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Joint Awareness

I wanted to write this blog after our in-person class but I never got around to it then so I’m finally getting around to it now. I learned SO MUCH during Sihing Ward’s warm up from that class I wanted to document some of the things I was thinking about. 1) When we were doing the exercise at the beginning, just relaxing and taking stock of our joints... I completely skipped over my spine. I have 24 vertebrae in my spine and I skipped over all of them. It makes me have gratitude that I have no pain in such an important part of my body that I didn't even spare it a second thought. However this is also making me realize I had a HUGE blind spot in my awareness of my body 2) When I did try to devote some attention to my back during the rest of the warm up, and the rest of the class I realized that I don’t think about my back in terms of my spine, I think of it as the connection of my hips and my shoulders, i.e. I conceptualize it as two vertical bars connecting my shoulder to my hip on m...
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The Joy of Beginning

It is something that must be done daily, usually multiple times daily to keep mediocrity at bay. It is repetition of practiced motion. So practiced that it becomes ever easier to do it without thought, and only mindful repetition allows me to make progress and gain the benefit.  I think about Kung fu a lot when I’m brushing my teeth. Especially this past week.  I had a cleaning recently and the dentist I had mentioned that I must be right-handed from the condition of my teeth on one side of my mouth compared to the other. She explained that the angle of your dominant hand changes the way you angle the brush on each side of your mouth.   I decided to become ambidextrous. It has been extremely awkward so far. I feel like a little kid again trying to exert control over my arm and having it go rogue no matter how much I scrunch up my eyes. I had a moment of self-reflection after starting this (literally, I was standing in front of the mirror after all). I realized that I am n...
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Solvable or Unsolvable?

I’ve been trying to focus on a particular section of my Broadsword form recently. When I was building the technique I was looking at it from a Big Picture perspective: unwind from the previous move and cut leaving the sword low to create a false opening.  Now I am trying to refine the details, trying to optimize it, but my left hand is causing me all sorts of issues. I know I want it to be involved and I know I want it to have rotation and rigidity, but what path it’s taking to accomplish that has so far been eluding me.  - I have tried expanding during the technique but that throws off the motion of my hip paired with my sword - I have tried rolling with the motion of the blade but that changes my stance, which makes the false opening less open. - I have tried changing the angle of the sword during the transition but that wrecks the way I pivot into my stance The more I play with it the more I realize I have created something with very challenging vectors. The wall that I see...
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How to be Sick

Two days after the tiger challenge, I got sick. I’m just started to get better and starting to get things back on track because my numbers have taken a severe hit during the week (and a bit) I was recovering.  I always try to include at least one non-physical personal requirement so that if I get sick or injured I can still maintain my kung fu and practice mastery. The trouble is I almost never employ these requirements when I am not doing well physically. I know I should be using those contingencies I built for scenarios like this, but I also think it is a bit unreasonable to make any meaningful progress when I am feeling well and truly sick. If I can’t even take a break when I am ill can I ever take a break? This thought is scary, because I know Mastery is relentless (and this may just be because it’s coming off the heels of the tiger challenge) but lately it is feeling a bit too relentless i.e I’m feeling a bit burnt out and its making me fear my requirements rather than seeing...
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The Absence of a Blog

I am posting this in place of my actual blog for tonight. I needed to write something and it is best not to be shared with anyone. I know it is one of our requirements to blog publicly every 7 days, but it was important for me to write those things out for myself, and I think that that follows the spirit of the requirement: that I write a record of my journey for myself.  I post this to fulfil the public part. Current Total Push-ups 10769 Sit-Ups 9906 AOK 269 Km 779 Blogs 13 Sparring 28 Hand Form 129 Weapon Form 169 Repair Relationship 0
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Spear, and Tigers, … and Blogging

We have been focusing on learning the school spear form in blackbelt class recently and I am having a blast with it so far! I have always wanted to learn more of the school weapons forms, but with applying  new lessons to the forms I already know, and still trying to get Mlong Kuen to be a bit more developed, it never felt like the right time to reach out and try to learn some of them, but now I have the opportunity to focus on it.  I am finding it interesting because so much of it is so familiar because of the foundation I have from the stick form, but at the same time time it feels so foreign because the reach, the center of balance, and the blade of the spear all change how I can use it.  Sihing Yitzik Csillag mentioned that I need to do it “less Tiger, more Crane” and I’m really excited to apply this imagery as I build my muscle memory in the form for the first time. I mentioned this in my sword form break-down blog: I really want to investigate how the 5 animals mani...
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