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!

Kung Fu Cupid

I was pointed to this document by my co-worker: Some Evidence for Heightened Sexual Attraction Under Conditions of High Anxiety by Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron. The gist of it is already in the title. Basically it said that people get more attracted to each other when they are in adrenaline induced situations - which would include intense exercise or Kung Fu training! :)

The experiment went something like this. An attractive female researcher interviewed a bunch of guys and gave them her phone number at the end of the interview. The number of guys in the group that she took walking across a shaky hanging bridge who called her back was way higher than the other group which were on a sturdy bridge. (Both bridges have the same scenery.)

So.... my point is this: Have you ever noticed how many couples were "made" in the temple? Do you feel like you are more loving when you train? Why is that?

Well... this might be one of the reasons.

And this might be one more reason I should keep training. ;)

Tony Jaa in "The Protector"

One continuous take. Amazing!

Explosive Chi!

Tonight after we did shuangtui quxitiao a few times, Shifu, dissatisfied with our jumps, stopped the line and told us to picture fireworks popping, like on the 4th of July:

So after hearing that, the next shuangtui quxitiao I did, I imagined myself to be a firecracker, lifting into the sky, with a core of energy ready to burst, then with explosive sparks shooting out from my legs and arms and chest. KAPOW!!!!

A simple concept, yet I think it worked its magic. Awesome!

Listen With Chi!

Today, I was in line during basics, and apparently Shifu had yelled a pointer at me from across the Temple. I did not hear him, so he got annoyed and yelled at me again, "Ellen! Did you not hear what I said?!" So this time I stopped what I was doing, looked at him directly, replied with an "Amituofo, Shifu!" and then resumed what I was doing.

Lesson learned -- be focused, but not totally oblivious to your surroundings. We are so fortunate to have Shifu teaching us, so listen with chi and pay attention to the good things he has to say.

And maybe say "Amituofo, Shifu!" whenever any response is appropriate, whether the comment is directed at you or not. ;-P

Kung Fu Dork Profile

Name: Sucheela

Temple Name: Massaman (Zhou's the only one calling me that.)

Occupation: Pretending to be busy with web stuff
Borough: Brooklyn
Chinese Sign: Tiger

When was the last time you trained? Last night. It was awesome!

How is your commute to the temple? I used to be able to walk to the temple from my previous residence. No more. Now I take trains -- about 20 minutes from work. Don't know how long it takes from home yet. Haven't gone training from home since my last move...

How did you learn about the temple? And what made you start training? I worked with Jeremiah aka Neo. Whenever anybody had any complaints about anything, his only suggestion is -- You should try Shaolin Kung Fu!!! And then I became single, had too much free time, needed something to do. So I came to the trial class - didn't like it that much. But oh the pain - the pain that I got from the trial class was so addictive - I wanted more. So I started training.

What is your favourite basic move? Cetitui. Because I thought kicking on the side is a nice change from all other kicks. I have weird fondness for Cetitui. I don't know.

What injuries have you had from training? Lower back pain from several causes, the black thing on the back of my legs from over extension, left ankle from Erchijiao, right knee from unknown cause, right shoulder from Erchijiao.

What's the most important lesson you learn from training? I can do it! I can love myself. I can be strong. I can be happy. etc.

Soup or no soup? Soup! Hungry!
Shower or no shower? No shower! Waste of time.
Gatorade or water? Water! Cheaper.
How many uniforms? 3!
Straddle or wall stretch? Wall stretch! Feels more stretched.

Thursday Night -- More Chi TV?

I think tonight's attendance list only had one column's worth of names. Do Thursday classes generally feel smaller to anyone else? Is it cos it's the end of a long week, and people wanna rest up for the weekend? Are we dorks for preferring to train instead of caring what's happening on Grey's Anatomy/CSI/ER? Can't help it!

Anyway, tonight, I somehow managed to get through basics and chuji quantao and yiluquan without hearing Shifu call me out despite my general tiredness after a long day at work. I still find whipping through the forms and then xiebu and pubu together as a group extremely challenging, and I guess I need to train harder. But, by the time we get to practice forms individually, my legs become less rubbery and re-energize. It really helps me when we ignite the chi.

I was lucky during forms -- Shifu showed me some extra love and worked with my beginning of erluquan. Like when he worked with Sucheela recently, he corrected my stance by making me do the ending to yiluquan, then I had to chamber my left palm, and then bring my right arm almost straight up. He emphasized the importance of keeping my torso in the same position, so as to thrust my hip out. The right leg should be at a 45 degree angle. He made me practice it over and over again, even making me face the mirror so I could see myself.

I didn't learn any more to erluquan, but it was great to refine the beginning. Hopefully, I'll nail it down soon! I am utterly exhausted...but happy I got to work with da master.

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!