Kung Fu Dork Profile #3

Name: Chris
Temple Name: Heng De (also sometimes Biggie)
Occupation: Student
Borough: Manhattan
Chinese Sign: Tiger

When was the last time you trained? I'm training right now OOOOOH philosophy

How is your commute to the temple? Well right now it's a little long as I'm in Hong Kong as I write this, but my apartment is a 10-15 minute walk from the temple.

How did you learn about the temple? And what made you start training? (Long story short) I came home one day and said "Mom, I wanna learn kung fu" and she looked in the phone book. At that time I also lived 15 minutes away. I went to watch a class, and like Heng Jie (揭) says, "If you feel the chi, that's the chiiiiii."

When did you start training? May 4, 2003

What is your favourite basic move? I like fanyao. I feel like it's one of the few moves I actually can do decently.

What injuries have you had from training? Uh...sometimes my knees hurt when I do middle splits? That hasn't happened in a while though...Oh yea speaking of fanyao actually one time I hit someone's hand and I broke a tendon or something and now my right pinky is twice as big as it should be.

What's the most important lesson you learn from training? Read the heart sutra, it's all in there...and more confidence in myself.

Soup or no soup? Soup.
Shower or no shower? Not at the temple.
Gatorade or water? water, I don't do all of them fancy electromolytes.
How many uniforms? 2 orange, 2 blue, 1 vest with black pants.
Straddle or wall stretch? Straddle, it improved my middle split immensely and I find it more comfortable.

Side Kick!

I missed class on Tuesday because I got handed three new files at work and had two closings. Grrrr! I heard that Shifu broke just about everyone into groups to work on new things, so I was especially bummed to get stuck at work, but at least I somewhat made up for it by meeting kung fu folks after I left the office at Li Hua for a yummy bowl of spicy pork ramen.

Ever so determined to train, I whizzed through my work and bolted out the door at 6:18. When I arrived at Temple, it was very warm, at first causing me to glance up and make sure the heaters weren't on. And it's not even summer yet! Oh man...

Tonight Joshua taught class. He reminded those of us who train towards the end of the line to go all the way and finish our basics even if people are getting ready to start up forms.

After we practiced our forms for a while, Joshua broke us up into groups to work on forms. I was happy to work with Han from whom I rarely have the privilege of learning stuff. She reviewed what we had already learned in erluquan which for me was up to the erqijiao, and told my group to do better defined stances. And then she taught me a chunk beyond where I had stopped to the second xiebu. When class was over, I practiced what she had just taught me, and then she taught me a little bit more -- up to the side kick! Yeehaw!

After a relaxing dinner at Thai Son with Niederwelt and Nick, I waited for the train back to Brooklyn for a little while. And, yes, I actually did practice erluquan on the platform. Hee!

Open My Hip Part II

So I got what I asked for. I got to work with Esther and a bunch of other people on the 5th kick of the 5 kicks today. And now my hip is so open it hurts when I bend over or walk or sit or laugh or do anything...

Anyway - a few new things I learned about the kick from Esther:

• Jump up on my right leg to get into the kick.




• Kick up in the front just like Waibaitui and then open my hip and kick my right hand.




• Keep my hip open and extend my right leg when I'm done with the kick.




• Extend! Look up!




• Don't worry about the next move. Finish the kick properly first.

Open My Hip

I have a confession to make.

I forgot how to do Waibaitui. I don't remember any pointer or how I was taught to do the move. It was one of those moves that was taught to me once and has never been refined since.

So in the line, I would just kick my leg up - and then rotate it to the side trying to touch my hand - hope for the best - and then land wherever I land. Yesterday when I thought about it I felt very awkward - even lost my balance and had to take extra steps in between.

How is this supposed to be done correctly? When to extend? Where to land? When to take step? Does anybody know?

Maybe I should just volunteer to go to the side next time.

Hey! How's it hangin'?

Ahh...it's Sunday night already! The weekend melted away much too fast mostly cos it was jam-packed with kung fu goodness. Friday night, I caught dinner with Niederwelt and her friend before we headed to Temple for Movie Night, and it was great to see everyone in a nice, relaxed context. I gotta say, it did feel kinda funny to drop popcorn on the rug where I usually drop sweat...

So, on Saturday, Zhou taught class, which is always a treat. When we practiced chuji quantao together, he broke us up into two groups so that we could practice the form on the rug in front of the mirror and look at ourselves, which can be quite useful. Also, he had us work on throwing punches with chi while doing yiluquan. In the afternoon, I did some laundry meditation cos all three of my uniforms were dirty. Then, in the evening, I met up with Niederwelt and my friend Julie in Williamsburg for some excellent barbecue at Fette Sau where we sat outdoors and then just some good hanging out time on Niederwelt's balcony.

This morning when my alarm went off at 9, for about half a second I played that but I trained yesterday game with myself, but I knew I had to get my butt out of bed because (a) I overindulged in the pork last night (yum!), (b) I had already promised myself I would train both days this weekend since I'm missing next weekend entirely, (c) I always look forward to seeing my friends at Temple, (d) it was too nice of a day to veg out on my couch alone, and (e) if one has an opportunity to train, shouldn't one do it since who knows what'll happen in the coming days?

It ended up being the right decision to train (of course) cos I always feel better that I did, and a lot of friends were there. The amazing thing was that there were 22 of us in class, and 11 of us ended up going to Thai Son for lunch together after class! We squeezed in tightly around the table, and had a blast (as always). Then, after lunch, a bunch of us headed to Soho to see Billy and some of his bandmates from The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn play on the street.

And on our way to the subway to head back to Brooklyn, Hannah R., Sucheela and I ran into Parris who was also on the sidewalk selling his artwork. We talked to him for a bit and remarked how many talented creative people train at Temple. Love it!

And now it's Sunday evening...and I'm lounging on my couch, summing up the weekend for you. Saw my lovely kung fu peeps. Enjoyed the beautiful weather. Did a double training. Had so much fun. So awesome!