So in Uechi I've noticed that there is a kind of arc to the sanchin training and I'm curious about what other people believe.
Initial training - no muscle tension - just form with the teacher pushing on the student to develop their balance and coordination
Tiger training - very hard sanchin with lots of internal and external muscle development - supplemented by jar training
Some would say that these are the only two levels of sanchin - that sanchin training must always be hard...in the sense that the entire body is worked and tensed while at the same time the teacher continues to push on the student to build their balance and coordination as well as checking for places where the student could enhance this development. Narahiro Shinjo embodies this kind of sanchin in my mind.
And then there seems to be a third sanchin - one that is encouraged after many years of hard tiger training where the student is asked to maintain the same quantitative values of the stance (lots of power, great balance) but with much less visible external muscle tension.
thoughts?