Whaaaaaa..!!!??!!

It was two minutes to seven and none of the regular teachers was at the temple. I was playing with the idea that maybe Shifu would teach us tonight or maybe Richu would teach and I would get to learn Tongbaiquan.

And then the clock pointed at 7. Shifu turned around and said "Sucheela - start the class."

And I went Whaaaaaa....!!!??!! Meeee...????

And then it's all a blur. I remember hearing Shifu saying random things. I also remember having the class did all the moves that I could think of and the clock only said 7:30pm. Good thing people like Richu and Cheng remembered all the basics and "whispered" them to me.

Anyway, the hour passed. We stretched, did a few more rounds of basics and then forms. I taught Ellen, Mike J, Lukas and Zang Tixi Pubu Loushou Gongbu Chongquan (which I thought I did best of all the level 2 basics), Zhiquan and Baiquan. On the other side of the columns, Shifu taught Cheng, Le, EZ, and Eric Tongbaiquan.

I am embarrassed to admit that I felt a pang of jealousy. I wanted to learn a new form too!!!

Then I realized I was learning something as well. Shifu didn't teach me the form but he taught me something else. He taught me about leading, about trusting and believing in myself. He showed me how wonderful training is from the other side of the line and how all of us can make training fun/challenging/exciting.

Huuggggeee thanks to everybody in the class tonight for being so supportive and chi-tastic!!

IT'S A SNAPDRAGON!

Congrats Heng Ji and Chadie on your new arrival! She started her entry into this world on a terrifically blustery day, and now that she's finally here, what a gloriously sunny one it is!

We cannot wait to welcome her! Amituofo! <3<3<3

Twisting and Soaring through the Sky!

For the past year, I've had a nemesis. Its name was Téng Kōng Fān Yāo (騰空翻腰). I could never twist fast enough or jump without taking steps and therefore I would lose my momentum. I was halfway falling through the sky instead of soaring through it. I closely watched and studied Xu, Li, Zhou and Josh. They have really amazing and beautiful Téng Kōng Fān Yāo's. When they are soaring, it looked as if they were suspended in air on a puff of cloud. Then, gently, the clouds would part and set them down gracefully. Oh!! How it would pluck the strings of jealousy in my heart!! I know it takes time. I know the muscles need to be built. I know techniques need years of refinement. But, I wanted to SOAR!! I wanted to FLY!!!

Today, for the first time, I felt a glimpse of what Teng Kong Fan Yao is all about. Zhou led the line and had us do it over and over again non-stop. I twisted, I jumped, and I soared!! I popped into the sky and landed softly. The feeling is incredible. It's everything as I imagined it would be. The exhilaration!


The key is the step. It's all in that one step. To achieve the lift necessary to soar, you have to step quickly into the next jump to build up more and more momentum. That step is the epitome of everything we are learning at temple. That step takes courage, heart and confidence. If you lack in either of those, it's easy to falter. It's easy to fall. It's too easy not to believe in yourself.

"If you don't give your heart wings you'll NEVER never ever fly."
-Footloose

I hope today is the start of a new me. The start of flight!

VICTORY IS MINE!!!

What's that? What did I hear you say? Cheng got the what? what? KIP UP?!?!?!

I WIIIIINNNNNNN!!

Ok I don't know what I win and of course I now am moving right on to obsessing over the head flip, but we'll get to that later. The point is, after much hemming and hawing I finally got the kip up. I started landing it on the inclined mat last Friday and after spending lots of time pre class working on it on Monday, Tuesday, and today I finally stood up on the solid ground. Parting of clouds! Trumpets! Choirs of Angels! and so forth... Thanks especially to Randy, Heng De, and Richu for their limitless patience in explaining it to me. And to Mo for getting it last week and inspiring to get my ass in gear. Amituofo!

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!

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....

Long time, no chi.

In spite of my best efforts to ignore it, and the wonderful enthusiasm of my fellow dorks, I have been feeling low chi for the past several classes. I don't know if it's work-related stress, lethargy from the heat, or being thrown from my regular training schedule, but I have had a hard time feeling motivated. Last night, finally, the chi returned. I admit I had a little coffee before class, which I'm sure sparked my initial energy, but the anticipated crash never came. Instead I felt awesome all the way to the end. It was a big group, several new/trial people, and everyone was constantly clapping and yelling more chi! etc. I had a great time and it helped me remember how much fun training is. I mean the physical act. I always have fun with the people there and after class I always feel a winner, but lately being in class itself had taken a lot of strength to make it through. Last night was still hard (i.e., erluquan feels so long and I'm like 1/3 through!!), but I was enjoying myself again.

