Level 2 Basics

With Spring Testing fast approaching, it is time to sharpen not only our physical movments but also our mental alacrity. I am updating Sucheela's Level 2 Basics post with this one. It has the Chinese characters as well as the Level 2 Form names.

For those of us testing Level 2, it's time to learn how to pronounce the Chinese correctly! For those of us testing erluquan and hopefully making it into Level 2, this will be a preview of what's to come. It's never too early to start studying! More Chi! Train Harder! 多 氣 苦 練!

CHINESE / PINYIN / ENGLISH

STANCES
四六步 / Sìliùbù / Four-Six Stance
三七步 / Sānqībù / Three-Seven Stance

STRIKES
勾拳 / Gŏuqúan / Hook Punch
直拳 / Zhíqúan / Straight Punch
擺拳 / Băiqúan / Curved Punch

KICKS
斧頭腿 / Fŭtoútŭi / Axe Kick
前磴腿 / Qiándèngtŭi / Front Thrust Kick
組合拳前磴腿 / Zŭhéqúan Qiándèngtŭi/ Combination Punch with Front Step Kick
側踹腿 / Cèchuàitŭi / Side Kick
邊腿 / Biāntŭi / Roundhouse Kick
前擺腿後擺腿 / Qiánbăitŭi Hòubăitŭi / Front Crescent Kick and Back Crescent Kick
前掃腿後掃腿 / Qiánsăotŭi Hòusăotŭi/ Front Sweep Kick and Back Sweep Kick
磨磐掃腿 / Mópán Săotŭi / Millstone Sweep Kick

MOVEMENTS
提膝卜步樓手弓步沖拳 / Tíxī Pūbù Lóushŏu Gōngbù Chōngqúan / Lifting Knee Followed by Pubu and Gongbu Punch
穿掌里合腿撩腿 / Chūanzhăng Lĭhétŭi Liāotŭi / Piercing Palm Followed by Inside Crescent Kick and Lifting Kick
弓步雙推掌後掃腿弓步亮掌 / Gōngbù Shuāng Tūizhăng Hòusăotŭi Gōngbù Liàngzhăng / Bow Stance with Pair of Palm Strikes Followed by Back Weep Kick and Bow Stance
鯉魚打挺 / Lĭyú Dátĭng / Carp Straightens Body
烏龍攪拄 / Wūlóng Jiăozhù / Black Dragon Coils Around Pillar

JUMPS
霸王摘魁 / Bàwáng Zhāikuí / Jump with Backwards Punch and Cartwheel
旋子 / Xuànzi / Butterfly Kick
旋風腳 / Xuànfēngjiăo / Tornado Kick
騰空單飛腳 / Téngkōng Dānfēijiăo / Soaring Single Flying Leg
騰空雙飛腳 / Téngkōng Shuāngfēijiăo / Soaring Double Flying Legs
騰空外擺蓮 / Téngkōng Wàibăilián / Soaring Outside Waving Lotus
騰空彈踢 / Téngkōng Tántī / Soaring Spring Kick

FORMS - LEVEL 2
小洪拳 / Xiăohóngqúan / Small Red Fist
大洪拳 / Dàhóngqúan / Big Red Fist
通臂拳 / Tōngbeiqúan / Penetrating Fist
瘋魔棍 / Fēngmógùn / Crazy Devil Staff
羅漢拳 / Luóhànqúan / Lohan Fist
達摩杖 / Dámózhàng / Da Mo Cane
小炮拳 / Xiăobàoqúan / Baby Leopard Fist
長拳 / Chángqúan / Long Fist
劍 / Jiàn / Straight Sword
初級自由博擊訓練 / Chūjí Zìyóu Bójī Xùnliàn / Freestyle Fighting Basics

On the poster, there is no "Millstone Sweep Kick.", but it was on Sucheela's post. Is that a new kick? I added the Chinese characters as best as I could for that one. For those of you in Level 2, please tell me if that is right. Thanks!

Baby Steps

Amituofo, everyone! It has been ages since I've posted due to my knee injury, and it's been just over a month since I've resumed training, so I've felt like I owe the blog a big post about that process of return and rehabilitation, but for several reasons I have not been able to harness my chi and focus. Consequently, I have delayed returning to the blog, but dammit, I'm here now!

I've been feeling all this pressure to say something long and profound about everything, but instead, I'm going to revisit a concept that we learn early on at Temple, and I deem it especially apropos with respect to this re-entry into Kung Fu Dorks Unite. We are taught early on the importance of taking baby steps as we progress through our training. If we come to Temple and look at the beautiful bodies flying through the air and decide, Man, I'm never gonna be able to do all of this, then, yes, already the mind has created a barrier, a mountain, which makes the concept of training quite insurmountable. However, if we approach training one step at a time, from the very first caijiao we kick, and then finesse that, and then move on to gong bu, and so forth, we quickly realize that eventually, it can be done.

