The mouths of babes....

My blog posts have been on hiatus of late because I'm currently spending an extended vacation with the family in GA. What with it being the holiday season and there being lots of cookies around and me having the willpower of jello, not as much training has been happening as I would have hoped. There have been lots of bike rides and runs and walks in the woods and splitting wood for the fire and various other activities keeping me fit. But my kung fu training sessions have been few and generally lacking intensity.

Early on in my stay when I was practicing, my little sister, who is 6, came out to join me and soon revealed that she was capable of doing a head flip. She has mixed success getting up out of it, but watching her barrel forwards and a full run and fling herself into it was alternately impressive and frustrating. Ah youth.

So this afternoon when I was outside working on jumps and she again joined me, we started doing headflips together. After a few back landings that knocked the wind out of me, I started to get it. And even though I still can't get up out of it, I was pretty satisfied. The next think I knew I was helping her and one of my other sisters, who is ten, work on cartwheels. I was whipping out my right and left-handed indiscriminately and then started relentlessly trying them one handed. This was a less successful experiment, but I think having their youthful and fearless energy around me gave me the gumption to try it without worrying about breaking my neck.

When I get back on Monday I don't think I will have nailed anything new. And in fact will be a little pudgier than when I left. (Lots of Christmas baking around here....) But I will try to retain my new fearless spirit of tumbling. What's the worse that could happen? Well, I could twist my ankle like one of my other sisters just did...

I hope everyone had a happy holiday and I can't wait to see you all at temple!

Water Bottle Can Kill Ya

Did anybody see this article about people started worrying about health risk from hard plastic water bottle? Basically, it said that these bottles contain polycarbonate which can leak into water and MAY cause a whole bunch of terrible illnesses as manifested in lab animals.... breast cancer, prostate cancer, obesity, hyperactivity, miscarriages, reproductive failure, etc.


The main target is bottles from the company above which are supposedly indestructible, light, do not stain or cause odor..... Sounds good, I might get myself one of those. My water bottle that I got for free from my company's healthday smells like plastic and leaves yellow stain at the bottom after each use. I don't know how many diseases that will also cause me later in life...

The Big Vinegar Experiment

I did it. I washed my clothes with vinegar. Out of the dryer, they smell nice and fresh like usual. I'll be using the vinegar washed uniforms through out this week.

If I smell a little sour during/after training, you know why.

Update:

Monday - It worked! It worked! My uniform and tank top smelled fresh and clean the entire class. Out of the plastic bag at home, they still don't stink. Oh wait - it's the orange uniform which I acquired only a few months ago. It hasn't been through the summer sweat season yet. So I guess the real test will be tomorrow...

Tuesday - Didn't train. Ate too much at the office party.

Wednesday - Didn't train again. Ate too much leftover from the party. Am I fired from dorkdom?

Thursday - Vinegar worked but not as well as I had hoped. My cotton uniform smelled decent the entire class but my tank top had a little sour sweaty smell at the end. Coming out of a plastic bag at home, the whole thing gave out mildew-y smell although not as strong as before.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just smelly...

Training is my Anti-Anti Drug

Lately classes have seemed more intense. Perhaps it is the disappearance of the walking breaks instituted during summer's debilitating heat, the smaller class sizes of late, or -most likely- I'm training more than ever and am consequently more tired and sore when going to class.

Being insufficiently rested has resulted in a number of consequences, the two most prominent being the rising importance of coffee and pain relievers in my life.

I've always been in a constant battle with coffee, I love it but I don't like the accompanying highs and lows depending of my caffination. I don't like the gurgling stomach I get if I have it before training, but I like not feeling like curling up to sleep in the meditation room.

Pain relievers are a little different. I think I've mentioned before that I like to avoid taking medicine if I can. Serious illness and injury are one thing but otherwise I like my body to take care of itself. But near-perpetual soreness and semi-injury are testing my resolve on this point.

I don't want to feel dependent on coffee or Advil to provide me with energy or cure my aches and pains. I want to know my body well enough to push it harder but not too hard, because I know that will make me stronger in the end than relying of a caffeine fix to give me faux-chi or anti-inflammatories to make me feel less stiff and more flexible. I don't want to be an addict!!!!! So how to solve this? I already get more sleep than most people I know. My job is low impact. Do I really just need to train less? Because after a downright excruciatingly painful set of kicks last night I need to reassess what I'm doing. Or maybe I need to crush my pride or whatever is holding me back and embrace the drugs......

Level 2 Basics

Heng Cheng and I finished learning a brand new move tonight. The one with the longest name on the chart. Heng De told us to remember it like this:

Bow stance (Gongbu) with a Pair of (Shuang) Palm Strikes (Tuizhang) followed by Back Sweep Kick (Housaotui) and Bow Stance (Gongbu) with [something we don't know -- somebody help?] (Liangzhang).

So here goes: Gongbu Shuang Tuizhang Housaotui Gonbu Liangzhang.

To celebrate this occasion, I'm posting the names of level 2 basics.

Pinyin	English
Stances
Siliubu	Four-Six Stance
Sanqibu	Three-Seven Stance
Strikes
Gouquan	Hook Punch
Zhiquan	Straight Punch
Baiquan	Curved Punch
Kicks
Futoutui	Axe Kick
Qiandengtui	Front Thrust Kick
Zuhequan Qiandengtui	Combination Punch with Front Step Kick
Cechuatui	Side Kick
Biantui	Roundhouse Kick
Qianbaitui Houbaitui	Front Crescent Kick and Back Crescent Kick
Qiansaotui Housaotui	Front Sweep Kcik and Back Sweep Kcik
Mopan Saotui	Millstone Sweep Kick
Movements
Tixi Pubu Loushou Gongbu Chongquan	Lifting Knee Followed by Pubu and Gongbu Punch
Chuanzhang Lihetui Liaotui	Piercing Palm Followed by Inside Crescent Kick and Lifting Kick
Gongbu Shaung Tuizhang Housaotui Gongbu Liangzhang	Bow Stance with Pair of Palm Strikes Followed by Back Weep Kick and Bow Stance
Liyu Dating	Carp Straightens Body
Wulong Jiaozhu	Black Dragon Coils Around Pillar
Jumps
Bawang Zhaikui	Jump with Backwards Punch and Cartwheel
Xuanzi	Butterfly Kick
Xuanfengjiao	Tornado Kick
Tengkong Danfeijiao	Soaring Single Flying Leg
Tengkong Shuangfeijiao	Soaring Double Flying Legs
Tengkong Waibailian	Soaring Outside Waving Lotus
Tengkong Tanti	Soaring Spring Kick

Kickin' It With Heng De

(Awesome Heng De has offered to share his recent thoughts via a guest entry. Amituofo!)

I was thinking last night about how jumps taking off of my right leg are much better than off of my left. Especially in danfeijiao, a kick where you jump off your right leg, tuck your left, slap your right like caijiao and land on your right. I do it great on my right - I feel like I can get some serious air, more than any other kick (which is another issue, why jumping off my right leg alone gets me higher usually than off both), like Shifu said to me when you jump higher, you have more time to express yourself.

