The Green Monster

F the Green Monster. I'm not talking about Fenway Park's Green Monster, as shown above, but the one that rears its ugly head whenever we have a class and there's an itty bitty number of attendees. As Hannah already mentioned, only twenty people trained on Sunday, and hardly any senior students, which made the carpet oh-so-inviting. Yes, I'm talking about that Green Monster, the carpet which seems endless and forever sometimes, especially when you're tired, especially when it's a warm summer day, especially...oh, whatever!

It is clearly a mental game -- the size of the carpet in actuality remains constant, but when our numbers are reduced, the challenge of filling the carpet with our chi-osity seems rather daunting. We are physically capable, but mentally, it can be a struggle, so we must push ourselves, as Quantou once wrote.

Today, Shifu was peeved with our chi in class during basics because people were stopping about midway, so he made us stop and walk around the columns so we could rev up our chi and attack the carpet better. Unfortunately, some people didn't quite get it and continued to stop midway when we resumed, so we had to walk the walk again. Oy.

During forms, I tried to approach the intimidating vastness of the Green Monster by seeing it in a different light. Usually, I do chuji quantao followed by yiluquan followed by what I know of erluquan over and over again -- lather, rinse, repeat -- and oftentimes, squeezing in erluquan can be tough whenever the carpet is full since it takes up a lot of space in both directions.

Today, however, since so few people were practicing forms -- I think as low as ten at one point -- I saw it as an opportunity to go nuts and do erluquan as many times as possible, which was great because I've been dying to get the sweep kick going smoothly. I think I did erluquan as many as five times in a row before I busted out the chuji quantao again. I need to break in my new feiyues! Each time I erluquan-ed it, and practiced the sweep kick three times in a row, I felt happier and happier knocking it out of the ballpark. And I think I did all right....

So, yeah, F the Green Monster (and F the Sox, while we're at it)!

The challenge....

Small classes on Sunday aren't unusual, but today, when I realized we were going to max out at 20 students, I had a bit of a panic. My mom was here to watch and I wanted to be as full of chi as possible, not gasping in short short lines. I know we should try our hardest every day, and I do, but today I tried my extra-hardest. Having my mom there was great inspiration to keep going even when ceshoufans made me crazy dizzy. I've said it before and I said it again, this just shows just how much of training is mental.

Also interesting, in addition to the class being small, there were not a lot of old-school people training today. It's always strange when I feel like part of the older half of the class, but today it was even more pronounced. These things got me to thinking about how much I've learned and how much there is left to learn and so on. I know, I know, how quickly we get through forms isn't important, but I don't want to feel as though the reason I'm not getting through them is because I'm letting my mind keep me from training as hard/as much as possible. So I've made a little bet with myself to train every possible class (for me that's 4 times a week plus holidays) between now and testing in October. If I win (...against myself....) then I will get..something. The validation of having done it. naturally... aaaand something shiny, like gold feiyues... or maybe a leg stretcher... or LeCreuset cooking pans.... mmm yeah... Nothing like a little personal challenge to break down a mental wall...

That's the gauntlet... that I threw down at myself.... yeaaahhh....

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!

Vote for Zhong!

Heng Zhong aka Rick Seedman, who teaches the kids' classes, is auditioning for cable channel G4's America Ninja Challenge as part of their Ninja Warrior program. Check out his super-impressive audition tape here:

If his tape gets selected by G4 as one of their ten favorite videos, it will appear on their website this Friday, August 3rd, whereupon the top 3 vote-getters will have an opportunity to compete to represent the US in Japan.

Support our Temple brother by checking out the site and voting for him here on FRIDAY, AUGUST 3RD. You'll have to register on the site first to participate.

CHI!!!

Update: From the Ninja Warrior message board -- "Users will be able to vote for the contestant who they would like to see compete on 'Ninja Warrior.' Users may vote beginning Friday, August 3, 2007 at 12:00 p.m. PT through Sunday, August 12, 2007 at 5:59:59 p.m. PT. Voting times subject to change in Sponsor's discretion."

SO THAT MEANS STARTING 3PM ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 3RD...

Update #2: Unfortunately, Zhong's video didn't get selected this time, but we are still proud of our Temple brother and his effort. He is amazing, and we are confident he will return even stronger next time. CHI!!!

Shaolin Kicks

By now, you are probably familiar with our trials and tribulations for learning the sweep kick. Lately, as I've been able to make somewhat full circles (yay!), I decided that my beat-up, well-worn pair of training shoes have been a plus due to their smooth bottoms which allow me to spin around somewhat easily on the carpet. I imagine that a new pair of feiyues with their grippy ridged bottoms would render rotations more difficult.

Saturday, however, I hit a snag, quite literally. My right shoe dragged at one point (probably during fanyao or pubu chuanzhang lunbi zaquan) and ripped, connecting the hole that was at the tip of my shoe with the hole under my big toe, resulting in a gaping hole with a flap. I also noticed that when I did pubu to that side, especially during yiluquan, the lack of any grip caused me to slip even deeper into the stance. Owie!

I imagine I'll have to retire this pair very soon, as I doubt training with a monster opening on my shoe could be a good thing. The dork in me loves it, however, when I've managed to wear out another pair -- it's like a kung fu milestone, or some badge of having trained harder.