(And, as a side note, that is why I think I love caijiao the best. It is the first thing we each learn at Temple. It appears simple, yet is deceptively complex and powerful. I am constantly struggling to refine it. But mostly, when I'm through that door and gearing up to jump in line and run down the green carpet with those kicks, caijiao to me most represents rebirth -- a new opportunity to polish, a new beginning, an announcement that we have arrived, a blast of chi that says, We are here!)

So last night, after catching Heng Zu's play, a few of us hung out at a local bar and talked and talked and talked. Speaking of babies, it was especially awesome to see our Shaolin brother, David L., and to view clips of his beautiful baby daughter (no, that is not her pictured). The proud papa showed us her amazing chi -- the girl's got lightning fast kicks already!

We talked a bit about babies and their chi -- that pure, unadulterated energy, and how as humans get older, something happens to that energy. We develop and accumulate more and more, some of it good, some of it obfuscating, and eventually as adults, we lose sight of that internal energy, which results in some of us seeking ways to tap into it a la training. So perhaps when we train, we seek to recapture that pure chi we once had as babies and children. We work hard to shed the constraints, both mental and physical, that hinder our ability to be full of chi, and in a way, we hope to return to that blissful original state of unfettered energy.

Gosh, I've written more than I originally thought I would!

Yes, baby steps, my friends, baby steps.

Level 2 Number 2

Austrian update: Today's level two class was not as intimidating as Wednesday's, though I was still told to relax more than once :P. For the first half of class we did all moves that were familiar to me, and nothing that I felt particularly bad at except maybe tornado. Again, it was really different from training L2 in NY. The carpet is way longer so you do about twice as many kicks each time you go down. However, there are about 30 people or more in the class, and the lines don't start until the last person finishes, so there is lots of time to be very precise and technical and still do every move at full chi. Hopefully this will give me a chance to work out the technical kinks in all the L2 moves I'm still working on, so when I get back I'll be raring to go.

The second half of class instead of doing lots and lots of daunting jumps we just did one: xuanzi. We did it for an hour. We did it slow. We did it fast. We did a lot of xuanzi. I was glad because mine has always felt pretty weak and with Heng Yi teaching so we got a super precise breakdown of the move and did a really helpful drill that we will have to bring back to you guys in the states. It was most excellent, and by the end everyone's kick looked a lot better.

Heng Yi is a great teacher and his KF is amazing to see. I guess it ought to be since he's been training since he was 8. But it's so inspiring to have him training on line with us and sharing such amazing chi. Can't wait for him to teach the jumping class tomorrow!

Sorry no picture again; I will start taking some tomorrow I promise.

FIGHT!

I may risk riling things up by engaging my Feminist Autobot to initiate battle, but I'm not really down with pretending like everyone is a man by saying we are brothers and uncles when some of us are women.

What is the explanation for this again? I feel like people have told me in the past, and it has never made sense, and I have been a good Shaolin sister and have accepted it.

If anyone cares to engage in this dialog, I'd be much obliged.

And in the meantime, here's what I say:

More SHE! Train Harder!!

Austria Level 3

Last night we got our first taste of Austria's Level 2 class. Man oh man oh man..... These guys train HARD. Not to say they train harder than we do, just differently, and they work really hard on crazy explosive chi, especially in jumps.

Class started fairly familiar but soon they were doing several different moves that Yi taught them. One example was a lunbi caijiao into a fanyao into a ground slap another lunbi caijiao then into a pubu. Another was a lunbi caijiao intou a housaotui. And then a lunbi caijiao into a waibaitui then the beginning of pubu chuangzhang 3 times. I felt like a special kid trying to figure these out. They also did familiar stuff differently. During liyu dating after they land on their back they do a 180 sideways flip, do pushups, then another 180 flip then the kip up then headflip. Craziness. I felt special again as I am still trying to just get the kip up. I will try to get a video. Of them, not me.

During stretching De made new friends by teaching them all straddle. They were scared but loved it by the end.

Then it was time for second half jump-o-rama. These guys left us all behind. Their jumps are crazy high and crazy powerful. They do backflips like it's nothing. They all train the aerial. Their tornadoes are crazy high. There was one part where they stacked these bricks up like a ramp and we were supposed to run up it and attempt an aerial off. De and Richu went at it like champs but I could barely get the rhythm right just to get the jump take off. There was no way I could pretend to try the aerial, I would have cracked my skull on those bricks. I have to try it next time though no matter what; gotta represent.

We never got around to forms. Apparently their classes are pretty different every time. But I think the main difference is they train jumps and gymnastic stuff the way we train forms It's not harder or better either way, it's just different. And different is always fun.

