Poppin' and Lockin'

Poppin' and Lockin' - the sound my hips make when I do CeTiTui (my bad De) and WaiBaiTui! Ever since the one day in L2 when Shifu had us practice CeTiTui with a partner holding our hips in place I've been focusing on alining my hips properly. An unfortunate side effect seems to be my hips being slightly out of socket now. Small price to pay I guess for correction... I assume that eventually they'll just slip back into place once the motion becomes normal but for now I guess I've got a new instrument to play with.

More Chi!!
Pop Harder!!

Happy 2009!

More chi!

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee

Yesterday's Level 2 class was thoroughly satisfying for me. Only eight people showed up last night so I knew we were gonna work har-dah. And, it was my first Khalid-led class. At first, I was a little anxious because I have heard that he loves jumping (which my cranky knees don't always love) and I've seen the explosive level of chi he exhibits usually. But, to my delight, he slowed it down to a calm pace and went over a smaller group of basics with greater attention to details. Sort of a less can be more approach. Not that we had less chi, but that it was not as frenetic and more exacting.

We did some stuff I hadn't tried before, including the so-called jumping lihetui, which is gonna take me some time to wrap my mind around. In particular, we spent a good chunk of time on punches, which can be overlooked sometimes. Khalid reminded us to be graceful with our punches, again not lacking with the explosive chi, and maintaining our balance and fluidity. He told us to envision some of the best fighters like Muhammad Ali, who move swiftly and quietly, but stun with their punches.

For the last part of class, he decided to teach me, Mike J. and Carlos what I consider to be one of the truly awesome basics of Level 2 -- xuanzi aka butterfly kick. Up until this Level 2 class, I had been learning some new Level 2 basics, but all of them seemed to be a slight variation of things we already kinda knew, whether it be a combination of Level 1 basics (e.g., gongbu shuang tuizhang housatui gongbu liang zhiang) or a new kick or punch. But xuanzi has always seemed distinctly Level 2 to me. If done correctly, xuanzi makes you look like you're floating in the air as your legs fly up above the rest of your body. It had always excited me to see the more senior students practice them before Level 1 class started, but I wasn't sure of the possibility of myself ever executing one. Then, my friends who got to Level 2 before me started learning it and only then did I think, hey, maybe that'll be me in a little while. And finally, last night, I reached that point.

At first, after Khalid broke down the move for us, I found myself thinking way too much about each step individually. But then he went off to check on the others working on their respective forms and left us newbies alone to practice. The three of us kept taking turns over and over again, trying to take the thinking process out of it and beginning the building of our muscle memories. It became clear to me that my mind was weighing down my ability to fly and whip my legs around, so I just went for it, with encouragement from the guys. And finally, by the time Khalid came by at the end of class to check on our progress, he said to me in his quiet way, "You got it."

Not that I've perfected it, and that's it. But that I was off to a good start. And that's all I needed to hear last night.

Kung Fu Dork Profile #9

(Editor's note: Please welcome Lukas as a new contributor to our blog! Also, if you are interested in being featured in a Kung Fu Dork Profile, please contact one of us! You'll notice we've tweaked the questions a little.)

Name: Lukas

Temple Name: Mr. George Lucas (I think. Sometimes Shifu yells that when I have a lot of chi but maybe it's a coincidence.) ... but I don't like it.
Occupation: Camera Operator

Borough: Manhattan

Chinese Sign: Ram/Sheep

When was the last time you trained? 12/5 Friday night L2! I'm not so good at waking up "early" these days.

How is your commute to the temple? 8 miles by bike! Which on a good day is about 30 minutes, but it's usually about the same on the subway.

How did you learn about the temple? I saw a special on Shifu when he first came here around 1994. I remember I was watching Wimbledon at my Grandparents' house when it came on. I was entranced. I couldn't believe someone like him was here teaching Shaolin's secrets! I didn't know how or when but I knew someday I would HAVE to train with him!

When did you start training? June/July 2007.

What is your favorite move? This is a perfectly dorky question! Zuopan is pretty dope ... I don't know it's hard to pinpoint a favorite. There are plenty that I struggle with that force me to focus and become obsessed till I figure out the basic mechanics of them. Aerials are definitely one of them. Pubu drills are my nemesis!

What is your most feared L2 basic move? I don't fear any move but I think it will be a tie between Xuanzi and LiYu DaTing for most difficult for me. My back is not very flexible yet and in order for me to do these the way I want to it's going to require a lot of diligence and maybe a few hours on the rack!