So being the scientific and analytical type guy I am, I asked myself why I feel better with my right leg kicks and jumps than with my left. In the form I just finished, there's a tornado kick with the right leg, and two erqijiao or danfeijiao like kicks off the right leg. So I wondered in our forms, how many kicks on each leg are there? You'd think it should be even to develop both sides of the body. But my results are surprising and astounding!

Form	Right leg kicks	Left leg kicks
xiaohongquan	4	3
dahongquan	6	3
tongbeiquan	6	2
xiao luohanquan	5	2

and the most astounding result...erluquan...which we all do over and over again for like a year, has 11 kicks with the right leg and just 3 with the left!

Add all of this with how many people don't do kicks like erqijiao or lunbicaijiao on both sides, and that's a lot more kicking with the right than the left. Over the years it really adds up.

I started doing staff form with the staff in my left arm because I could feel the strengthening in my right arm and it would be really sore. I didn't want to have all that extra power and coordination in my already dominant arm only. So far I can do the whole form, but it's not as smooth as my right side of course.

I'm thinking about starting to do forms on the opposite side now. At least tongbeiquan which is short and would be easier to figure out, and erluquan because there's so many more kicks on one side. So if you see me doing 5 kicks backwards, now you know why. And knowing is half the battle G.I. JOOOOOEEEEEEEE!

(In case you were wondering, the other half is sounding like you know what you're talking about, thanks Mo and Cheng.)

Oh yea speaking of 5 kicks my left side waibaitui sucks...my hip just doesn't open and my right shoulder hurts when i do it. Could it be all those times doing 5 kicks over the years was what made that side more open? Maybe I should do erluquan only on the left for the next four years...

Diversion Tactics

I thought last night's class would be all about my thumb; it's still fat and pained and kind of purple. Turns out, it was all about my hamstring. After overextending a caijiao last week my right leg has pretty much been out of commission. I've been training through it, but it's come to the point that I think this one needs rest, not training. (The last couple of classes have been, frankly, painful.) What it did serve to do though, was distract me from my thumb. The distraction allowed me to discover that, while I can't bend it, I can still do a ceshoufan or two without too much pain.

Funny how one pain minimizes another. A foot injury distracted me from my shinsplints, a sore neck distracted me from my foot. A sore butt distracted me from my neck. The flu distracted me from everything. Just goes to show, if you don't focus on the pain it will in fact go away.

This is something I've noticed in how I approach class as well. I used to get caught up in how many people were in class, where I was in line, how many minutes left until a water break, the temperature and who knows what else. I realized lately that these things have gone away. I don't know if it's from training a lot more or being stronger, or being more chan, but now class is just class. I don't worry about how much water I'm drinking or where my sweat is flying: I just train. I don't know how or when it happened, but it's a really satisfying realization.

I also spend less time trying to distract myself in line. It used to be that I would try to think on something, sing a song in my head, or anticipate some other move to distract me from the pain/exhaustion of the move I was on. Now, I am much more focused on what I am doing and how well I'm executing it. And the pain has gone away not through distraction but through strengthening my movements by focusing on technique. It's not that I don't still get tired, (hahah if only). It's not that I don't still fall victim to pain - see my lackluster training in light of current barrel of injuries. Only now I feel like, I'm going in with the same mindset no matter what variables are varying.

I must say though, I'd still like something to divert me from the pain in my leg. It's so unsatisfying not to be able to whip out five kicks at full chi.

Devolving

Last night, through no one's fault, I got smacked in the hand in line during fanyao. I never really think of fanyao as a strike, yet I can recall more than one occasion where I or someone else has suffered a rather painful injury from a fanyao collision. Don't underestimate the power of whipping arms! Anyway, the accident left my thumb throbbing and before the stretch break it had swollen too, if not enormous proportions, at least big enough to look funny next to my other thumb. And just when I unjammed my finger accident from last week. Of course that one, I hit myself....... As a result I once more have a hand hampered by a jammed finger. Only this time I've lost the benefits of my opposable thumb, the result of eons of hard evolving.

My pre-simian abilities got me pondering backwards evolution and that feeling you get sometimes that, through no fault of your own, your kung fu seems to be de-evolving. (Devolving we'll call it, hyphens are awkward.) I'm not talking about when something is rusty because you haven't practiced it in awhile or struggling with something you're still trying to learn. This is when you're rolling merrily along only to suddenly discover you can no longer do a fanyao properly on your right side, you can no longer do a yangshen yunshou on EITHER side, or you for no reason whatsoever regress in your forms. This seems to be happening to me a lot since I began L2. Sometimes it's just choking. Sometimes.... I don't know.


There does exist the theory that you are actually getting better. The more you learn the more you see that you are doing incorrectly so you are more and more aware of even the tiniest flaws in your movements. So even though it feels bad/different, the move is improving.

I think this is sometimes the case for me, but certainly not always. I guess, sometimes something just gets off and, like my new found appreciation for how much I need my thumb, when it starts working once more, you get the pleasure of success all over again.

Keep Clean

My uniform collection grew to 5 uniforms - 3 blue and 2 orange. That's only because I'm too lazy to clean them every so often. The unintentional consequence of this infrequent laundry is mildew smell - especially t-shirts/tank tops I wear under the uniforms. Fresh out of the dryer, they smell nice and clean. Not so, once they absorb a leeeeettle bit of my sweat...

I have heard a few laundry tips from our changing room:

• Wash in 2 cycles.


• Use dish washer detergent.


• Sprinkle baking soda over the laundry.


• Boil them.


• etc...

Here's a new one. Lifehacker.com published a top 10 food and drink hacks. At number 7 is how to clean everything with vinegar including mildew towels which I assume should work with my mildew uniforms and tank tops.

I will give it a try and post the result once I get all my uniforms dirty. In the meantime, if you have tried-and-true laundry tips, please share.

Day 3 - Kip UP

On Monday night Xu had us new folks have a wild stab at liyu dating. Having never attempted it before, I was mostly left with a head and neck ache. Last night, though, I got to learn it for real. As it turns out the pieces individual are not that complex even when done all together it looks pretty daunting. This made it all the more puzzling when I couldn't do them. I never expected to get the kip up or head flip right away. But I somehow got stuck on my stomach unable to unfreeze my muscles to kick my legs under me. The cylinders would not all fire at once. Still, I'm glad I got to be taught it so I can work on it now instead of throwing down wildly with no clear idea what I'm supposed to be doing.

The unfortunate thing is, I don't get to work on it before class tonight because I have to work late. Yay overtime - boo my 20 days being thwarted already. Ah well. I'll embrace the chance to let my neck rest and look forward to trying it again tomorrow. And seeing Qbertplaya on Saturday!