Ohhhhhh, AND they had music playing the whole time. Madness. When "Eye of the Tiger" came on I started laughing, remembering our dorktastic karaoke last week. Miss everyone at USAST, but can't wait to come back bearing mad Austrian skills.

Richu's Austria Perspective

If you are interested in reading more about our fellow dorks' trip to Austria, Richu is blogging daily with pictures. Please go here to read more! Let's share their experience together!

Dateline: Vienna

Amituofo! As many of your know Richu, Heng De and I have come to Austria for two weeks of international training, and while you all are just starting class right about now, it's 1 am on Wednesday here and day one is complete.

We got to the airport at about 2 am our time, where we were met by Oliver. He drove us to the temple where after meeting Heng Yi we all promptly fell asleep. We woke up, got some lunch, and then - promptly fell asleep. Jet lag, it's tough. And we wanted to be super rested for our first class.

It was a great class to begin our stay. There was a film crew here taping for Austrian TV so it was a mixed up but chi-tastic training experience.

First off, let me say our Austrian brothers have a LOT of chi. Everyone is wonderfully welcoming and helpful, and they train hard. Good thing too because class was totally different from training in New York and there were many times I was confused as to what the heck was going on (even if I am technically their Aunt, as I was introduced :D). There were all kinds of crazy tumbling and walking backwards in a bridge, lots of stances and chuji quantao over and over and over and over again. It was the hardest that form has felt in a long time. :) De and I introduced everyone to the wonders of the straddle stretch, while they had us walking around with each other on our shoulders. It was exciting to be training the same and yet so differently.

Afterwards we went out for dinner with several folks and everything felt just like home only without a few of my favorite dorks! It was lots of fun though, talking training with new folks and making new friends. We even got free Chinese new year plates from the Chinese restaurant. There is more detailed blogging to come, but now I got to finish catching up on my jet lag.......

Abuzz

After last night's class, there was great consensus about the chi-storm we'd created. Analogies were flowing like special water as our bodies buzzed with that ultra-coveted high from our enlightened exertions.

There were eight people, one line, and, in addition to N'ou's perpetually inspiring instruction, much wonderful intervention from Shifu. During Lunbi Caijiao, Cetetui, and forms, Shifu had us make specific adjustments to our movements, which definitely added to our collective spirited efforts.

I don't really know what it was about last night, but it was a happy surprise. Especially given that the absence of a few of my favorite Temple compadres (off having fun in AUSTRIA, *ahem*) has just begun. In short, we had more chi, we trained harder, and the results were precisely, entirely what I strive for each time I train.

Kung Fu Dork Profile #7

It's been far too long since a Dork Profile has been posted! I figured I would do the honors since I just became a regular contributor for this blog. So here goes!

Name: Leo
Temple Name: None. I was here when the last disciple ceremony was held so I did have the opportunity to be become a disciple. I thought deep and hard whether or not I wanted to become a disciple. My answer was given when I remembered the story from Buddhism class about Bodhidharma's travels and a part of the story hit me. When Bodhidharma was brought in front of the Emperor of China, the emperor asked Bodhidharma 3 questions. "What is the highest Noble truth?", "Have I done a lot of good deeds by donating money and building temples?", and "Are there buddhas in the world?" To which Bodhidharma replied, "There is no Noble truth.", "You haven't done any good deeds." and "There are no buddhas in the world." You see, by even asking the question, you already know the answer.

"In your heart, you already know."
-Ch'an Saying

Occupation: Actor

Borough: NJ in the town of North Bergen. Just to be clear, North Bergen is not in Bergen county. It is in Hudson County. Whenever I mention that I live in North Bergen, people say, "Oh yeah! I heard of that place. That's north NJ right?" or "Yeah! Isn't that where Frank Sinatra was arrested?" Sigh... And of course everyone is like, "Oh! I'm sorry to hear that you live in NJ. That must be horrible!" You know what? It's actually really nice to live in NJ. Lots of tree-lined streets. A really nice big park with FREE tennis courts next to me. A beautiful view of the city from my apartment. And I get to have a car!! Do you know how wonderful it is to have a car and have the ability to get away whenever I want?!

Chinese Sign: Tiger

When was the last time you trained? Yesterday (Sunday) was the last time I was at Temple. But, you know how it is, Temple is in the heart, we train everywhere!

How is your commute to the temple? It's about 45 minutes if I'm coming from NJ, and if I'm coming from work, it's about 15 minutes. My commutes to the temple generally consists of me running down flights of stairs to the subway, get on a train, stretching while waiting to get out of the subway, running up the flights of stairs of the subway, and then running up the flights of stairs at the temple. All the while, my mind explodes with thoughts of missing class and missing training and kicking myself that I didn't leave earlier.

