Explosive Chi!

Tonight after we did shuangtui quxitiao a few times, Shifu, dissatisfied with our jumps, stopped the line and told us to picture fireworks popping, like on the 4th of July:

So after hearing that, the next shuangtui quxitiao I did, I imagined myself to be a firecracker, lifting into the sky, with a core of energy ready to burst, then with explosive sparks shooting out from my legs and arms and chest. KAPOW!!!!

A simple concept, yet I think it worked its magic. Awesome!

Listen With Chi!

Today, I was in line during basics, and apparently Shifu had yelled a pointer at me from across the Temple. I did not hear him, so he got annoyed and yelled at me again, "Ellen! Did you not hear what I said?!" So this time I stopped what I was doing, looked at him directly, replied with an "Amituofo, Shifu!" and then resumed what I was doing.

Lesson learned -- be focused, but not totally oblivious to your surroundings. We are so fortunate to have Shifu teaching us, so listen with chi and pay attention to the good things he has to say.

And maybe say "Amituofo, Shifu!" whenever any response is appropriate, whether the comment is directed at you or not. ;-P

Kung Fu Dork Profile

Name: Sucheela

Temple Name: Massaman (Zhou's the only one calling me that.)

Occupation: Pretending to be busy with web stuff
Borough: Brooklyn
Chinese Sign: Tiger

When was the last time you trained? Last night. It was awesome!

How is your commute to the temple? I used to be able to walk to the temple from my previous residence. No more. Now I take trains -- about 20 minutes from work. Don't know how long it takes from home yet. Haven't gone training from home since my last move...

How did you learn about the temple? And what made you start training? I worked with Jeremiah aka Neo. Whenever anybody had any complaints about anything, his only suggestion is -- You should try Shaolin Kung Fu!!! And then I became single, had too much free time, needed something to do. So I came to the trial class - didn't like it that much. But oh the pain - the pain that I got from the trial class was so addictive - I wanted more. So I started training.

What is your favourite basic move? Cetitui. Because I thought kicking on the side is a nice change from all other kicks. I have weird fondness for Cetitui. I don't know.

What injuries have you had from training? Lower back pain from several causes, the black thing on the back of my legs from over extension, left ankle from Erchijiao, right knee from unknown cause, right shoulder from Erchijiao.

What's the most important lesson you learn from training? I can do it! I can love myself. I can be strong. I can be happy. etc.

Soup or no soup? Soup! Hungry!
Shower or no shower? No shower! Waste of time.
Gatorade or water? Water! Cheaper.
How many uniforms? 3!
Straddle or wall stretch? Wall stretch! Feels more stretched.

Thursday Night -- More Chi TV?

I think tonight's attendance list only had one column's worth of names. Do Thursday classes generally feel smaller to anyone else? Is it cos it's the end of a long week, and people wanna rest up for the weekend? Are we dorks for preferring to train instead of caring what's happening on Grey's Anatomy/CSI/ER? Can't help it!

Anyway, tonight, I somehow managed to get through basics and chuji quantao and yiluquan without hearing Shifu call me out despite my general tiredness after a long day at work. I still find whipping through the forms and then xiebu and pubu together as a group extremely challenging, and I guess I need to train harder. But, by the time we get to practice forms individually, my legs become less rubbery and re-energize. It really helps me when we ignite the chi.

I was lucky during forms -- Shifu showed me some extra love and worked with my beginning of erluquan. Like when he worked with Sucheela recently, he corrected my stance by making me do the ending to yiluquan, then I had to chamber my left palm, and then bring my right arm almost straight up. He emphasized the importance of keeping my torso in the same position, so as to thrust my hip out. The right leg should be at a 45 degree angle. He made me practice it over and over again, even making me face the mirror so I could see myself.

I didn't learn any more to erluquan, but it was great to refine the beginning. Hopefully, I'll nail it down soon! I am utterly exhausted...but happy I got to work with da master.

The Art of Popping

I know... I know.... It's all about extension and popping. I've been training for over a year now and I heard those words for about 5 billion times. But I don't even know if I'm doing it the right way.

I've been told to imagine string pulling from my head to my tailbone. I've been told to open up my shoulder blades. Ummm.... it's a little difficult when my one of my legs is in the air. But I'm trying.