PS -- Saturday, I noticed Gombulla had some awesome magenta/pink feiyues on. At first, I assumed he might have ordered them from somewhere, like from this European feiyue website (which is bloody expensive), but then he revealed to me that he dyed a white pair himself. Awesome!

Run!!!!

Today was a day of running. Running in class, running out of class and trying to get to work on time. The question is, was the former worth the latter? Was showing up to work late and not having a chance to eat until after 5 worth getting to go to temple and being made to run for not doing ceshoufan fast enough and sweating in humidity that felt practically solid? Honestly, there was a moment (when I thought I was going to fall on my head) that I wasn't so sure. But even when I was at work, sweating and STARVING, I had to conclude that it was.

I spent a lot of time trying to follow through with my resolution to slow down my movements. And miraculously, things did feel a lot smoother, more balanced, better (except my cartwheels, which were harder than ever). And I also worked at limiting my water intake, not AS successful as I wanted but much better. Altogether, a really good challenge for me mentally and physically, I only wish I had time to wind down instead of bolting to a very hungry afternoon at work. The question now is, will I do it again tomorrow?

You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)

Made it to class tonight after an entire week of not training. Mercifully, Xu taught so I didn't have to endure any special coaxing from Shifu. Felt the effects of the humidity again which made training a little woozy. At one point during forms practice, I went to the changing room to retrieve my hand towel so I could mop myself in between turns on the carpet. Heng Jian recommended I not do so because he believes that removing the sweat results in your body perspiring even more, and causes you to get dehydrated even faster. Whatcha think?

A week off from training might have done me some good, at least in terms of practicing the all mighty sweep kick. I guess because my head wasn't entirely in it tonight, I just slashed through forms and when I got to the gongbu right before the sweep, I dropped down and just went for it. And to my delight, I managed to make it around a number of times. The no-think method of approaching the hump served me well tonight. I ran out of gas a little by the end of class, but I avoided rebruising the inside of my right knee that kept slamming into the carpet last week. Yay!

After class, we headed to Thai Son with a good number of the crew -- almost had a dirty dozen, including some faces who hadn't joined us before -- Ryan, Brian and Raul. On our walk over, Niederwelt, Billy and I entertained ourselves (and made children cry and dogs bark) with our renditions of classic '80s tunes by bands like The Cars and Journey! So in honor of that, and my good sweep night, I'm doing a long distance dedication to all of you dorks with a video by one of the best one-hit wonders to come out of that lush decade. Here's Dead Or Alive singing "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)." Yeah, baby!

Return of the Wandering Shaolins

After spending the weekend delving into the secrets of the fabled sand training technique, the group of us came home once more. It was nice to be back on the carpet again. I am trying to get in as much chi-tastic training as I can because I have work and parental visits coming up that keep me from training the four times a week I've been enjoying. But yesterday my extra chi resulted in extra water guzzling. Which, on top of a very empty and hungry stomach, led to a not so chi-full second half of class.

Where is that self discipline I go on about? Practically every class, by the end, I am groaning about having drunk too much water. But when your mouth is so parched you feel like the Sahara Desert has moved in, how do you resist? But how can I expect to master myself in Shaolin if I can't even learn from repeated mistakes in not mastering my water bottle? I didn't used to even drink a whole bottle. Now sometimes I refill it twice AND drink from the sink. Madness!

Yesterday I was finding all kinds of new shortcuts and sloppiness that have crept into my training that I never realized. My caijiaos are so uncontrolled I am losing balance on every kick. I think also I'm taking too large a step. On waibaitui/zhengtitui/lihetui I've started taking a step between kicks, something I never used to do. There's lots of foot dragging happening in gongbu, my mabu stances are getting super lazy, and I'm not going as far down the carpet as I once did on lots of the basics. What happened?!!!

Here are the remedies I have come up with thus far. 1. Hydrate even more during the day (I already do, but more can't hurt). 2. Make sure I eat enough during the day so that I'm not lightheaded and starving or, conversely, in pain from eating right before class. 3. SLOW DOWN. Chi is good. Sloppiness is bad. 4. One bottle of water max during class.

If I ever want to make Level 2, I need to break bad habits now. Plus my mom is coming next week and I want her to see me doing my best! Hopefully, I can always catch mistakes before they get out of hand.

And Happy Birthday Mo!

Dorks on the Beach!

Last weekend, a bunch of us got out of the City and headed way East for some R'n'R courtesy of Heng De's parents. Xie xie! We spent many hours on Saturday at the beach, and from the minute we got there, we were a whir of non-stop activity. We practiced jumps, ceshoufans, basics, handstands, pubus, forms, etc. We juggled, threw a football and frisbee, bodyboarded, twirled a staff, dug holes in the sand, jumped in the waves. Constantly moving!

At some point in the afternoon a man came over, his curiosity piqued. He wondered who we were and remarked he was impressed with the fact that we spent hardly any time lounging or reclining or doing the usual lazy beach activities. He joked there was a bet going on whether we had all escaped from somewhere. He smiled when we told him we all studied kung fu together in the City. I was rather proud. :)

Awesome Chi!

WE'RE BACK!!!

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