How did you learn about the temple? This is an interesting question. And the real answer is, "the universe showed me the way." Three things happened that I couldn't ignore. One, I walked by the red sign numerous times and had always wanted to come check it out. I had been researching where to take some martial art classes in NYC off and on for awhile. The second thing was, Sarah D., an actor friend who is in the same acting class that I am in goes to Temple. She was showing another person in our class caijiao and lunbi caijiao and I asked, "Do you do Kung Fu?" and she told me I should go check it out. I went to the website that night, and I knew it was the right place for me. The third thing that happened was that my mom called that week and said, "Leo, my one regret in life is that I never had you learn Kung Fu." I'm like, "What?! That's your one regret in life? That I didn't learn Kung Fu?", and she's like, "Yeah..." and so the next day, I stopped by the temple and signed up! I didn't watch a class or do a trial class. I didn't need to. I just knew it was right.

When did you start training? March 23, 2007

What is your favourite basic move? Whoa! Tough question! In all honesty, I LOVE all of them. They all train the body in a beautiful way and it's like asking, do you like your right foot or your left foot better or which one is your favorite foot? Uh... I kinda like both of them? I need them both to walk. I may be stronger or jump higher on one foot, but the other one just needs more Chi! That's how the moves are to me. I might be better in one, worse in another, but I just need More Chi! and so all the moves are fantastic!

What injuries have you had from training? None.

What's the most important lesson you learn from training? Oh my! There have been so many lessons! The most important one? Hmmm...I would have to go with "Do not judge others, judge only yourself." It is so easy to look at another person training and blame them for either going too slow in line or laughing at them for not doing a form properly. Everyone is a mirror of ourselves. When you judge others, you are really just judging yourself and not accepting who you truly are. It's about understanding yourself. And I would have to say, but judging myself, understanding myself better, I have become much much more aware.

Soup or no soup? Definitely soup! I really look forward to relaxing with Temple people after a hard 2 hours of training. Plus, it is good to replenish the lost proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins!

Shower or no shower? Depends if I have to go somewhere or meet someone that didn't just train at the temple.

Gatorade or water? Water. Never Gatorade. Gatorade has high-fructose corn syrup. And even though there is a controversy as to what effects HFCS has exactly, it is still an unnecessary sugar.

How many uniforms? Four blue uniforms. Three cotton and one NTNL.

Straddle or wall stretch? I would do both. Straddle does scare me a little bit. But I would love to be able to do splits. I used to run long distances and so my muscles are formed in a certain way and very rigid. My flexibility is horrible. I know I need to rip those muscles to become more flexible. C'mon! More Chi!!

"Stretch the body. Stretch the mind."

-Shifu Shi Yan Ming

And so, this concludes another episode of a Dork Profile. I hope you enjoyed reading it and got to know me a little better!

See you at the Temple!

Amituofo!!
:) Leo

Sausage Fest

Amituofo!

Hello My Fellow Kung Fu Dorks!

This is my first official post! Please let me introduce myself! Amituofo! I am Leo! (ROAR!) More Chi! Train Harder! You might have seen me around if you train Level 1 at the USA Shaolin Temple. I only started to train at temple 9 months ago and I'm the youngest blogger here in terms of Temple Age. Okay! Now on to my first entry!

For the first time, there were no female chi! Not even Heng Xu or Mei Mei! Well, that's not exactly true. There have been classes where it has been all guys, but those classes were usually very tiny, probably less than 7 people. But today, we had 16 people. And even Shifu mentioned it has never happened. Especially, since, today was not a holiday or a weekday.

I know the reason why. It's because most of the KF girls were celebrating Heng De's 21st Birthday far too late into the night/morning. I could have sworn before I left the party, I got quite a few half-hearted promises to train. ;) But, alas, I was the only one that made it to temple.

Training today was totally invigorating! When I first got there, I gotta admit. I was tired. My warm-ups consisted of me walking around the circle trying to keep my eyelids up and extended. But after 5 minutes of basics, I was ready to rock. Anybody else have that issue? My body just needs that Shifu-induced-wakeup to be able get the chi up. Once it's up, I'm fine the rest of the class. I probably should come as early as I can to get my chi up so I can start class at full chi. But...the darn bed yoga training was just too inviting... :)

Oh yeah! Joshua was there. For someone who hasn't trained at temple for a long time, he still led the line, and had awesome chi and perfect forms. He's very good about training the basics and forms outside of temple. He's self-motivated while currently, I'm Shifu-motivated. This is one of the things that I will be working on before testing in April. More Chi!

"Temple is in the heart, we take it everywhere with us."

-Shifu Shi Yan Ming