I Believe I Can Fly!

What's even better than spending 2 full days doing kung fu on a spiritual retreat at a secluded monastery? Okay, not much, but Monday night's Level 2 class was definitely a fun way to bookend a great, and I mean FANTASTIC Memorial Day Weekend.

Heng De taught class and we had our Austrian Temple brothers Marc and Seppi join us. Halfway through class, De said, "Okay. Let's get the trampoline and the big blue mat!" My heart skipped a beat. I've been dying to jump on that trampoline since the first day I watched the kids jump on it. I always kept myself out of their fun by saying, "No, no, Leo. You're a big boy now. You don't need to pretend you're six and play with the kids on a trampoline." Well, that all changed. De wanted all of us to work on the tornado. To help us with the jumping and twisting mechanics of the tornado, we would take off from the trampoline and land on the mat. And I must say, it was the most fun I've had in Level 2 class so far! We all flew and soared through the air! Marc and Seppi were doing acrobatic tumbling. They were amazing! Seppi did a DOUBLE 騰空雙飛腳 (Tengkong Shuangfeijiao) in the air. Every time he jumped, we watched in awe. He even tried touching the ceiling! Shifu came over to watch and I could see it in his eyes that he really wanted to give it a try too. I was almost about to say, "Join us Shifu!!"

My first jump (first jump ever on a trampoline) was full of skittish excitement. I barely jumped. I sort of just stumbled and fell. But that all changed with my next few jumps. I twisted like a 720 through the air sideways. I don't know how I looked, but everyone's faces lit up laughing, "Um...Leo...What are you doing?!" With so much air time, I wanted to see how much twist I could have through the air. I have a feeling it will really help my tornado.

We had to get ready for forms so we put the mat away but I can't wait to jump off that trampoline again!!!

The Air Up There

Lately, I've been noticing that my jumps on 雙腿屈膝跳 (Shūangtŭi Qūxītìao) and 騰空後撩腿 (Téngkōng Hòlíaotŭi) are getting higher and higher. For some reason, without specifically training for it, my vertical leap has increased. After doing some internet research, I was reminded how beneficial Shaolin training is.

Vertical Leap Training 1

Vertical Leap Training 2

I couldn't believe how similar those exercises were to some of our forms and stances. It makes complete sense. Shaolin or Kung Fu in general have a need for its practitioner to have a high vertical leap. Without it, some of the moves will always be not as powerful or beautiful. I want my 騰空雙飛腳 (Téngkōng Shuāngfēijiăo) to be able to reach someone's face. And not just be able to reach their knees.

Most of us don't have the benefit of training as a professional level athlete, therefore, most of us will never achieve a 48" vertical leap. But, with the almost 1 year that I've been training at the Temple, I've found that my reflexes, speed, and now my vertical leap has improved. There's no guarantee that I will be able to dunk like Michael Jordan, and like Cheng, I can't wait to see what one more year will do!

Break-neck speed

Austrian Update: Yesterday In the evening Heng Xin took the three of us to go see the Shaolin tour performing in Vienna. As many of you may know Xin is a CR-azy driver, which was super fun (see Richu's blog for more), but having my head whipped back into my headrest repeatedly did nothing to help a neck injury I sustained in training and I woke up this morning with a vary sore/stiff neck.

Here in Vienna they have jumping class on saturdays right after training, then advanced tumbling at 5. We stayed for the first one, which was mostly basic rolls, then some head flips and liyu dating. Doesn't sound too hard right? Alas, for me it was.

One of the jumps is a diving roll. Some of the folks here jump super high, perpendicular to the floor, head down, then go into the roll. I definitely found this a little intimidating, my constant fear in things like that is breaking my neck. But I figured I used to swim, I used to play volleyball, I understand the mechanics of diving and rolling. Unfortunately, either I'm even more uncoordinated than I think or my arms were just too tired from training to adequately support a diving roll, but they totally gave out and I landed, hard, on my head/neck/shoulder. Yi and Richu were both watching and apparently it looked pretty bad. I shook it off ok but I was definitely leery of my jumping for the rest of the class, and my head flips were just somersaults.

I was talking about it afterwards, and I realized that my fear of getting injured is probably part of why I got injured, as it causes me to hesitate in my movement. But I don't know if having it happen has made my fear worse or helped me get over it because now I know I won't actually die.... Either way, I'm giving my neck a break today so it doesn't get actually broken.