Recycle!

Fellow Kung Fu Dork Jaka emailed us a great tip this afternoon. He suggested rather than throwing our used feiyues into the trash that we recycle them by bringing them to a Nike store, especially since there's one located a block away from Temple at 21 Mercer St. While this blog makes no specific endorsement of Nike sneakers or the company as a whole, reusing/recycling products such as sneakers instead of letting them go to waste by sitting in a landfill is something we can definitely get behind.

Supposedly, the recycled bits don't all go towards ridiculously-priced sneakers (though these are pretty hot); they are also used towards building synthetic surfaces and padding for courts, tracks and playgrounds.

Important Note: Nike can’t recycle shoes with metal parts, so be sure to cut off the eyelets on your feiyues.

You can read more about the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program here, and maybe you too can find somewhere nearby to drop off those grubby shoes!

Remember, every little action we take can make a difference, whether we use reusable water bottles during class, wash our uniforms in environmentally-friendly detergents, or find alternate uses for those pesky plastic grocery bags, like for stretching!

CHI!

The Wonder of Epsom Salt

I remember the first time I took an epsom salt bath.

Scratch that. The bath itself was unremarkable.

I remember the day after I took an epsom salt bath for the first time. My muscle soreness significantly and magically decreased as if I had spent 2 weeks recovering. I was hooked. Cartons of it later, I finally did my research (aka googling).


Image source: Warwick Salt

Turn out epsom salt is not salt salty?

English is so weird. It's like when I learned that there's no coffee in coffee cake...

Epsom salt is Magnesium Sulfate compound. Magnesium helps the function of muscles and nerves and reduce inflammation. Sulfate helps body absorb nutrients.

And best of all, our bodies can absorb both of them through soaking.

You can read all about it at Epsom Salt Council.

Apparently, there are more ways to use epsom salt than just soaking to reduce muscle pain and bruises. It can remove splinter, exfoliate skin, volumize hair, feed plants, reduce constipation, etc.

I have no idea a $3 carton of something can do this much. Now only if it would totally get rid of my all-over muscle sore not just reduce it, the world will be perfect.

Front crescent kick followed by back crescent kick, an exercise for my behind

I was pulled aside last night while doing Quianbaitui Houbaitui. I always had problem with this move since the first day I learned it. Over time, I got worse and worse at it. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to re-learn to kick from Heng De, Heng Jing and Shifu himself.

My problem was with the back kick. With my right leg, I turned my body too much that I couldn't maintain a sidekick position. With my left leg, I didn't extend enough that my body is too upright and I couldn't extend my legs and hips....

To practice, I was told to hold on to a column, kick like Biantui, maintain my upper body position and continue kicking with my hips and butt...

It looked really easy but it's not. After about 3 wiggles (or my so-called kicks), I could hardly hold my butt up. I started to wonder whether my butt was that weak. I watched Miao Shi, who's visiting from the Austria Temple, and she looked like her butt was in pain too. So it's not just me.



I should continue doing this exercise to strengthen certain muscles and get used to sideway extension.

2009 Retreat in Mexico!

Those three days went by so fast I don't know how to summarize them.

Actually I do...

More Chi! Train Harder!

The first evening we got to the monastery we were greeted and shown our simple but clean and comfortable rooms. The weather was nice and cool. A couple of hours later, it was time for dinner in a large dining hall. We were served a lot of fresh tortillas and delicious spicy food, buffet style, cooked by monks in the monastery.

The next morning, we were woken up at 5:30 with a loud gong to start training at 5:45. Because there were so many attendants (110 people!), we were divided into 3 groups: Qi Gong, beginner Kungfu, and not beginner Kungfu. I went with the Qi Gong group to wake up my bones.

We had breakfast at 7:30.

For two hours after nine, we trained Qi Gong and Tai Chi (in a beautiful grass lawn under a brilliant sun!).

Then lunch.

Then I passed out.

At 4:30, we trained Kungfu for 3 hours. I repeat 3 hours of Kungfu!!! I must say I was impressed with all the chi. Even after those exhausting 3 hours, a lot of people kept practicing and stretching! Me? I was done.

After Kungfu, we sat in a circle around Shifu and he told us stories and philosophies.

That night's dinner was the most delicious meal ever...

Day 2: Scroll up the the 3rd paragraph and repeat.

Day 3: Scroll up again, shuffle the paragraphs and read.

We finished up day 3 with Shifu giving all the attendants certificates and us taking group pictures - this was where we busted out our best moves posing.

Through out the whole retreat, we were very warmly welcomed. We were given gifts, taken out to towns, and treated with very special water. All of us even got a ride back to Mexico City. Our brothers over there are super nice and awesome!

Here's one of the things we learned:


I still can't completely decode my own drawing so maybe you can help me...

