Think of the lion as the Chinese see it to practise it correctly. It is always playing with a ball in statues and in the lion dance. You must never lose the feeling of playing with a huge ball. Think also of a real lion, how it settles its energy down and how it is bold and confident. You must remain settled even with the arms up, and do large movements with full confidence. A lion appears bigger than it is because of its spirit, terrifying those who see it without even trying. Practising the lion shape develops the fully unblocked qi of a lion, and the lion’s expansive spirit.
Circle-walking in the lion model trains the ability to connect the body through vertical lines while keeping uprightness and balance, to prepare for the ability to 'move the ball'. All techniques growing from the lion will be like rolling, trundling, or tossing large or small balls. The basic walk is called 'lion opens its mouth wide', so you also want to think of swallowing your opponent whole. All the actions of the changes, because of this ball, contain attack and defense, movement in all directions, and the ability to use either hand at any time.
For special practice, pretend to hold a huge heavy ball. You will need to use the whole body to handle the ball. This will work the arms and back, and the whole body connection even more. It will also develop the strength of spirit of the lion, as you fight exhaustion of the arms.
On the external level it develops the upper back, shoulders and upper arms. Someone weak in the upper arms and shoulders should do the lion to develop them. The lion form moves very smoothly into a chuanzhang or tanzhang attack.
Lion circle-walking
Hold the lower arm at about shoulder height, palm up. Hold the upper hand as if holding a large ball in front of the body. Don’t get carried away with the ‘ball’, though – don’t turn the upper palm down. The palm is turned away, prepared for a variety of techniques. Pull the shoulders down like in yazhang, so that when you roll, the power starts on that side similar to a yazhang. Compress the body but keep the arms open. Keep the ox-tongue palm shape.
