Magic mirror, tell me today. Did all my friends have fun at play?

Yesterday I was a bit of a mess. I was out late on Wednesday and had to pack my kung fu bag hastily in the morning, so I forgot my feiyues for the first time ever! Also, I wanted to finish up a report at work before I left the office, resulting in me leaving 5 minutes later than I normally do. Rush rush rush!

Class was smaller, probably due to it being a Thursday before a long weekend. There were 29 of us, and quite a few of the usual suspects did not show. Heng Ch'ieh's sister, Heng Chu aka Aubrey, was in town. She filmed us while we were training, which at first was slightly distracting, but it also encouraged me to focus better and push myself harder lest I get captured on film training sleepy style!

I did wall stretch with Shi (Charlotte) and a new student, Taylor, who wears a green bandana over her hair. On Tuesday, Niederwelt and I stretched with another new student, Lani, who is very tall and slender with long dark straight hair and many silver rings. Stretching with different people is a nice opportunity to meet others; it also serves as a nice reminder of how far we have come in terms of training and stretching.

During forms, Shifu observed me from the other end of the carpet working on Erluquan and gave me some extra love. I practiced over and over again the last bit that Han taught me recently as Shifu yelled at me things I should have been doing with my hands and head. Argh! Train harder!

For dinner, we got together a nice big crew, many of whom had never joined us before. Do you remember the kids' show Romper Room when Miss Molly would call out names of kids while looking through her magic mirror? I saw Jaka and John Sid and Colleen, Charlotte and Hannah and Billy, Richu and Leo and George, Mike J. and Lada and Yuri (another new student, sort of -- she's Korean and trained for a few months a long time ago till she broke her ankle outside of class) -- a whole smorgasbord of folks! Good times...

Congrats, Billy!

Our classmate Billy and his band, The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn, won the Subway Idol competition on Fox's The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet today! Yay!!!

So beautiful!

Everybody's got a little light under the sun*

Last night's class for me was tough! During ceshoufan I got kicked in the leg. And as Quantou led the line during waibaitui and I was anchoring the end, we nicked each other in passing. All banging aside, I was surprised that it was my second class in a row that Shifu didn't pick on me for anything specific. I guess being sent to Kung Fu Kindergarten every once in a while can be a good thing.

Curiously enough, after Shifu finished working with the side, he came over and sent most of the people practicing their forms to work with Chris Erk aka Moneyfoot on tenkong fanyao, leaving just a mere handful of us to continue with forms. So Mike J., Hannah R., Patricia, George, Jaka and I had the entire half by the mirrors to ourselves, while the rest of the class (at least 30-something) were congregated on the other half of the carpet doing their various lessons. For a while, it was non-stop forms action for the six of us, which was fun, but EXHAUSTING!

After a while, Shifu sensed that I was losing altitude, so he took pity on me and told me to jump in with the tengkong fanyao bunch for the last ten minutes of class. I appreciated the "breather" and also the opportunity to work with Moneyfoot, who is a brilliant leaper and a good teacher. He reminded us never to look at the ground and to keep our heads up. In telling us to pop our hips, he said to imagine we had flashlights attached to the front of our pelvises, and that they should be shining up to the ceiling when we pop.

By the time we sat down at Thai Son for a post-training meal, I actually felt beat and kinda woozy, but definitely in that satisfied happy way that a good bowl of soup can remedy. And it was superfantastiche to catch up with Heng Zu, whom I hadn't seen in ages!

* The post title is a lyric from "Flash Light" by Parliament. I am going to have this song running in my head everytime I attempt tenkong fanyao from now on...

Shaolin Skin Care

We sweat buckets in making our bodies and minds more beautiful, which is so awesome, but who wants all that beauty marred by dry or greasy skin, or even, *gasp!* a big ole zit? Just like we've had to change the way we eat before class so we don't urp it up at Temple, I've found myself needing a more disciplined skin care regime. This is especially crucial because we often go out for some fun times after class, so it is usually more than a few hours before I am able to wash my face properly, which is the perfect recipe for PIZZA FACE!

A few weeks ago, after class I walked around town with Heng Ji and her friend Yvette who has lovely skin. We were in Kiehl's in the East Village where Yvette recommended that I use Tea Tree Oil Toner as an easy post-training cleanup for my combo skin. So I bought a smaller bottle and put it in my kung fu bag with some cotton pads and have been applying it to my face after I get out of my stinky uniform in the changing room. I hope this stuff helps!

Similarly, on Saturday, for cleaning meditation after class, I helped Heng Mo and her sister Ashley (who was in town visiting and did a trial class, yay!) clean the turtle tank and the turtles themselves. We applied to the little guys this cream called VitaShell, which serves as a skin and shell conditioner. According to the product website, VitaShell "combines moisturizers, conditioners and proteins in a unique, deep penetrating cream that revitalizes dry, brittle or cracked shells and skin." I looked more closely at the label and found many ingredients that are common to human skin care products. How cool is that? Apparently we all need to take care of our shells!

Shaolin Inches

Last night, I did wall stretch with Heng Mo and Niederwelt. When we were stretching Mo out, she asked me to move her leg back two more inches. I guess I was a little overzealous and pulled her right leg back more like five inches. When she said, "Hey, that wasn't two inches," I replied, "Shaolin inches."