Day 1 - The Dark Side

This time last year I was working two jobs, seven days a week, and training maybe once every two weeks or so when I got the fluke morning off of was able to drag myself to a Sunday class before hustling like mad to work. Luckily, around February things changed and somewhere in there I began training my first night classes. So I've never before experienced training nights in the winter - damn it's dark! Normally I don't mind when the time change throws us into nighttime at 5 pm. It's seasonal; it's fun. But rolling in after being at work all day and then getting ready to train, I look outside and see black and just think, "It's time to be in my bed," even if it is only 6 in the evening. Mmm bed. but I will not let the black of night stay me from my appointed task. And my 20 days are off to a rollicking good start.

Last night I got to learn/try some new L2 moves, which is always fun. And in so doing I had to do lots of sweeping. Or in my case, attempted sweeping. Now I've been taught the sweep many times by many people and been given and endless array of pointers and tips, but sweep perfection still eludes me. What I'm realizing, is that for me it's a strength issue. I can comprehend these moves all day long, but I really just don't have the power in my hips to overcome toe leverage of my long ol' legs to whip them around with any kind of power. So many level two move involve some incarnation of sweeping, and my hips/quads are simply wimping out on me.

Luckily, strength is a fairly straightforward thing to rectify. I'll keep training harder, even if it is soporifically dark outside. Each sweep brings me closer to daylight savings time.......

Past-Present-Future

It's been awhile since I've done a post, which isn't to indicate that I haven't been training. I've been training a fair bit; I've just also been working, dog sitting, cat sitting, turtle sitting, and Thanksgiving-ing. And when I got home nights I was too lazy to sort my thoughts into a coherent order, even to the casualness of blog-standards.

Anyway, training has been great, learning lots in L2 and continuing to work hard in L1. This past weekend I had a bad cold so after soldiering through Friday nights class I spent the last two days resting, losing then regaining my voice, and now blowing my nose incessantly. Should be ready to go for tomorrow though. Looking ahead I'm taking a much needed, long overdue and extended vacation home for the holidays. I'll be gone for a solid two weeks and I'm a little concerned about my ability to make myself train even lightly while at home under a barrage of seasonal activities (namely cookie eating). So to gear up I am going to try to train every day until I leave. That's 20 days, for the curious. It's a lot, but I know I can do it. And hopefully it will get me on a roll so that when I go home I do train enough so that the return isn't too painful. I always tried to never get more than four days off in a row, and since starting L2 I haven't taken more than 2 days off consecutively; so the thought of two WEEKS off - two weeks and three days - is blowing my mind a little right now. It's easy to tell myself now that I'll train, but I know when I get home and I'm surrounded by distractions it will become easy to "forget." So here's hoping I can start the momentum now and work on that self-discipline a little. And while I'm going to concentrate on getting enough sleep, I will endeavor to make sure I'm popping up regularly and posting my progress.

(And sadly I can't claim credit for the picture below. I just thought it went with the theme. Though I am a little fuzzy on why he has a samurai sword.)

Crocodile Kick

We had 7 people in the class today - including Heng Han who taught the class. It was a treat. Because the class was so small, Han let us, newbies, tried almost everything. I got to do all kinds of fancy kicks and at the end learned Qianbaitui Houbaitui - which I think is the fanciest of them all.

It goes roughly like this: you kick with one leg inward in the front and then whip the other leg to finish a circle.

We have similar kick in Muay Thai where you whip your hind leg to attack. It's called Jorake Faad Haang which means crocodile tail thrash or whip or something similar.

I couldn't really do it right. I was told I needed to extend more. Maybe the next time I try, I'll imagine my legs crocodile's tail.

Yay! New Bruise!

This time it's at the inner side of my right ankle from trying to Lihetui but couldn't.

:)

I haven't had bruises from training for a while. Maybe I didn't train that much. Maybe I got better at what I had learned.

Anyway, the bruise hurts but I like it.

Welcome Back!

It's good to be back. Vacation was very nice. Returning to people I care about and I know care about me is nicer. I was dreading going to train after 3 weeks off. But with a little encouragement from Heng Cheng, I made it. And I made it through the 2 very-difficult-to-breathe hours.

Waking up tomorrow should be fun. I can't wait to see which muscle group will hurt the most.

Entering the country for the first time with my brand new green card, I got Welcome Back! from the nice immigration officer. I thought that was cute. Nobody said that to me when I had a visa. They just took my pictures and finger prints suspecting that I might be a terrorist.

It's different at the temple. I have always got a Welcome Back! here. It feels nice to always be welcome and be missed. I got a hug from Heng Cheng and Heng De, a kiss from Heng Mo, a smile from Richu and Heng Huang and "Oh Sucheela is here. Welcome Back!" from Shifu.

I promise I will train harder.

Training mini marathon

I'm taking the day off. My ass hurts. My back hurts. My hips, hamstrings, quads, knees, ankles, shins, feet, and calves hurt. Basically my everything hurts. Yesterday was my 7th day of training in a row. I was determined to get a whole week done, even though really it's as arbitrary a number as any. But I wanted to say I had done it, even if it meant it would hurt. I just wanted to train hard as I could. I always said I wished I could train every day and now is my opportunity. It was sort of like an extended version of class and far as the mental and physical pushing of myself. And it definitely helped reveal things to me about why and how I train.

I spent a large part of the week getting to class early and working on my left handed ceshoufans for a new move I learned in Level 2. As we all know it is not my strong side. I spent over an hour in L2 on Friday doing cartwheels over and over and over again and still not getting it. I know what to do; I know not to be scared; but my body is just retarded and won't obey me. I really started to get angry at one point. It's so frustrating to not be able to do something so basic even after spending half the class doing nothing else. I tried to focus my anger into chi but I just got worse.

I am terrible about getting really angry at myself when I mess something up. In kung fu this hasn't been as bad because the mental training has helped me mature beyond internal tantrums, (mostly), but there were several times this week when I was learning something new, or even going back to something I already know when I just got so frustrated I wanted to hit something. It was somewhere around my 500th ceshoufan that I realized that this anger was actually holding me back. I couldn't "use" that anger to train better because I was just going into the whole thing with the wrong attitude. It was weighing me down. After all, I didn't decide to train every day because I wanted to be angry at myself for not being perfect at things. I trained because it's fun to work at getting better. I guess this is a fairly straightforward revelation, but I had always operated under the understanding that you could focus anger or frustration as energy in what you were doing. But for me at least, I realized it was just making me worse, and that what I actually had to do was let it go entirely.

Once I started to focus on having fun and being happy that I was learning I already felt lighter. My ceshoufans improved dramatically in how they felt and even some in how they look. :) Of course, I got to the point (today that is) where what I really needed to make things better is a little rest. But it was good to remember that training harder does not mean you have to take yourself too seriously. However, I seriously am enjoying resting my legs. :)

Kung Fu Kitties?

Kung Fu Panda?

