He looks kinda sad that he broke his cube

I like to think of the elements in modern scientific terms as well as energetically. Water is the liquid state of matter, fire the radiant state (like electro-magnetic waves, or radiation) wood and metal are the solids, organic wood and inorganic metal, and earth is the arena where all these interact. In Western conceptions, air would be the gaseous state, but the Chinese model doesn't include air, sooo... anyway just another way to consider these forces.

I think you are on to some things in your musings- Air is maybe just being considered where we are, they obviously thought a great deal about the breath, so it's not like they didn't consider it- just not as "Elemental". I think wood and metal are organic and inorganic/mineral, but earth is like- where it all happens too, like the stage where the others intermix. Regardless, whenever I start contemplating the elements, I wander off into gratitude for Mother Earth, standing under a waterfall, hugging a tree, putting a teapot on the fire.

Always up vote BK Frantzis!

@Aaron Conrad as I understand silk reeling, it is a movement method that can exist throughout the forms/drills . Silk is pulled from the cocoon of the silk worm and the single thread is pulled onto a skein by turning the ends in a figure 8 around the stable center point. Similarly, the heads of the femur move in a figure 8 around the center of the sacrum, or around the dantien. So yes, cloud hands can express chansujin, but so can many other things, and it can be drilled on its own. Thanks, you started a great conversation!

@Jake Hill I began as a kid with Karate (as so many do) and was extremely lucky in my school, under then Shihan, now Kancho Joko Ninomiya, he is a true Karate Master and it is not unreasonable to call him a legend. I trained with him for several years, and was preparing for my black belt test when my anti-authoritarian streak (and maybe too much partying) swept me off to do other things, dancing, rock climbing, mountain biking etc. But I always practiced, always had a heavy bag up somewhere, always interacted with other martial artists. In that way I found my Internal MA teacher at the Sin Lung Kwoon, Tang Shou Dao system and learned Bagua and Taiji there for my 20s and 30s, before returning to the Dojo with my young children, giving them an awareness of the arts and practices - and being so enamored of the sparring, the hard training, the practical straightforward application of what Kancho had now created as Enshin Karate, that I spent 10 years there, getting my NiDan rank and teaching. While preparing for my SanDan test, I had a training injury that convinced me to lay down my Hard Style and pursue the Internal only (I never stopped my forms or drills) to heal, balance and rejuvenate myself. Enshin is an amazing style based on circular movement and joining with the opponent in what is the most internal of Karate styles I have encountered, so it meshed very well with the IMA I had been working on, while giving me the opportunity to test the combat effectiveness in pressure situations. Kancho is a brilliant martial artist as well as a kind and generous teacher and man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTMtHvjF2Eg I have also been very lucky in my Internal school, with direct lineage transmission and outstanding instruction - Sifu prefers not to be online or in social media, so I will respect that- but he is also a great teacher, an a vast well of knowledge and experience. So there it is in a nutshell. Thanks for asking! How about you? what has your journey been? Nice to meet you!

@Jake Hill My understanding of the history puts hand fighting (quan or chuan) as a practice we might recognize today, that is to say JUST hand fighting (as opposed to part of a system where maybe you lost your sword or spear on the battlefield, and are trying to survive long enough to obtain another weapon) goes to Shaolin temple. Most other fighting arts around before guns were about weapons, cause why bring a hand to a sword fight? Of course there are people who will argue this all day, and there is good argument for Indonesia, Thai or Indian roots- as you say, Bodhidharma -but I think he was mixed up in the histories, as he was more the Meditation Master than Martial Artist. He may have brought a form of Hatha yoga though, that fed into the development of Shaolin quan- I read a really interesting book on it you might like - The Shaolin Monastery by Meir Shahar