P.S. If you are curious to see what we did in Mexico before and after the retreat, see pictures here.

There's the CHI!

Train More. Think Less.

While having lunch after training today, we buzzed in two of our long time Shaolin brothers - Hannah T. and Chris E. Chris came to say goodbye before moving to Ohio. We had a mini Buddhism class talking.

We discussed how most injuries happened when you started thinking. How your body is smarter than your head. The conclusion is that while training - don't think - just do it.

But is this true?

Training is action meditation. But what's meditation? I think it's being present and focusing on the action, and the surrounding. Thinking about a meal after training isn't part of the meditation. I understand that. How about thinking about the space between the person in front of me and behind me in the line? Or how I should always keep my weight on the standing leg while kicking? What does that count as? Is that part of meditation? Is the goal here to have nothing in your head at all or some sensible things are OK?

I think it is. I think any positive thoughts involving the present is my meditation.

Roll with it, baby!

Tonight's class started awkwardly for me -- a last minute trip to the toilet at 6:59pm (I had to pee!) ensured I missed the opening Amituofos. I washed my hands and dashed out quickly to get in line only to experience a moment of fear -- Han started off class with somersaults galore. Ever since tweaking my shoulder sometime last summer, I've been loathe to do anything that might injure my shoulder further. But with the rushed start, I didn't have much time to deliberate. I knew I didn't want to begin by chickening out and going to the side, so I went for it. I rolled and rolled and rolled myself into dizziness. Wheeeeeeee! It was kinda exhilarating, doing one after another down the carpet. We kept doing different versions of somersaults, and I kept pushing myself, and by the end (or at least until we started the next basic), I was delighted.

We maintained a good pace throughout class, doing all kinds of combos that Han seems to favor. Then she threw the pork chop pads at us and told us to partner up. Everyone quickly formed pairs, leaving me and Jian as the last couple. I have to admit, I then experienced my second moment of fear that evening. Well, maybe not fear, but definitely hesitation. I instantly recalled one time when some of us dorks decided to go on an outing to a fencing school, and being paired up with him and getting clobbered! If you don't know Jian, he is built like an ox in stature and sometimes in temperament in that he will persist and not let up. =)

So, Jian held the pad first and we had to futotui our way down the carpet. He proved to be a most excellent partner despite the height differential, encouraging me and giving me helpful pointers all the way. He coaxed me into audibly injecting chi with every kick, and I went with it, yelling and kicking hard. It too was great fun, especially hearing the others call my name. Thanks so much, Jian, for your chi!

Sometimes, you have to just shrug off your inhibitions and Roll with it, baby!

Absence makes the blog grow duller

While I searched for an old post for reference in my last post, I found this lovely poem from Heng Cheng. And since we haven't been keeping up the chi here, I thought I would republish it:

Oh KFD Bloggers! Where did you go?!
Your posts entertain me and work is so slow.
I know that you’re busy. You all have real lives.
Boyfriends and girlfriends and fake baker-wives.
But I know you’re still training; I saw you last night!
Yet no posts appearing? Now that just ain’t right!
I’m sorry; forgive me. I shouldn't complain.
But there’s something so lovely in sharing your pain.
So turn off the gchat, and turn off the phone,
And come back to blogging, I feel so alone!
It might not be pretty. It won't need to rhyme.
Just mention caijiao and we'll have a great time!

Fresh Wave for my Sweaty Uniforms

I don't know about you but I have been battling this mildew in my training gear especially the t-shirts.

My latest discovery is Fresh Wave - odor neutralizing all-purpose cleaning additive. Thanks to Heng De's Mom.

I used it twice - adding a cap to my normal laundry. I think it works! My uniforms smell noticeably less. The thing is quite pricey. But I will do whatever it takes to smell like roses.

New Daoxiaomian place!

Another guest entry from Heng De.

Ok for those of you who don't know, Zhou found a Chinese noodle place on the South corner of Doyers and Bowery that's fantastic. They have hand-pulled noodles, knife cut (daoxiao), and even pan fried. I don't know if they have any vegetarian broth but the pan fried gives options for vegetarians (Leo was asking about this).

Their Daoxiaomian is better than the one on Eldridge I think, but I haven't tried their hand-pulled noodles yet. The restaurant is a lot cleaner than the other hole-in-the-wall daoxiaomian places, and the service is also extremely friendly. The first time I went with Shifu, they went and got beer for us from a place around the corner. They also offered cilantro without us even asking for it. They even serve you tea, I think it's jasmine (it's sweeter than what you normally get at restaurants).

I went there Saturday and the girl recommended I try the soup with tendon and tripe instead of just beef. It was like number 1, but with the different broth and daoxiaomian. I liked it a lot more. And it's only $5!

I asked, and she told me the place closes at 10:30, so I suggest we add it to our list of after-training dinner spots.