A new animated flick -- "Kung Fu Panda" -- is coming out next Summer:

Refining

In class yesterday, during forms, Heng Ji and I were on the floor doing erluquan when Sifu told us to stop. Then he had everyone in the forms line work on their arm rotations and do erluquan for him individually while he corrected us as we went. Even when an older student who had been teaching came over to do a quick form, Sifu had them do the same thing. It was a reminder that even the older, more advanced students can slip into bad habits, and that no matter how long you’ve been training there’s always refining that needs to be done even on a Level 1 form.

It’s hard to remember every detail of each move every single time you do it. But there are definitely places where I’m making the same errors again and again. Also it’s interesting to see the places where we all have compensated the same way, or are making the same mistake. It was good to work those things out; I feel like my erluquan is gradually getting stronger and cleaner. Yet if yesterday taught me anything, it will always be able to get even stronger and even cleaner no matter how far I get.

The Motivator

Leo gave some interesting thoughts on motivations for beginning training and continuing to train. Specifically he was discussing the difference between men and women and retention, but I began thinking about the reason(s) I started training and how they are similar or different to the ones I have to continue training, both in terms of the long term commitment as well as what gets me to temple daily. We've talked a lot about why we train now: the challenge, the community, the mental training, the benefits to our personal well being, and the straight up exercise. But for me at least, I started training for different reasons than those that motivate me now.My initial impulse to come train was borne of 2 things 1) I had lots of free time and I was bored 2)I wanted to look cool doing kung fu at parties. Secret number 3 was that I wanted to become a contract killer.......... The free time is now gone (yes I'm working again). I have found I feel un -coordinated more that I feel cool when training; and if anything the more I learn the more I'm humbled about the lifetime of learning left. And, I don't want to be a contract killer anymore..... But clearly I still train; funny how things change like that. You always get more than you bargained for. I'd be interested to know what prompted other folks to start training (exercise? party trick? followed a friend/boyfriend/family member?) and whether that's the same motivator they have now.

(Also, I love the Buddhist-y cyclical nature of how you train for a reason but training changes your reasons for training so you train more and then your motivations change again and so on and so forth...)

Girl Power

I've always found it mildly irritating when girls come to train kung fu and they use the fact that they're female to sort of train halfway. You know the giggly, oh I'm embarrassed, sweat? what's that? kind of thing. I've never been a super girly girl, and always fairly sporty, so I never got that whole mentality. Of course we are all self conscious our first time out, but for some girls the silliness never goes away though the girls eventually do.

Last night, however, I felt like a dumb girl for the first time. L2 is like going back to those first days of L1 where everyone is intimidatingly better than you. But it's not quite the same because you do know a little bit, plus you know the people there and have a few newbies taking the ride the same time as you. My last class however, we were learning a strike, a pretty rudimentary straight punch, and I just couldn't seem to get it.

Training is a lot of kicking, and we don't do that many strikes in L1. Or if we do they're attached to a kick or stance. I was just very conscious of the fact that I did not know how to punch properly and I felt very conspicuous over in the back watching myself in the mirror. I felt, well, like a silly girl who's never punched someone unless you count the time I punched a boy on the playground when I was 12. Instead of giggling and giving up though, I got angry at myself for being so dumb and focused harder on our drill. I don't think I was looking like Muhammad Ali by the end there, but I think it definitely looked better than at the beginning.

So now I have a little more sympathy for the so called "silly girls" who feel lost when doing something new to them. And while kung fu has helped obliterate a lot of my painful self consciousness, I got a reminder that there is still plenty left to get over, but will get over if I just keep focusing on my goal. Plus, it's ok to be girly; we smell better.

"Train, Train, Go Away"

Whenever I first wake up, I never want to train. On the border of sleep and awake getting out of bed seems quite unappealing if not totally impossible. Of course once I'm up for ten minutes then I'm fine. But today, waking up after a night out to a gray rainy day, I decided to roll over, snuggle deeper into my comforter, and snooze until noon.

WHAT? "Now way. I have taken two days off because I felt a little under the weather, but I was getting my lazy ass out of bed and training no matter what. I threw myself out of bed, and in under fifteen minutes, cooked and ate breakfast, got dressed, got my bag together, brushed my teeth and ran out the door.

I can't train tomorrow, which means that Monday would be 4 days since my last class. That's less frequent training than when I was working full time. We simply can't have that. Class was very humid, and the last vestiges of my cold left me feeling woozy and lethargic, but it was a fun class and by the end I felt stronger than at the beginning. After all that bitching and moaning my Shaolin whatever sword was tight but not excessively troublesome and my shinsplints took a brief respite. Then, instead of booking it home to curl back in bed I stayed for a really great Buddhism class then helped do some storage reorganization with the demo team practicing in the background. It was a good reminder how many different kinds of training I get when I walk into temple: physical training, mental training, spiritual training, community training, and inspirational training watching those I admire. Those are the things that I need to remember to make the next hauling out of bed a little less melodramatic.

The (Over)Thinker

Last night, according to Qbertplaya, I developed the infamous Shaolin Butt Sword. I don't know about that, it's not near by butt, but down in my inner and lower hamstring. But the symptoms she says are identical. It all started with my first Level 2 class and a strain on my hamstring from lots of pubu chuanzangs. It's been there but sort of gradually losing intensity over the past week. Last night, it was not being my friend, but I was still trucking through it when during a yangshen yunshou my leg just totally freaked out on me, sort of seizing up and yet over stretching at the same time. I must learn to pivot!!! In the meantime I almost crashed to the floor, but managed to limp back into line wondering if I should take a moment off to assess the damage. Coupled with some serious shinsplints (a result of trying to correct both my take-off and landing in jumps, consequently I haven't yet managed to successfully do both at the same time) I felt a little as though continuing might be taking "training harder" a step too far.


Which leads to my thought for today: Is there such a thing as training too hard? We know that pushing yourself into an injury is bad, but sometimes I worry I'm just mentally giving in to a pain I'm having. Last night I did keep going in spite of all my bodily objections, and except for avoiding right sided pubus, and wincing a bit during right sided kicks, I managed fine. Is this good or bad? I'm an over-thinker. I know that. I waste more energy thinking about something than just doing it. When I start class I try to get that out of my head, but generally my brain still runs a mile a minute impeding my ability to "just do it." How do you switch that off? And if you do, is that bad because you won't stop to consider pausing for an injury? Here I am again, thinking about it too much instead of just icing my leg and moving forward. If I stopped thinking I bet I could fix my jumps easier too. I know this all comes down to knowing your body and kung fu being action meditation where you're supposed to clear your mind, but I wish I had a switch to just turn my brain off and relax. Actually while we're wishing for things I wish I had a switch to turn off the ache in my Shaolin Lower-inner-hamstring Sword. Actually, while we're wishing for things..... did I mention I think too much?

"Double your pleasure, double your fun!"

Today was a hallmark in my training journey. For many reasons, but it started off with training two classes.

Yes, two. Something I had once spoken of jokingly to Level 2 students long ago has recently becoming a more plausible concept to me. And as I'm currently work free, was three days off the training wagon recuperating my legs, and had Heng De singing the benefits of double training, I decided to make today the day.

