, sand, meteors, crystals, coal, and even metal

Specialized Earthbending techniques

Metalbending
Although it is possible, the only earthbender shown to bend metal is Toph, who metalbends by focusing onto and bending the fragments of unrefined earth within the metal. Toph apparently invented this technique, and in the series, she is the only one shown capable of performing the technique.

Sandbending
A race of desert dwelling earthbenders have developed a specialized form of Earthbending that focuses on sand. They use this skill in a variety of unique ways, including combat and travel.

Earthsight
Badger-moles, the original Earthbenders, are completely blind; they compensate for this by using their Earthbending to "see" vibrations in the ground. Toph learned this ability from the badger-moles as a young girl, and used it to compensate for her lack of sight.

The Hung Gau curriculum that Wong Fei-Hung learned from his father comprised Single Hard Fist, Double Hard Fist, Taming the Tiger Fist (伏虎拳), Mother & Son Butterfly Swords (子母雙刀), Angry Tiger Fist, Fifth Brother Eight Trigram Pole (五郎八卦棍), Flying Hook, and Black Tiger Fist (黑虎拳). Wong distilled his father's empty-hand material along with the material he learned from other masters into the "pillars" of Hung Ga, four empty-hand routines that constitute the core of Hung Ga instruction in the Wong Fei-Hung lineage:


[edit] "工" Character Taming the Tiger Fist 工字伏虎拳

pinyin: gōng zì fú hǔ quán; Yale Cantonese: gung ji fuk fu keun

The long routine Taming the Tiger trains the student in the basic techniques of Hung Ga while building endurance. It is said to go at least as far back as Jee Sin, who is said to have taught Taming the Tiger—or at least an early version of it—to both Hung Hei-Gun and Luk Ah-Choi.

The "工" Character Taming the Tiger Fist is so called because its footwork traces a path resembling the character "工".

[edit] Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist 虎鶴雙形拳

pinyin: hǔ hè shuāng xíng quán; Yale Cantonese: fu hok seung ying keun

Tiger Crane builds on Taming the Tiger, adding "vocabulary" to the Hung Ga practitioner's repertoire. Wong Fei-Hung choreographed the version of Tiger Crane handed down in the lineages that descend from him. He is said to have added to Tiger Crane the bridge hand techniques and rooting of the master Tit Kiu Saam as well as long arm techniques, attributed variously to the Fat Ga, Lo Hon, and Lama styles. Tiger Crane Paired Form routines from outside Wong Fei-Hung Hung Gar still exist.

[edit] Five Animal Fist 五形拳/Five Animal Five Element Fist 五形五行拳

pinyin: wǔ xíng quán; Yale Cantonese: ng ying keun/pinyin: wǔ xíng wǔ xíng quán; Yale Cantonese: ng ying ng haang keun

These routines serve as a bridge between the external force of Tiger Crane and the internal focus of Iron Wire. "Five Animals" (literally "Five Forms") refers to the characteristic Five Animals of the Southern Chinese martial arts: Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Leopard, and Crane. "Five Elements" refers to the five classical Chinese elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Metal, and Wood. The Hung Ga Five Animal Fist was choreographed by Wong Fei Hung and expanded by Lam Sai Wing (林世榮), a senior student and teaching assistant of Wong Fei Hung, into the Five Animal Five Element Fist (also called the "Ten Form Fist"). In the Lam Sai Wing branch of Hung Ga, the Five Animal Five Element Fist has largely, but not entirely, superseded the Five Animal Fist, which has become associated with Tang Fong and others who were no longer students when the Five Animal Five Element Fist was created.

[edit] Iron Wire Fist 鐵線拳

pinyin: tiě xiàn quán; Yale Cantonese: tit sin kuen

Iron Wire builds internal power and is attributed to the martial arts master Tit Kiu Saam (鐵橋三). Like Wong Fei Hung's father Wong Kei-Ying, Tit Kiu Saam was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. As a teenager, Wong Fei Hung learned Iron Wire from Lam Fuk-Sing (林福成), a student of Tit Kiu Saam. The Iron Wire form is essentially a combination of qigong (or meditative breathing) with isometric exercise particularly dynamic tension although weights were also used in traditional practice in the form of iron rings worn on the wrists. If properly practiced it can increase strength considerably and promote a stable root. However as with both most forms of qigong and most forms of isometric exercise it must be practiced regularly or the benefits are quickly lost.