Those inches can mean so much. Either we push harder and go farther, or we maximize what we do in the space that we use. For instance, Quantou reminded us to go to the End of the Carpet every time we train last month in his guest entry. For me, I learned this lesson yet again last night when Shifu sent me to the side for taking too many steps in between my waibaituis. This was not the first time he has warned me against doing too many steps. I heard it both times in his evaluation of me during the two times I tested. I've been busted before for the same thing during lunbi caijiao.

Why do I take too many steps? It's not necessarily me doing kicks sleepy style and trying to waste space. Most of the time, I am stumbly. Part of it, I think is due to my flat feet, but mostly it has been my eternal struggle, learning how to control my body as I try to kick harder and higher while going faster and trying to maintain balance. I know I can't be complacent with the status quo hence the constant adjustment.

So I got bopped to Kung Fu Kindergarten for the first time in ages, and while doing basics again for Shifu on the side, he pulled me out with a few others to work with Heng Li on lunbi caijiao. I was a little surprised, but not upset. When Li watched us do our caijiaos and then lunbi caijiaos, I was pleased because he did like that I remembered to keep my head up and foot extended light as a feather, unlike when I first started at Temple. But I did need to work on a few things like not hunching over and returning my body and shoulders facing forward after rotating my arm and kicking. And I think I am finally getting what it means to pop, although still lots of fine tuning to do. Always.

I'm patting myself on the back

I'm sitting in front of my computer with a hot patch on my right hip. This hot patch is extremely hot! Is that how it works? It distracts me from pain by burning my skin...

Although tonight I got called out a couple of times for not having enough chi, I made it. I trained the full 2 hours with constant stabbing pain and I didn't die. I'm quite proud of myself. I even did a few dreaded 5-kick that gave me this broken hip last week.

Anyway - nothing to say. Just want to brag that I have high tolerance to pain.

Kung Fu Dork Profile #3

Name: Chris
Temple Name: Heng De (also sometimes Biggie)
Occupation: Student
Borough: Manhattan
Chinese Sign: Tiger

When was the last time you trained? I'm training right now OOOOOH philosophy

How is your commute to the temple? Well right now it's a little long as I'm in Hong Kong as I write this, but my apartment is a 10-15 minute walk from the temple.

How did you learn about the temple? And what made you start training? (Long story short) I came home one day and said "Mom, I wanna learn kung fu" and she looked in the phone book. At that time I also lived 15 minutes away. I went to watch a class, and like Heng Jie (揭) says, "If you feel the chi, that's the chiiiiii."

When did you start training? May 4, 2003

What is your favourite basic move? I like fanyao. I feel like it's one of the few moves I actually can do decently.

What injuries have you had from training? Uh...sometimes my knees hurt when I do middle splits? That hasn't happened in a while though...Oh yea speaking of fanyao actually one time I hit someone's hand and I broke a tendon or something and now my right pinky is twice as big as it should be.

What's the most important lesson you learn from training? Read the heart sutra, it's all in there...and more confidence in myself.

Soup or no soup? Soup.
Shower or no shower? Not at the temple.
Gatorade or water? water, I don't do all of them fancy electromolytes.
How many uniforms? 2 orange, 2 blue, 1 vest with black pants.
Straddle or wall stretch? Straddle, it improved my middle split immensely and I find it more comfortable.

Side Kick!

I missed class on Tuesday because I got handed three new files at work and had two closings. Grrrr! I heard that Shifu broke just about everyone into groups to work on new things, so I was especially bummed to get stuck at work, but at least I somewhat made up for it by meeting kung fu folks after I left the office at Li Hua for a yummy bowl of spicy pork ramen.

Ever so determined to train, I whizzed through my work and bolted out the door at 6:18. When I arrived at Temple, it was very warm, at first causing me to glance up and make sure the heaters weren't on. And it's not even summer yet! Oh man...

Tonight Joshua taught class. He reminded those of us who train towards the end of the line to go all the way and finish our basics even if people are getting ready to start up forms.

After we practiced our forms for a while, Joshua broke us up into groups to work on forms. I was happy to work with Han from whom I rarely have the privilege of learning stuff. She reviewed what we had already learned in erluquan which for me was up to the erqijiao, and told my group to do better defined stances. And then she taught me a chunk beyond where I had stopped to the second xiebu. When class was over, I practiced what she had just taught me, and then she taught me a little bit more -- up to the side kick! Yeehaw!

After a relaxing dinner at Thai Son with Niederwelt and Nick, I waited for the train back to Brooklyn for a little while. And, yes, I actually did practice erluquan on the platform. Hee!

Open My Hip Part II

So I got what I asked for. I got to work with Esther and a bunch of other people on the 5th kick of the 5 kicks today. And now my hip is so open it hurts when I bend over or walk or sit or laugh or do anything...

Anyway - a few new things I learned about the kick from Esther:

• Jump up on my right leg to get into the kick.




• Kick up in the front just like Waibaitui and then open my hip and kick my right hand.




• Keep my hip open and extend my right leg when I'm done with the kick.




• Extend! Look up!




• Don't worry about the next move. Finish the kick properly first.

Open My Hip

I have a confession to make.

I forgot how to do Waibaitui. I don't remember any pointer or how I was taught to do the move. It was one of those moves that was taught to me once and has never been refined since.

So in the line, I would just kick my leg up - and then rotate it to the side trying to touch my hand - hope for the best - and then land wherever I land. Yesterday when I thought about it I felt very awkward - even lost my balance and had to take extra steps in between.

How is this supposed to be done correctly? When to extend? Where to land? When to take step? Does anybody know?

Maybe I should just volunteer to go to the side next time.