Mystery of the Missing Muscle

On Monday we did a lot of kicking and I knew the I'd be feeling it on Tuesday. I did, but not at all in the way I was expecting. Last night, I felt it as soon as I started warming up. Each time I cetitui-ed on my right I felt my hip sort of pop and click back into place. It didn't hurt exactly (thought not particularly comfortable), it was just a totally bizarre feeling that each time left me trying to figure out what the heck just happened. What it feels like, is that there used to be a muscle on the front of my hip socket holding everything in place and suddenly it isn't there anymore, and the joint is just popping around however it pleases. What's going on in there? Wondering if anyone else has ever had this. Is it a sign that all that kicking extension has pushed me to a new point of flexibility? Or is one of my hip flexors on vacation someplace? I guess so long as it doesn't hurt, I wont worry. It sure gives popping a whole new meaning. :)

The Art of Popping

I know... I know.... It's all about extension and popping. I've been training for over a year now and I heard those words for about 5 billion times. But I don't even know if I'm doing it the right way.

I've been told to imagine string pulling from my head to my tailbone. I've been told to open up my shoulder blades. Ummm.... it's a little difficult when my one of my legs is in the air. But I'm trying.

A few months ago I learned that I totally popped the wrong way. Jeremiah aka Neo saw me do the extension while drinking shots at a bar. And the conversation went like this:

(Reenactment)
J: That's not how you're supposed to pop.
Me: What did I do?
J: You looked up and thrusted your boobies out.
Me: I popped.
J: You're supposed to pop your hip.
Me: That's impossible.
J: You are crazy.
Me: You are a nerd...
...etc...

And then I tried it. For me, it's especially true with front kicks - Caijiao, Lihetui, Zhengtitui. When I was told to extend, I would pop my head up to the ceiling. And that's not right. It hurt not only my neck but also my back. O.K. I have to pop from the hip. I tried it. And it's more fun. :) And my back doesn't hurt as much anymore (still hurts though) and my neck stopped hurting completely!

Shifu has a million eyes

I was so excited to train last Saturday because a grueling work week prevented me from attending class last Tuesday and Thursday. But I was dragging ass, especially during xiebu after chuji quantao. I was in the last row of people, and my knees felt like they were going to buckle as I slowly pivoted and crouched down.

All the way from the front of the carpet, I heard Shifu's voice -- "Ellen! You still don't get it!" -- and then this orange blur shot across the room and then towards me, ending up right next to me. I felt Shifu's eyes staring at me as I struggled through xiebu, so I dug into my dwindling reserve of chi and extended as though my life depended on it. And then Shifu left me alone.

Never assume that Shifu can't see you from across the floor. But mostly, be honest with yourself. There is no need for Shifu to push us into extending as fully as possible. We should do it all the time.

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.

Be Good to Yourself -- Sleep!

Oof. Today I trained after an evening of much fun and a few hours of uneven sleep and man did I pay the price. I was stumbly and off balance during lunbi caijiao, so Shifu sent me to the side. And then after the rest of the class started practicing their forms, and Shifu came to the side to work with us, he knocked me to the side yet again for bad lunbi caijiao.

When I'm stumbly and tired, I tend not to extend enough, and I take an extra step in between each one because I'm struggling to keep up with the pace of the line. Shifu has knocked me out of the line for this before, and normally I am very mindful of how I do lunbi caijiao because I don't want to repeat this mistake again, but I guess today I was so bushed, it didn't translate to my actions. So he made me do basic caijiao and then lunbi caijiao non-stop for what seemed to be the longest 45 minutes of my life.

Miserable. I wanted to cry as I heard Mo and Sucheela trying to give me chi. In the end, I am glad I went, but boy, do I need a good solid six hours of sleep or more.

Oh, I did learn a new thing today -- Mo and I stretched with Julian, a newer student who hasn't been training that long. Looks like he's in his early to mid 20s, brown hair, an interesting line design tattoo on his left forearm, and a tiny gold stud through a part of his left ear, not his lobe.

Ok, now I'm going for a nap. Zzzzzzzzz.....