1. "The recent thread on hyung applications got me thinking about our soo do mahki. What is it used for apart from an inside/outside type block?"

I get a little (and I will emphasize 'little') irritated when I hear dan holders say that a specific movement in a form has a specific application. Hyung, Forms, Kata... whatever are all like sutras. The more you study them the more they open up and give to you.

For example in my praying mantis system I once had a person at a competition tell me they thought they saw something I did after the "lunge punch." While this person had no knowledge of Taiji Tanglang, I explained the grab, neck manipulation, knee attack, and push that he thought was simply a "lunge punch." Later my senior showed me that it was an interception, arm bar, pull, neck attack and throw.

see where I am going?

I have often used this "block" as the setup for a grab and armbar takedown. I am certain that you will get many other opinions on this, but imagine already having blocked a punch with this technique. Simply push the arm down and close your soo do around the forearm. Then you take your other hand and place it just above the elbow of the arm you have grabbed and push down while pulling the arm up with the other hand...

2. "why does the other hand rest at stomach level? why do both hands come back to the hip first?"

This depends on how the form was taught. I know some people will tell you that what I am about to say is incorrect and that I am doing the form "wrong." Thats fine. But if You will go back to some of the more recent posts you will see that even the originators of the forms performed them differently than they are today.

I have learned the pyung ahn and bassai several ways. One the hands do come back to the hip. In my present organization, we have the hand that will be blocking first come to the side of the head and the hand that will be at the solar plexus extended out behind the body. I guess the idea being to protect the face in preperation. I personally dont like this idea as I feel it blocks peripheral vision. But it is just one of many ways.

Good questions!

It would be virtually impossible to describe with just words on a message board the many ways the movement, Ssang Soo Soo Do Mahk Ki, can be used or applied. I will tell you this. The best uses are in the middle of the movement....and not the beginning or the end.

JH