Level 1 was officially the smallest class I've ever attended. TEN people. And for the first time ever I was the most advanced student in the class. It was a sort of awesome and yet frightening feeling. It was an excellent but very tiring class with so few students. It was not what I would have chosen for the class to precede what was going to be only my third L2 class.

big lunch and a bit of a nap later.....

I rolled myself into class tonight feeling groggy, but more from having napped in the middle of the day than muscle tiredness. I warmed up light because my body was still surprisingly flexible in spite of having taken a nap, and even though I was feeling normal I felt compelled to save every ounce of energy for class.

It was remarkable. It was far and away easier than my last two L2 experiences. Or, not easier exactly, but my chi didn't abandon me midway. It kept on going right up to the end, even through the arduousness of learning a new move (my first new L2 move!!!) and doing sweeps and five kicks till the end of class.

Tired? yes. A little sore? Yes. Going to sleep very well tonight? Yes. Dead and never want to train again? No! I feel outstanding, and while I may not make it a regular occurrence (I really couldn't do anything else with my day between classes but eat and nap) I'm definitely glad I did it and look forward to doing it again. Apparently chi isn't something you use up, but something that builds and expands upon itself, so that the more you train the more chi you actually have. This is a very scientific theory rooted in physics and elaborate math equations, I know, but whatever. I'm just glad it happened because after the grueling mental and physical mess of Thursday, I needed the resurgence of the chi. So now I know, next time I'm feeling flat, don't take the day off, double it up!

Notes from the D.L.

Man, it has been a while since the last time I posted here. Most of you have heard by now that during the last class I attended on September 29th, I twisted my knee doing a sweep kick in erluquan. It happened towards the end of class, and I had been feeling the chi, mostly because my parents showed up to watch class. I guess I was trying extra hard to show off or something.

I was kind of an emotional wreck the next few days. At first, I was soooo disappointed -- I had just finished learning erluquan, and I was all geared up to test for it the following weekend. I was eager to show Shifu all my hard work.

When a visit to the orthopaedist for x-rays and an MRI suggested that I might be dealing with a torn something-or-other, I went from disappointed to scared. Not only was I dreading the prospects of surgery, but I faced a possible recovery time of 8-10 months before I could even think about returning to kung fu. Yikes!

Happily, the results of the MRI a week later showed that nothing was torn; I had sustained a major sprain to a knee I've hurt before years ago from basketball. So, thankfully, I am looking at a shorter recovery time and have dodged the surgery bullet.

I am going to physical therapy twice a week, and every time I go, they give me more and more little exercises to strengthen my inner quadricep muscle to stabilize my kneecap in its groove. While those exercises may pale in comparison to what we accomplish at Temple, part of my training now is to recognize that this too is part of training. And it's working; every day I do feel a little stronger.

So what now? People have asked how long will it be before I train again, and it's a beautiful thing to know that so many friends are rooting for your speedy recovery. At first, I said to them, "Oh, hopefully a month and a half, two months at most." But ever since I started physical therapy last week, I have decided merely to say, "We'll see. I'm taking it day by day."

A knee injury is nothing to sneeze at! I will be sure to take however long I need to ensure a full recovery, and to be dilligent about doing my exercises. And while I miss the thrill of pushing my body to the max and seeing all of my fellow dorks, I need to exercise patience training, which can be most difficult. I need to do what's right for Qbertplaya and her busted knee, so that when she comes back, she will be ready to attack (if even only from the side line)!

The hair (that ain't) up there

Ever since the loveliness of shaving my head people have asked how it feels to train with it. I haven't been able to come up with a really definitive answer other than "sweaty." Without my lovely locks (short though they were) to hold in the sweat, I find it coming down my face a la a Gatorade commercial. Only it isn't red or yellow or blue. Not yet.

What this results in is a lot of wiping my face. Not biggie, except I fidget enough as it is, and there really aren't many dry spots on my uniform by the end of class. But tonight I encountered one unexpected and bizarre Shaolin injury. I looked in the mirror when I got home tonight and my nose was bright red. I had rubbed it so much I had chapped it! Ow!

Of course, shaved has its benefits too: no worries about how to strap it back for training, no muss no fuss in the mornings, lots of compliments from strangers. And it feels great. So now that it's gotten juuuuust long enough to warrant a little shampoo again, (yes I was still washing my head just not with shampoo) I have to make a decision about letting it grow out or keeping it short. Keep it short I have to learn to leave my nose alone. Grow it long, it's back to brushes and blow dryers... Ah the many unexpected decisions of Shaolin...


P.S. My legs hurt... :P

-Funny title here- too sore to think...

Heng Mo and I were joking that there is a sadist/masochist mentality at work in training. Our teachers like hurting us and we like letting them :) Of course, that's not true; it's not about hurting, it's about pushing ourselves. There is beautiful pain and then there is just injury, and it's important to recognize the difference.


With the advent of Level 2 and being work-free I basically have the opportunity to train every class all week. But while that would be a chi-tastic way to push myself, I don't want to hurt myself either. It's hard to reign in the enthusiasm, in favor of sensible pacing of oneself. Level 2 has left me with all sorts of beautiful new soreness and while I did train Level 1 last night, I'm resisting the urge to train it again this morning before L2 tonight. I know that I have to give my body some time to heal itself and to adjust to the new rigors of every day training; you can't just go from running one mile a day to running ten. I want to push through pain, and work out soreness, but I don't want my shinsplints to develop into crippling pain that prevents me from training at all. So I'm pacing myself, trying to harness my tendency to over-exert, so that I'm always making myself stronger. Besides, I hear (though I think it's an urban legend) that there are other things to do in New York besides train all the time.....

Level 1.5

So last night all but one of the new Level 2-ers turned out for our first orange training session. It was exciting, after hearing about how small those classes can be, to see a solid 21 people line up. It was very October-y with all that orange.

I was thinking, well this first class can't be as scary as your first day ever training, because at least now you know some stuff, and at least you aren't alone in your newbie-ness. Right? .... Ok, scary, no. Different, yes. Hard, double yes. Soreness inducing, very much yes. I don't know why, us first timers didn't do any new moves, maybe it was the result of being tense the entire two hours, but at the end I felt wiped like I did when I first stared training. Not to say we didn't learn anything new. We learned quite a bit about what needs fixing on all of our basics. There's so much there to work on, that watching the older Level 2 folks whipping out forms I felt more like Level 1.5. In a good way. I felt excited about the whole new world of things I had to learn and about the hard work still do do before I could get there. Definitely not going to let up on Level 1 training. Have to work on my caijiao...... Here's my inspiration....

So that I don't look like this:


(j/k, she's just sad because she broke her uniform...)

Train harder!