A few months ago I learned that I totally popped the wrong way. Jeremiah aka Neo saw me do the extension while drinking shots at a bar. And the conversation went like this:

(Reenactment)
J: That's not how you're supposed to pop.
Me: What did I do?
J: You looked up and thrusted your boobies out.
Me: I popped.
J: You're supposed to pop your hip.
Me: That's impossible.
J: You are crazy.
Me: You are a nerd...
...etc...

And then I tried it. For me, it's especially true with front kicks - Caijiao, Lihetui, Zhengtitui. When I was told to extend, I would pop my head up to the ceiling. And that's not right. It hurt not only my neck but also my back. O.K. I have to pop from the hip. I tried it. And it's more fun. :) And my back doesn't hurt as much anymore (still hurts though) and my neck stopped hurting completely!

March 21st: World Down Syndrome Day

Amituofo! Heng Er notified me that today is World Down Syndrome Day. She and Heng Wei have a beautiful young daughter, Luigia aka Heng Seng, who has Down Syndrome. Visit Er's blog and show your love here!

For more information on Down Syndrome, check out the Wikipedia Entry.

CHI!

(I know, not exactly a post about last night's class, during which I got prodded for not popping in fanyao and doing a "weird" xiebu during chuji quantao, but an important thing to blog about, nonetheless!)

Oy! My Cranky Body!

When I first started training, I was particularly concerned with the occasional sciatica I'd experience ever since the time I shoveled my parents' entire driveway by myself during a particularly bad snowfall. But because I've strengthened my back muscles and sit up straighter now than ever before, I believe the sciatica is hopefully a thing of the past.

I also have a bum right knee from basketball which one upon a time I thought would never allow me to do tenkong fanyao properly, but all the training seems to have paid off, and I don't get booted from the line for tenkong fanyao any more.

So last week I got sidetracked with work again and only managed to train on Saturday (even though I so desperately wanted to sleep in!). As I did mabu and torqued my fists out into a full extension, I felt a slight tingle in my right wrist/forearm, a feeling I associate with carpal tunnel syndrome, which was probably exacerbated by the extra long hours I spent in my office during the past week. The numbness/slight pain also gets me during ceshoufan as well sometimes.

Hopefully, all that sitting in front of my computer won't give rise to any permanent problems. Does anybody have any recommendations as to how to combat carpal tunnel syndrome? I bet it's something Shaolin monks haven't had to deal with much!

Train harder!

Can't Help It!

I trained behind Hannah in the line on Tuesday. She's got chi. She would yell out Beautiful! once in a while to cheer everybody up. I felt like I was supposed to respond her with something. At one point, I said Can't Help It back to her. She turned back and smile at me.

So lets do this.

"Beautiful!!!" - "Can't Help It!!!"

Thought Points

I don't have any kind of cohesive lesson or insight. Just a few thoughts:

1. It felt good to train last night, after missing a week of training.

2. I realized I like when visitors watch us train-- it makes me recall my first weeks at Temple, where I was utterly out of my comfort zone, but at the same time felt like I had finally found this place and these people that made sense to me. It makes me wonder what that person sitting there watching is thinking, and reminds me how far I/we have come.

3. I had to rush out last night to meet some friends for drinks back in Brooklyn. I'm pretty sure I left Temple too early though: As soon as I got to the bar, I started doing the Leg Sweep, like that's a completely normal thing to do. I felt kinda cool and kinda dorky, but mostly dorky. I am OK with that. But I'm not sure if the proprieters of the bar were.

4. My new strategy for healing my Shaolin Butt Sword is to make my butt stronger. It is my understanding that once a tendon is loose, you can't really tighten it again. The only thing you can do is strengthen the muscles around it. Any insight, anyone?

Love, Buns-of-Steel!!!

Shifu has a million eyes

I was so excited to train last Saturday because a grueling work week prevented me from attending class last Tuesday and Thursday. But I was dragging ass, especially during xiebu after chuji quantao. I was in the last row of people, and my knees felt like they were going to buckle as I slowly pivoted and crouched down.

All the way from the front of the carpet, I heard Shifu's voice -- "Ellen! You still don't get it!" -- and then this orange blur shot across the room and then towards me, ending up right next to me. I felt Shifu's eyes staring at me as I struggled through xiebu, so I dug into my dwindling reserve of chi and extended as though my life depended on it. And then Shifu left me alone.

Never assume that Shifu can't see you from across the floor. But mostly, be honest with yourself. There is no need for Shifu to push us into extending as fully as possible. We should do it all the time.