And now a word from a Kung Fu Dork...

Hi readers of this little blog,

Mo, Sucheela and I created this blog with the intent of making it a fun place where we could post about lessons learned, observations, comments, experiences, etc., while training. We are friends with many of you and feel that this blog should be a friendly way to enhance our sense of community. We are also thrilled if our blog proves interesting to those who don't train at USA Shaolin Temple.

Unfortunately, lately, there have been quite a few negative comments left anonymously. While people are entitled to their feelings and we don't discount the validity of their ideas, we don't understand why they've chosen our little blog to air such apparent bitterness. Case in point, today Sucheela wished everyone good luck for testing this weekend, and it somehow spurred a thread unrelated to her simple sentiment. There are certainly other forums in which these people could address their concerns. I encourage people to create their own blog if they are so compelled -- blogging can be fun!

Consequently, we have decided turn on the moderate comments option on this blog; meaning, if you leave a comment, it will not instantly appear. Rather, your comment will only appear once one of us has viewed it and approved it. We did not wish any kind of restrictions be placed, but sadly, this is definitely a case of a few rotten apples ruining the bunch. Our little blog is not designed to be a free-for-all forum for whatever. Remember, it primarily is about the experiences of Mo, Sucheela, and myself. Please respect our feelings, as this is our blog, respect others, and most importantly, respect yourself!

We hope you keep enjoying our posts, and that you keep your beautiful comments coming. Good luck if you're testing this weekend, and MORE CHI!

Amituofo,
Qbertplaya

good luck and have fun at the testing!

End of the Carpet

(Amituofo! Occasionally, we will feature the thoughts of a guest contributor. Today, Branden aka Quantou asked to put up a post. Xie xie, Quantou! Chi!!)

In class Shifu always tells us to use the entire floor for the line forms. As class goes along and people get tired they end their trek across the floor earlier and earlier. We end up walking a few precious feet to get back in line, precious because they could be used to do another movement or two. After stretching, the walking to the end of line gets even worse…people doing waibaitui and zhengtitui only do 4 or 5 kicks and then walk the last 10 to 15 feet of the carpet!! Sometimes space is tight, but there is always a little more room.

At my new job over the past few months there have been a few financial projects that I had spent a significant amount of time putting together. Finally the projects were in what I would consider to be a finished form. I would then sit down with my director and we would review. Inevitably there were a few details that she could always find to modify. Her corrections were sometimes banal and sometimes a miss on my part. These misses were infuriating for both of us.

As of yesterday I understand the small misses on my part were because I was not making it to the 'end of the carpet'. No matter how much chi I had to propel myself to the end, once I saw the end was near, I relaxed and started walking. I can now see making it to the end everytime has so many benefits in the temple and out. One more chance to sharpen my form, get stronger and do it correctly the first time.

Supersonic Crunches!

It had been a while since I went to a class where Jie Chi'eh (界) taught. It is often nice when someone other than Shifu teaches class because we gain the perspective of another person and are challenged in different ways, and Jie Chi'eh is awesome at using creative exercises to give us an amazing workout. Last night he emphasized the cardiovascular by making us do lots of sprints and jumps, and also focused on upper-body strengthening, with handstands, wheelbarrows, (attempts at) one-handed ceshoufans, etc. I can hardly lift my arms today. Good thing all I have to do right now is sit here at my desk and type.

A fun but tough exercise that we learned yesterday involves four people.

Basically, Neo and I had to lie on the floor on our backs with our heads towards each other. We held hands/forearms and pulled as hard as we could towards each other while Richu and Jaka pulled our legs towards them as we struggled to bend our knees and pull our legs towards us, resulting in a supersonic crunch which worked the abs, arms and legs. Then the guys relaxed and let us straighten out our legs so that we could repeat the process again and again. Wow, it was like a crazy tug-o-war!

I had so much fun last night. It felt like elementary school gym class all over again!