Been a little while since there was a post, but that's not to suggest any of the dorks haven't been training harder, quite the opposite. And now that testing and all is over, it just means it's time to train even harder. New Level 2-ers have a whole new world of beautiful pain in store; our injured, or otherwise incapacitated amigos will be hitting the physical therapy/alternative training hard; and those who got their very first, shiny, certificates now get to tackle their next form. Congratulations to everyone who tested, and to everyone who was there with us in spirit! Amituofo!

Being a Dork and Social Networking Sites

I would like to add to this post - You know you are a Kung Fu Dork when...

When you join Social Networking Sites (particularly Facebook) to view the pictures, stories, etc your friends talked about while you were eating.

And now I can't stop meddling with it. Can I blame it on being a dork?

Perpetual Motion

Lately I've been learning the value of momentum. I know that when you're kicking, doing moves, you should use your muscles and not rely on momentum to carry you through. That's not the kind I mean. I'm talking about the benefit of not slowing down. Take back stretch, at the end of class what I'd love to do is just lie there on my stomach, but if I keep going, I make it to the end. Whenever I lose my rhythm or stop, even for a split second, it becomes a 100 times harder. Or when we do jumps. If I just keep running and jumping and keeping that flow of chi going, it's actually much easier than when we have that much longed for, but ill-advised few moments to stand and wait. Stopping, then trying to mentally re-start is the worst. On a larger scale, this is the same for training as a whole. When you come more and more and more it's easier every time. But as soon as you stop and take a few days off, it becomes harder to make yourself go back. It's understandably easy to see work and your personal life as too consuming to let you go, when they are actually no more consuming than when you were training 5 times a week.

I've found this to be true in my regular life as well. When I'm at work or at home, if I keep doing tasks straight through to the end of the day without a break, I get much more accomplished than if I stop for a minute. The moment I stop to look at what's in front of me everything seems much more daunting than when I charge through. Not to say you shouldn't look at what's in front of you; otherwise you might kick someone.

SAT - Shaolin Aptitude Test

Last class before testing... I had to keep repeating that in my head tonight. The air was THICK. When did summer come back? I got the old woozy-hazy-super sweaties and each time I did a full run of erluquan I thought I was not going to make it to the end. I mean it was hotttttt, man. And during warm up I aggravated the rip in my cotton pants, so I had to plow through with only one uniform. But last class before testing, gotta bring the chi. (Yes I bring it every day, etc. etc., but you know what I mean.)

So I was going to list out what I think are my weakest spots and what last minute tweaking I hope to achieve before Saturday. But I realized, I don't want to get stressed and analytical about testing. I am comfortable with where I am and am looking forward to showing that progress to Sifu. This isn't a test for cramming. And I feel I'm as prepared as I can be, if not as awesome at the sweep as I want to be. So I just want to say Amituofo to everyone testing, more chi, test harder!

Frankie Says RELAX!

Since I finished erluquan, in preparation for testing, more than one person has warned me about the importance of learning to pace myself properly through the (very long) form. In fact, when I was still learning yiluquan, someone, I think Joshua, told me to relax because if I was that tense doing erluquan I'd collapse halfway through. It's hard to find the balance of doing every movement all-out with lots of chi, while making sure you aren't a sad sack of sloppiness by the end. What was pointed out to me, was that while of course everything should be sharp and clean, there are points built into the form for catching your breath to prepare for the next strike, kick, 5 kicks, whatever. And if you concentrate on being relaxed in those parts and not constantly tense (like I often am) you'll find your energy goes much further.

Finding this good advice, I've also tried to apply it to the entire class. When on line for basics, I've been trying to make sure that during those brief intervals of standing I'm totally relaxed, breathing controlled, and not tensed up waiting for the next trip down the line. I have spent a large portion of my time training trying to relax my shoulders during forms and basics, relax my muscles for stretching, relax relax relax. Most of my life I've maintained a constant state of tension and it's been a difficult adaptation. But I'm slowly getting there, and it has really helped me focus my chi into both explosive power and controlled execution. I hope I can keep it going for this weekend!

Playin' in the park

Thanks to Richu for putting together a great and totally hilarious chuji quantao montage. Yay for dorks in the park!

"Please sir, I want some more [water]."

First, Amituofo to Qbertplaya whose cranky knee gave out on her right at the end of class Saturday. I hope it didn't scare her parents too much! In true train-harder style she was smiling and laughing (if limping) by the time she left class. I hope you will be back up and sweeping soon, Qbertplaya!

It was a fun weekend of training these past two classes. But dryyyyyy. No water breaks except for at stretching, and my tongue was sticking to my mouth. I thought both days it would finally be the day I broke down and asked Sifu for water. There was a brief month-or-so-long period where for some reason I got in the bad habit of sneaking drinks while waiting on forms line. I appropriately chastised myself and kicked that rule-breaking, but I've never been able to ask for water. I am not sure why, maybe it's some sort of false pride or something, but I don't want to get water unless I'm told I can. Or maybe it's my way of limiting my water intake since I've only recently learned to control my ill-fated guzzling of 3+ bottles per class. Whatever the reason, it was gratifying to know that I was in fact able to keep going without water. It wasn't the awesomest, but I survived just fine. It's like today when Sifu made us do ceshoufans for the 10th time and I thought "there is no way on earth I will make it down the carpet" and yet I did. I bout buckled at the end, but I made it. Or in the middle of erluquan when I think what I really want to do is just stop at five kicks, but push myself to keep going in spite of panting and aching legs. It's good to know I'm not giving up when something seems too daunting, but pushing myself every day to go a little farther. Will I push myself to ask for a water break? For now I'm maintaining my silence.

Through the mirror of my mind

Sorry it has been a while since I've written a post. It's not like I haven't been training; this has been probably one of my best months in terms of attendance. I've been busy in my non-kung fu life -- some of it meh, a lot it really awesome. I've been doing a lot of reflection during this crucial stage of my training, and to be honest, I didn't feel quite ready to commit any of my thoughts to concrete words.

Yeah, yeah, we know -- testing is just one week away (eek!), and it's been pressing at my mind. I had somewhat convinced myself to be prepared for the possibility that Shifu might not think me ready to test for the 3rd form. On the testing sheets, I have yiluquan next to my name (and yes, I know I oughtn't read into it too much), and it seemed like in the last few weeks, everyone was learning more and more of their form except me. I felt stuck in erluquan purgatory.

I had resigned myself to the likelihood that I could be stuck in Level 1 another six months. But why use the word "stuck?" Another six months of L1 would undoubtedly increase my endurance, make me sharper and faster, and make me more confident in my execution of erluquan. Subsequently, I told myself, fine, you will learn the end of erluquan whenever you do, and in the meanwhile, just kick ass and burn through class with a stronger fire in your heart. Improve what you do know and it will all follow through. And if I get to test erluquan, awesome. Awesome because it means I will have completed yet another milestone of training, and awesome because it means L2 is around the corner...and if not, I will do it when I'm ready, which is also awesome. Because it's not about this one single point in my training; it's about reminding myself that the mere fact that I have committed myself to a beautiful lifetime of kung fu -- the whole shebang -- is the awesomest.