What injuries have you had from training? Ha! There is quite a laundry list for me. Over the years I've torn my meniscus in my left knee and had surgery to remove about half of it. I've probably torn the right one too but I just deal with it, plus they say physiotherapy is usually all you need anyway. Too many doctors run to the knife and unknowing patients comply because they trust their doctors. . . . you might guess that I wasn't happy with my knife toting quack--I mean doctor. Prior to I sprained both knees. I partially torn a ligament connecting my collar bone to my shoulder trying to roll out of a join lock. Recently, as most of you know from my whining, I've developed shin splints. With the help of a lot of sound advice from my brothers and sisters I'm recovering pretty quickly - thanks!

What's the most important lesson you learn from training? How to make my weaknesses my strengths in all aspects of my life.

How many uniforms? 3 total - 2 blue, 1 orange.

How often do you buy new feiyues? Are they white or black? Depends on what move I'm working on. Saotui or FanYao; one pair/month. Black is verbotten!

Straddle or wall stretch? I like both.
Favorite place in New York to train outside of class? Wherever my friends are. When I want to be alone for meditation or Tai Chi I like to go to the hill that overlooks the Harlem Meer.
Best place to eat after class? Nice Green Bow is really growing on me! I like anywhere we can do family style! It makes us all feel like family.
Movie you wish they'd show at movie night? Jet Li's "Fist of Legend" -- I love that movie! I also think we could see more films like PING PONG or TOP GUN -- movies where people realize their potential even if it's not Kung Fu related. Though if we did do a Shaw Brothers marathon I'd love it!
What's your dorkiest kung fu quality? My affinity for talking about Kung Fu, training and martial arts in general.

Sore No More?

I’m not that sore.

(Knock on wood.)

(Actually, let’s knock on wood a second time just in case.)

It’s so weird, but 4 days of training in a row, after a week off, and I’m not feeling as stiff or pained or injured or throbbing as I have come to expect in my training experience. I felt a little bit drained physically last night, but I still felt I had a lot of chi. My back hurts a little, but that is probably more from my soft mattress than the kung fu. Why do I not feel, well, frankly, worse?

(Knock on wood a third time for good measure. Also maybe throw salt over your shoulder or whatever other good superstitions you have at your disposal.)

Talking to Sucheela last night I wondered, “Am I not pushing myself hard enough?” I mean, one can always push harder and train farther, but I don’t feel that I’m taking it easy on myself these days. Admittedly, sometimes I don’t get in as many kicks as I should going down the carpet. But that’s because I have been focusing on putting maximum chi into each one. And while those things should be united, not exclusive, I certainly can’t pin that as the source of my non-soreness.

Why am I worrying? Not being sore is a GOOD thing. Why question when good things come to you? Maybe I’m too cynical and I am expecting a dreadful backlash. Maybe I don’t have enough confidence in my ability to increase strength and stamina. It’s sick, I was almost excited last night when I thought I felt some shin splints starting (they weren’t). I guess, the real answer is twofold: 1) my body is ready to push through to training at the next level, and 2) I am not used to exceeding my own expectations. I guess that means I should set them higher and then I won’t be so disconcerted when I am able to sleep like a log without waking up doing caijiaos. That's what we call "normal."

The Heat is On - Winter Style

Winter is my favorite time of year to train. It’s dark and cold out so you aren’t tempted to skip class to go lounge in the park or do some other activity. At 5:00 it looks like nighttime so, for me anyway, training feels like a small detour on the way to bed. But the real joy is that it isn’t hot. Yes, I have made the breakthrough discovery that wintertime is colder than the rest of the year. And even though the giant heaters are often blowing unpleasantly during class, it's still preferable to sweltering 100 degree temperatures outside. Winter means no labored breathing in the nearly solid wall of humidity. Only one uniform required per class. No “Shaolin Showers.” And there is less desperate over-hydrating during the stretching break.

Imagine my astonishment then, when last night, about 30 minutes into class, I went to femininely blot some of the perspiration from my brow (ok, swipe the pouring sweat from my face like the Neanderthal man) only to find there wasn’t a dry spot left on my uniform to absorb it! It wasn’t mid-August, drenched-like-a-rainstorm-soaked, but it was significantly more sweaty than I am accustomed to as of late.

