Amituofo! These are the collective observations, comments and lessons learned of a few self-proclaimed dorks who train in Shaolin Kung Fu at USA Shaolin Temple in New York City.
MORE CHI! TRAIN HARDER!
Maybe some of you are old enough to remember the '80s classic, "Gymkata," a dumb action movie starring gymnast Kurt Thomas, who sports a cute almost-mullet. In this scene, he wanders into the town square where there happens to be a pommel horse type structure that he employs to defend himself against a crowd of attackers. I remember enjoying this movie when I was a kid.
Watch his technique -- aside from the unbelievability of having a pommel horse right there, do you think his gymnastic manoeuvres would translate well into actual fighting? Obviously he's a strong guy, but can his kicks be that effective without getting his full body behind them? And what's up with those random backflips?
One of our fellow dorks found this video review on YouTube of Shifu's book, The Shaolin Workout. I like whoever this guy is -- a former military guy who wanted to get into shape and stumbled across the book randomly and had some thoughtful things to say about it. He comes off as quite a regular dude.
"vonhismean" says the following at one point:
I'm tired of feeling out of shape. I'm back to doing this every day, and that's kind of the reason I'm doing this YouTube video....and when I tell people I'm going to do something...it makes me keep track of myself and I feel like other people are watching me....Maybe I'll tend to do better.
Is that perhaps why we sometimes blog? It's a way to think things out and be accountable to each other, and more importantly, to ourselves.
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!
On Wednesday, I engaged in kip-up madness. Because of a tweaked right shoulder, I've been avoiding using my arms to assist in propelling me forward. I think I made some significant progress, thanks to Jian's pointer that I use more of my head to push myself up. Scratch that, I know I made some progress because man, have I felt it in my abs, neck and back muscles lately. I almost didn't train tonight's L2 because of my stiffness, but happily, Mo urged me on. Glad I did cos it loosened me up, I think, but then again, I'm sure I'll feel some other pain tomorrow, like maybe in my hips due to learning biantui. :)
Here's a video I found on YouTube showing how to do a kip-up using no hands. I plan on watching this a million times. And then practicing it a million more.
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.
Some of you may not personally know our Temple brother Steven K. aka Heng Hao for he has not trained with us for some time now, but he has been busy training Muay Thai and embarking on a most exciting venture! Together with Nong Thoom, a transgendered Muay Thai champion whose life was depicted in the movie "Beautiful Boxer," they have worked to set up a boxing camp called Parinya Muay Thai in Hua Hin, Thailand, to promote equality for women and be a safe haven for children and the LGBT community. Check out the video below, which features a trailer for the movie followed by a promo clip for the camp (at around 1:41).
Testing is this weekend -- yippee! I'm not trying to be facetious by saying yippee! I am genuinely looking forward to being in the moment, having an opportunity to show Shifu where I'm at.
It's interesting how much can change in just six months. Back at the end of September, I had just finished erluquan, and was feeling some doubt as to how solid I felt, overthought it quite a bit, and then went ahead and wrecked my knee. Nutty! Fear of testing at that point no longer occupied the forefront of my mind; my newfound fear became, Will I be able to regain strength in my knee to the point where I can train kung fu at the same level again? Of course, I was disappointed not to have the opportunity to try for Level 2 with some of my fellow dorks -- Mo, Sucheela and Cheng -- but that disappointment became a mere trace of a thought as I propelled myself through recovery these last six months. I learned to project less towards the future, and to focus on the here and now.
And here we are once more, six months later, with my testing countdown at about 26 hours from now. But instead of feeling anxiety over whether my erluquan will be up to snuff, and whether I'm ready for Level 2, I am feeling pretty calm because I know how much work I've put into training and myself since my return on December 1st. I know the progress I've made since my knee injury. While I still feel a little gimpy at times, and my ability to blast off with my bad knee is still not great (not that it ever was), I feel prepared. I will be able to show Shifu on Saturday that I have worked hard. And perhaps there is still much room for improvement with my knee and myself, but hopefully he will recognize that I am capable of training har-dah.
So, yes, like that seminal band Bush from the mid-'90s urges us, Breathe in, breathe out! Breathe in, breathe out! and all will be fine.