This weekend will be my birthday, and my parents are taking me out on Saturday after training for a special lunch. As a present to me, I asked that they come to the City earlier and come watch class, and observe me and my fellow dorks and all of our super duper chi. I want them to understand the commitment I've made to myself, and I want to show them the amazing things I've learned to do with my body. I want them to see how happy training makes me and the sense of accomplishment I gain each time we sweat buckets.

In the off chance my parents don't show up, I will be a little disappointed, but it won't change how hard I push myself during that class, or any other for that matter. It doesn't matter whether Shifu thinks I'm ready for L2 or not. It doesn't matter in the long run if I pass erluquan this time or not. What matters is that I am honest with myself, and I don't sell myself short, and I train as hard as I can. I will learn whatever I have to learn, even if it takes me a little more time, but as I've done over and over again, from the very first caijiao, I will stick it through, and just friggin' do it.

So, anyway, I finally did finish erluquan last night after trudging through it for exactly seven months to the date! (I started it on February 27th). So happy -- after watching Shifu send another handful of people off to work on forms with others, he finally plucked me out of line to finish and polish erluquan with Richu with 40 minutes left in class. I think it was possibly one of my sweatiest classes ever, and I felt woozy, but so proud. So proud to be sticking it through. And excited to polish it...loads.

And the world will be as one....

We talk a lot about everyone's unique approach to training, the personal experience, and the different things we each take away. But in today's class what struck me was the feeling of everyone training as a whole. Now I don't want to get too meta here, but from the very beginning when we all said "Amituofo" I felt like everyone's voice was part of my voice, and the whole class I felt very connected with everyone there. Not each person individually but the class as a unit. Of course we're always aware of how the chi of the rest of the folks training affects our own, and maybe it was just all of us fighting against the great equalizer of super sweaty humidity, but tonight I felt really aware of our unity. **rainbow** Then in forms I ened up in sync with Heng Mo during 5 kicks, which totally topped off my day. I don't think I've ever done any part of erluquan in sync with someone before.

What I got from this, other than my buddhisty feeling of one-ness with the universe, was that class never ceases to offer me something different. Just when you think you're in a training groove it can totally change on you. Or maybe I was just delirious from the heat and my chi went above my middle dantian and attacked my brain. Either way, great class. And congrats to Ellen for finishing erluquan!!!

Happy Moon Festival

Last night was Chinese Moon Festival (or Mid-Autumn Festival) night when the moon was supposedly biggest and brightest. A bunch of us from the temple went by the water to gaze the moon and eat mooncakes. (How did it go - by the way? I didn't go because of a wicked ache in my belly.)

But I have always been fascinated with mooncakes. Apparently, there are many many versions of the cake. In Thailand, my favourite kind was with durian and lotus seeds filling.

I found this site with pictures of how to mold and make snow-skin mooncakes (the non-baked white skin ones). That solves the mystery of how mooncake skin looks so pretty and delicate!

Look how big the moon was!!! (Thanks Richu.)

Hawaii 5-0

Last night we reached 50 students! It was the biggest class I've been in for I don't know how long. Combined with the weather making one final attempt at summer, it was extra steamy and sweaty in the temple; definitely felt like the tropics. But I don't mind extra sweaty-ness from extra classmates because that always means great chi. I don't know if it's testing bringing people out to train or the large quantity of newer students, but either way it was a fun time. Richu told me about how in L2 on Monday they had to do everything with a smile on their face. This seemed like decent logic to me, and while I couldn't quite make myself grin the whole time, a la Sucheela :-D, I did try to concentrate on the fun I was having as opposed to thinking about being tired or testing or any of the other things occupying my mind. Magically, this made everything seem a lot easier even though I was training just as hard as I could. Adrenaline is awesome that way.

With testing a scant 5 classes away (sorry Qbertplaya but the truth must be known) it was reassuring to know that I’m still capable of having fun in class and am not totally lost in the world of learning forms and thinking about Level 2. Course, the not thinking did lead to some mistakes. In the middle of erluquan I started doing chuji quantao (stupid pubus) So I definitely need to address the line between over thinking and relying on muscle memory. But because I was having fun, I didn't get angry at myself, I just started over. Hopefully it just doesn't happen during testing!

I went to class expecting to sort of grind out my stress by sweating and training until I wanted to pass out, but instead found my release through enjoying class and realizing how much fun it is just to play kung fu with my Shaolin brothers, who, incidentally, have been most awesome this past week. Amituofo everyone, I can't wait to test with you guys!

Get your kicks....

Over the weekend some most excellent KF folks got me out of the city to destress and distract me. Not an awful lot of training occurred, but lots of playing did. At one point Richu told me to try and caijiao a tree branch that was hanging over our bench. From sitting it looked a little high, but once I stood up and gave it a try I realized it was not as high as it seemed, or my legs are even longer than I realized. It was an interesting sensation though, kicking at a target (occasional caijiao-ing of mosquitoes doesn't count). Mostly in class I just kick as hard as I can and hope for the best, and really have little concept of where my kicks are landing or how high they're going. Now I don't want to have to kick anyone in real life, and I'm staunchly opposed to tree-abuse in general, but I must say, it was pretty gratifying to caijaio that little leaf, however feebly. Can't wait for L2 and kicking pads and such.

These boots were made for walkin'...

Today when I got to temple I was tired. I took the day off of work, woke up early and did laundry, then spent the rest of the day hanging out with a friend. We started off at Columbus Circle, and over the course of the day zigged and zagged our way all the way downtown. We covered something like 70+ blocks, and when we arrived at Canal around 6 I did not have the chi. I was actually sleeping on my bag as we sat in Starbucks. I used to trek all over the city all the time, but ever since I started my 9-5 I don't get to as much, and I forgot how tiring and dehydrating sauntering around in the sun for 6 hours can be. But I couldn't very well find myself at Canal and Broadway at 6 on a Thursday and not go train. Especially after lugging my bag around all day.

I'm so glad, as always, that I overcame my lameness and trained. It was a lovely night, big class, and lots of people doing a trial so I felt urged on to extra chi. Another inspiring element was the posting of the testing schedule. My name with "erluquan" written next to it reminded me how very near testing is, and how much I want to do well. Even better, lots of my fellow dorks are scheduled at the same time so we'll be there to boost one another's chi. I'm trying to do erluquan all the way through at least once every class to work out the endurance, then do it in pieces so I can focus on refining the tiny tricky bits. It's starting to feel more comfortable. So maybe, when I try it in a class that does not follow six hours of walking, it'll feel even better.

:-D

Last night Shifu pulled me to the side after seeing me doing Erluquan and corrected a few of my moves. Right before he started, he said "Not bad but you need to...bakjdhsfkjewhsadfldjskfjpwoe..."

Not bad!

Not bad!

Shifu said I was NOT bad!

I was so happy - excited - exhilarated. I thought my need of approval has been worked out with my therapist but I guess it's still there. After the class I was told that my face was beaming the whole time - punching - kicking - crouching - or doing whatever I was taught.