Also, since my mom is visiting this weekend, I knew that the next time I train she will be watching, and that inspired me to train harder. I haven't seen her for over a year, which is a lot for me. We're really close, so I'm very excited to share with her this thing that has become such a big part of my life. I think I'm bringing her Sunday since that seems to be when more people will be there. I can't wait for her to meet all you crazy dorks!

Kung Fu Dork Profile #5

It's my Shaolin Anniversary today! (Ok, so it's kind of a stretch, and time is an illusion etc., but I like anything that even remotely resembles a holiday.) And what better way to celebrate than by training tonight? While I sit and anticipate that, I thought it would be a good day to publish my dork profile.

Name: Hannah R.
Temple Name: Don't have one yet, but need one if only so I know whether Shifu is talking to me or Hannah T. (ed. note. -- as of September 2007, Hannah R. is now Heng Cheng!)
Occupation: Posing as a competent Assistant to the Executive VP at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I mostly occupy myself there by drawing cartoons, looking up recipes and doing kung fu in empty rooms.
Borough: Brooklyn - Fort Greene to be precise.
Chinese Sign: Rat - Rats are characterized as being charismatic, pioneering, cunning, etc... Ok, so they also live in sewers. But hey, Splinter was a rat, and he still was able to learn ninjitsu and teach it to turtles.

When was the last time you trained? About ten minutes ago. I do mabus in the elevator. At temple: I last trained Sunday.

How is your commute to the temple? 15 minute ride on the Q train from work.

How did you learn about the temple? And what made you start training? Oddly enough, I found out about the temple randomly when I still lived in GA. About a month after I moved to NY I remembered, "Oh yeah, that place looked pretty cool." So I visited, thought it was really cool, and started training. The people and the chi kept me coming.

When did you start training? July 10, 2006 One year anniversary!

What is your favourite basic move? I changed this answer several times, but I gotta go with waibaitui. The explosion (both the noise and physically), the extension, getting to do it right after stretching, you can't beat it for chi.

What injuries have you had from training? Nothing too serious. I currently have nice bruise from where I fell on Saturday. Does hurt pride count? I hurt that a lot.

What's the most important lesson you learn from training? Patience; any way you want to interpret it.

Soup or no soup? Soup, but number 14 with the vegetarian broth. I'm vegetarian; like Shifu.
Shower or no shower? If I have somewhere to be before I go home. I try to be considerate of other people's noses.
Gatorade or water? Water. The sweet drinks just makes me thirstier, and I drink too much water already.
How many uniforms? 2 NTNL uniforms, and one blue cotton one. Oh and an extra pair of blue pants from my original uniform to which I lost the top. Oops.
Straddle or wall stretch? Both. Straddle lately because just for fun I decided to aim for a middle split by September. Psychological test. Conquer the fear of the straddle!

Looking forward to many more awesome years!

Kung Fu Dorks Unite! and Grow!

We have new contributors!

Not just one, but two! Two new dorks!

Welcome Quantou (aka Branden) who has already posted here twice as a guest contributor and Hannah R. who has been consistently expressing herself on this blog in the comments.

I Heart Training: The ? vs. the !

I still have a sword in my buttcheek, and repetitions of Erluquan are making my lower back sing a constant dull ache.

But amidst all of that, I have been feeling pleasure from watching people at Temple, who started training well after I did, advance quickly and beautifully.

And amidst all of THAT, I felt particular pleasure on Saturday, when, for the first time, Shifu asked me to teach someone. What an absolute honor. And, predictably, through that experience, I ended up learning quite a bit myself.

What surprised me the most, was that the humility I felt at being asked to teach someone else, far outweighed the normal humility I feel when I am corrected... or, shall we say, sharply urged on, during the normal course of training.

I realized that when I am moving in demonstration before Shifu, or anyone, as I am being watched, my movements bear a question mark, particularly while I am first feeling my way through a form. But when my movements were intended to provide an answer to someone else, I found it necessary to summon strength and confidence, sharpness and extension, and found, resultingly, that my movements instead bore an exclamation point.

What I learned from my teaching experience was this: that in transforming a question into an exclamation, the curve of the question mark is forced to unbend-- POW!-- and to extend-- BAM! and that is where I found the answer: in the length, the explosion, the strength-- in the pure power, gushing forth, entirely, infinitely, from within.

And oh yeah... another lesson? I still, and always will, have a lot to learn!

Amituofo.