Everyone remembers their first time...the first time you lead the line, the first time you don't get sent back to KFK, the first time you learn a form, the first time you teach... :D Yesterday was the second time I ever did a double (1.5 since L2 was only an hour because of movie night) and it was the first time I led the line in both classes. I've led the line in L2 before, I actually don't remember the first time it happened. There's less shifting around in L2 and classes are smaller so I guess it didn't make that big of an impression on me. But today, not only did I lead the line in the Level 1 class the entire time both before and after stretching and was the only one there teaching during forms, in L2 I was at the front the entire time except for a few moves when Randy was in front of me when the lines merged. But when he had to step to the side during jumping, I was in the front the rest of the class.
It was really interesting to compare the different sensations of being in the front in the two classes. Where you are in line in L2 is really no indicator of your speed/skill/experience to those behind you; I was in front of Han which I think fairly proves my point. Whereas, in L1 generally, the leaders are at least the fastest, if not the most advanced. At the very least they're the ones with the chi/fear of Sifu's scowl to jump to the front of the line. And when you're in the front you feel the responsibility for setting the example, and keeping up the chi, and training as hard as possible. It was an interesting contrast. But more interesting that it took until after L2 was over before I realized that I had led twice in one day and how bizarre that was in the evolution of my KF training. None of it really means anything; you have to keep training harder. But it was fun to spend yesterday in a place I never would have imagined myself a year ago. Can't begin to imagine where I'll be next year!
I've been trying to maintain a strong sense of patience during my road to recovery with my screwed-up knee. When I came back on December 1st after two months off from kung fu, I knew my endurance was shot, so I made myself to go to the side for kung fu kindergarten each time so that I could restore my confidence in executing all the basics again. It felt a bit funny since for so long I would normally spend the first part of class trying to avoid getting sent to KFK, but then I cherished the opportunity to re-learn and refine and rebuild.
I enforced upon myself mandatory KFK until January 1st. I thought a good month of KFK would give me enough time to work up to practicing forms again on the side. And that's what happened; I rejoined the gang on the side, and felt energized by their encouragement, and slowly built up my strength. My first attempt at erluquan in months made me happy, but nervous, and it showed in my execution -- Shifu saw me from across the room and looked puzzled at what I was doing, but it was all good.
So, I ended up setting little goals/timelines for myself, and every little thing I found myself doing again that I had difficulty doing earlier in my return, I considered a nice victory. It is as though I have been doing a mini review of everything I had learned from Day 1 till the end of erluquan, which I had finished just before I injured myself. And most recently, I have been polishing erluquan, which I am eager to test in April. I have been especially concerned about nailing the sweep kick, which initially gave me flashback anxieties, but now all I care about is not sticking my ass in the air.
This week, however, I kinda let the patience thing slide. I originally decided that I'd give myself till the end of February to practice erluquan slowly and deliberately by breaking it up into pieces, and not worrying about doing it in its entirety. This past Tuesday some irrepressible urge seized me and pushed me into going past the 5th kick, which is usually where I break. I found myself going, going, going, and before I knew it, I was dizzy and out of breath, but I made it through a whole erluquan. And I did it again that class. And I did it again last night.
It is a truly fantastic feeling to know that we all have these amazing abilities within us -- the ability to motivate, to learn, to perfect, to think. And while I know I possessed these skills before my journey with shaolin kung fu began, it gives me a sense of pure happiness when I realize it better through understanding what hard work can really accomplish.
Our Temple brother, Heng Zhong aka Rick Seedman, is at it again for G4's American Ninja Warrior Challenge 2. Despite missing the cut last time, like a true Shaolin warrior, Zhong worked hard at improving his submission, and consequently made the second round of competition. Hooray!
His video, as shown above, has been selected as one of sixteen video finalists, and the top six vote getters will be flown to LA to compete. So here is where he needs your chi! Go here to support Zhong in his quest to become the ultimate NINJA WARRIOR! You will need to register to vote asap!
Update 2/19: G4 announced the finalists tonight, and Rick made it through! He will be competing in LA in March soon. Congrats, Zhong! We'll be watching and rootin' for ya!
This blog constitutes the opinions, observations and feelings of a few dorks who train at the USA Shaolin Temple. We hope that you can share with us in the joys of expressing ourselves, and maybe by doing so, together we will learn something even greater about ourselves.
In no way do we intend to make representations on behalf of everyone; rather, we thought it be a fun way to encourage dialogue amongst us. Everyone has something beautiful to share! For more about this blog, please check out this introductory entry.
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