Kung Fu Cupid

I was pointed to this document by my co-worker: Some Evidence for Heightened Sexual Attraction Under Conditions of High Anxiety by Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron. The gist of it is already in the title. Basically it said that people get more attracted to each other when they are in adrenaline induced situations - which would include intense exercise or Kung Fu training! :)

The experiment went something like this. An attractive female researcher interviewed a bunch of guys and gave them her phone number at the end of the interview. The number of guys in the group that she took walking across a shaky hanging bridge who called her back was way higher than the other group which were on a sturdy bridge. (Both bridges have the same scenery.)

So.... my point is this: Have you ever noticed how many couples were "made" in the temple? Do you feel like you are more loving when you train? Why is that?

Well... this might be one of the reasons.

And this might be one more reason I should keep training. ;)

Tony Jaa in "The Protector"

One continuous take. Amazing!

Explosive Chi!

Tonight after we did shuangtui quxitiao a few times, Shifu, dissatisfied with our jumps, stopped the line and told us to picture fireworks popping, like on the 4th of July:

So after hearing that, the next shuangtui quxitiao I did, I imagined myself to be a firecracker, lifting into the sky, with a core of energy ready to burst, then with explosive sparks shooting out from my legs and arms and chest. KAPOW!!!!

A simple concept, yet I think it worked its magic. Awesome!

Listen With Chi!

Today, I was in line during basics, and apparently Shifu had yelled a pointer at me from across the Temple. I did not hear him, so he got annoyed and yelled at me again, "Ellen! Did you not hear what I said?!" So this time I stopped what I was doing, looked at him directly, replied with an "Amituofo, Shifu!" and then resumed what I was doing.

Lesson learned -- be focused, but not totally oblivious to your surroundings. We are so fortunate to have Shifu teaching us, so listen with chi and pay attention to the good things he has to say.

And maybe say "Amituofo, Shifu!" whenever any response is appropriate, whether the comment is directed at you or not. ;-P