Heeee hee heee

I think these are what he told me:

• At the very beginning of Erluquan and at the end when I whip my left hand up to my chest and right hand 45 degrees behind me, my left palm needs to face down rather than facing out to the front. Also don't keep the left hand too close to my chest.


• After the sweep and arms rotation into Pubu, going into Mabu my left palm should be in the same position as above as the right fist goes into chamber. Then as I get up with my left leg and knee up, slide my right fist over left palm which moves to my right armpit. Keep my right arm straight right next to my ear and look left. After 2 skips, to go into Mabu right before the 5-kicks, head should follow my left hand which rotates downward and up. Then look right as I punch with my right fist.


• After the Pubu following Waibaitui, twist my right hand, arm and leg just like I would my left hand, arm and leg after the Pubu following the 5-kicks but the other way.... This is a little confusing but it made sense when he explained it to me last night...

Dork Profile... #6!

Name: Whitney
Temple Name: Heng Mo, Tres Bien, Keeper of Turtles
Occupation: Director of Construction Mitigation
Borough: BK, Holla!
Chinese Sign: Fire Dragon

When was the last time you trained? Last night-- Tuesday, 18 September

How is your commute to the temple? From work: 15-minute walk up Broadway, during which time I do some thinking or make some social calls on my cellular telephone. From home: One stop over the bridge on the Magical Q Train. It is a beautiful commute, no matter how you slice it.

How did you learn about the temple? And what made you start training? A friend, the amazing Heng N'ou, introduced me to Shifu and Temple. I saw Level 2 testing and was left with a deep impression. My then-boss and I met with Shifu a few months later to try and help with a real estate matter. On both occasions, Shifu invited me to train. I felt it was an honor to be asked, but it took me a few more months of incubating the idea before I actually made it to Temple. After 11 years of yoga, and a pervasive blah feeling about my gym membership, I was eager for a new physical focus. Training at Temple fit the bill in every way I could have imagined, and well beyond.

When did you start training? March 2006

What is your favourite basic move? Waibaitui. It is so satisfying.

What injuries have you had from training? Yeah, the Shaolin Butt Sword is still around, having celebrated its first year haunting my butt. Happy birthday, SBS! My latest favorite (this is so embarrassing) is that I have been elbowing my own shin during Cetitui. My alignment is off, but I am working on it. One time Heng Zhou punched me in the lip because I was too close to him in line during Mabu. My parents were at Temple watching, and were horrified. I guarantee it was not worse than what I've been doing to my own shin though.

What's the most important lesson you learn from training? There are humbling lessons in everything. Cleaning the mirrors: if you notice an imperfection, try and fix it. Stand back to get perspective on what needs to be fixed. In line during basics: See yourself in every fellow student-- and see everyone else in yourself, from brand-new and endearingly clumsy, to the most graceful and powerful. We cheer each other on because we are all connected-- everything spreads-- competitive chi, aggressive chi, supportive chi, light-hearted chi, loving chi... Even in the changing room: Come prepared, be on time, honor yourself and your body, and the world, by treating yourself well, keeping healthy and sharp.

Soup or no soup? I love soup. I have a psychological blockage training internal-style, but I'm okay with that. Training encouraged me to lift my 10-year embargo on meat-eating, so I am quite patient with the rate at which I've made changes in what I consume. I've really enjoyed overhauling the wardrobe of my diet.

Shower or no shower? Usually not.
Gatorade or water? Water and emergen-c.
How many uniforms? 2 blues.
Straddle or wall stretch? Before: only wall. Now: Only straddle. The transition has been intense. I like all the moral support during stretching.

Cool down....

I feel like I need some extraordinary post now that I've finished erluquan. ***cymbals, cheering, birds singing, trumpets rainbows, the music of all the heavenly host*** After all the anticipation, the buildup, the anxiety, the debates, and everything that have come up as we have been posting our progress, I want to express some cathartic revelation that has occured. But with discipling and family stuff, it has somewhat lost precedence from the things prioritizing my mind the last 24 hours. Which is not to say I am not SUPER stoked about finishing and the prospect of having three weeks to practice before testing. But commitment to training was a huge part of my becoming a disciple, and I think that I'm re-settling on the opinion that being able to train at all, no matter what I'm working on, is so fun, so challenging, so beautiful, that erluquan in all its glory, can be there or not, so long as I get to train harder. Of course, as I commented to Sucheela, it's easy to say things like that once you're done. :) But I really think that I sort got caught up in tangible evidence of progress instead of recognizing the progress I've already made and enjoying what I've learned (and so much too!) in the past 15 months. And now that I'm done, the places in the form I feel weakest are the parts I've known for some time. (*cough* the sweep). Reminder that I need to remember the present and not always be caught up the future, which is a problem I have in and out of temple. Yay lessons. But, nonetheless, (and recognizing that I need to polish my everything) here are the things I want to make sure to focus on in the next few weeks: sweep, everything about it, powerful but CONTROLLED strikes, deeper stances, especially my pubus, always looking far, not down, and spreading my chi through my whole form, not just in the 5 kicks. Good times are ahead, dorks. No wait, the good times are now.

And for those who want to see some bald disciple pics, go here. Hopefully it will help keep me cooler in training.

Headlines from the front....

NEW YORK, NY: Hannah (now known as Heng Cheng) has finished erluquan. Also she has no hair. More on this breaking story as reports come in....

Girls kick ass!

Interesting read on girls learning boxing in Thailand in Sunday's New York Times.

"It's the wood that should fear your hand!"

We don't do much, or really anything, that involves contact in class. At least we don't in Level 1. So unless someone accidentally hits you in line, the person most likely to hurt you is, well, you. Now and again I've noticed I get shin splints from landing wrong in my jumps or bruise my feet from hitting them during caijiao/lunbi caijiao, but mostly these things go away after a bit of corrective modification. The last few classes my latest pain has come from stomping. I first notice a little pain in my right leg when I'm landing erqijiaos, straining my calf from landing too hard. Then immediately after, during the pubu chuanzhang, whilst stomping, the pain shoots up the back of my calf making it near-impossible to resist grimacing. This pretty much sets up a series of identical, and increasingly sharper pains during the stomps in forms, until I have to "air-stomp" and easy my way into gongbus to avoid doing myself a serious injury. Silly Hannah, what are you doing?

Richu made the comment that I should be hurting the floor, the floor shouldn't be hurting me. That made me think of "Kill Bill" where Uma is putting her fist through the fat hunk of wood. Now, I don't need to be punching through walls or beating people up, but the point remains, what good is any kind of strike if I'm just hurting myself? I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong, and I don't know why it's manifesting as a pain in my calf instead of a shin splint or something. Still, I will make a concerted effort to figure out the logic of hurting the floor since the last thing I want to do is limp through testing. Or really limp anywhere. If I have to, I will stomp right through to the cafe below us. More chi! Stomp harder!