At the water break I unabashedly, and gloriously guzzled my entire bottle of water, without any nauseating consequences for the second half of class. What was going on here? Was it actually Summer and I just blacked out for 7 months? No. It was simply the extra-chi class fueled by the always-exciting N’ou-taught class and the presence of the long-absent Hwalan.

Also, at the beginning when N’ou had me demonstrate caijiao. It took me back to my first L2 class when he had me demonstrate lunbi caijiao and my brain completely froze. It’s nice to know that if nothing else, your basics are developing and strong, and it’s an especially good mindset to have while training.

Another source of inspiration was that even though I was extra sweaty, nothing hurt. I’m sore from training after the lazy-food-fest of last week, but no injuries, no unbearable hip pain or shin splints. No phlegmy flu hampering my lungs; no bad lunch wreaking havoc in my stomach. I was training unhindered and was able to execute my movements, (I felt) with much more chi and much less angst than usual. So even though it wasn’t my typical Winter training session, it is a class like last night’s that makes me excited to roll in again tonight and continue the fun, sweat and all.

Stretching with Shifu

(Amituofo! A guest entry from our class leader tonight, Shi Heng De.)

So tonight when I was about to call everyone back into lines after stretching, a bunch of people were doing cetitui stretch after Shifu had been doing it with Randy and Khalid. So I thought, "Hey, that looks good, let's all do it."

Luckily for me I was the odd one out, so I asked Shifu to stretch me. So I paid attention to his technique. I got as sideways as I could, straightened my leg, and just relaxed. It would be great if everyone knew how to stretch people like he does! So he raised my leg up to where there was pretty good resistance (not from me -- I was relaxed, but from my leg), but I wasn't dying. I was still able to flex my foot even more. That's not to say I wasn't getting a good stretch though. Believe me, I felt it!

Maybe I should not train for 5 days in a row more often: I hit the middle split tonight and was able to extend my back up off the floor too. I know I'm gonna feel it tomorrow though!

But, anyway, he held that for just a few seconds, then brought my leg down and told me to relax more. Then he shook the leg around a bit to help it relax. He said, "Now can go more." And when he brought it up a second time, it did go up more.

After the second round, he told me to relax again, and then, using his chest against my foot, pushed my knee to my shoulder, still on the sideways axis. This was to counterstretch, and we do the same thing when we do zhengtitui stretch, or the butterfly stretch after middle splits.

When he did my other side, the knee-to-shoulder stretch really pushed it for me (my left hip can't open up much) and my right (standing) leg started to bend without me even realizing it. Shifu noticed and gave a light kick to my shin to remind me.

Oh yea and I didn't even tell him when to stop or anything; he just stopped because he could feel it himself. After you stretch with other people a lot you start to be able to feel their bodies just from holding them and looking at them I think. So stretch together more! :)

So to me it was the same as how we do multiple rounds for straddle stretch or anything, or how I get in my stretching machine around 6 then go out a bit, then a few minutes later come back again and go more. First round relaxes and opens you up a bit, but subsequent rounds are where you really go further. And each time, Shifu didn't hold it for that long. Maybe it was because we were in the middle of class and it was a time thing, or maybe that's just a good way to do it.

Try different things and see what works for you! Be honest with yourself and push yourself! Train harder!

Leftovers

I've been away from training for a week; my sister was in town and though I did intend to bring her to a class, what with Thanksgiving and sightseeing we didn't make it to the Temple. Consequently I was really excited to come back tonight. There was a lot of HEAVY eating over the last six days, (when people come into town I like to take them out eating + Thanksgiving = lots of eating and more food still in the fridge) and I felt like there was sludge running through my veins, sludge comprised mostly of butter and heavy cream. It was definitely time to train.

Class was great. Randy and Khalid led the lines setting off each move with synchronized super-power. At stretching Sifu joined in and showed us the real meaning of flexibility. During forms we broke into groups for each form and spent the rest of class urging one another on. It was great to clear out all the blocked energy that had been building up and fermenting. And as I stretch out some shenanigans that cropped up in my knee, and avoid eating all the leftovers in my fridge, I feel very post-Thanksgiving thankful for being able to train and for having such a great group of people around me.

I hope to keep the ball rolling as I move towards Christmas and another 10 day vacation so that when I come back I can feel the same level of chi that I felt tonight. Those are the kind of leftovers I really need.

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!!

Kung Fu Ping Pong?!