Coming Soon to a Beta Form Near You

Less than a week until our beta forms are due and I am feeling both excited and nervous. I got a good start on my forms this year and I was having a ton of fun revisiting the broadsword, and working to build a hand form for the first time. Sadly some part of me saw this early progress, patted itself on the back and said ‘you can ease up a bit, you’ve got lots of time’ so with me working on them more sporadically, and the due date soon approaching I am starting to feel the pressure of the deadline, especially since I have two forms I need to work on.

But I am starting to more progress on them again, and I am trying to not allow my focus on the deadline to influence my creation of them. I don’t want the pressure to keep me from exploring initial ideas, or falling down certain rabbit holes; I don’t want to make something that is ‘good enough for now and can be changed later’. I want to keep making something I’m proud of and can’t wait to show everyone on the 18th, so I am trying to find make as many opportunities to work on these forms as I can in the coming days. 

I am also really excited for what will come after the forms reach their beta stage I always look forward to becoming comfortable with my chosen forms, being able to analyze and question each technique, to improve my skill with certain motions. But I am most excited to apply what I’ve been trying to focus on in my forms last year, developing my phrasing and working on my breathing. I think it will be really interesting to approach these ideas with forms I am unfamiliar with, and integrate them as I learn the form for the first time, rather than after I have developed muscle memory as is the case with my other forms. I excited for everything this will teach me!

Current Total

MIN Should Be At

Push-ups

6817

8875

Sit-Ups

4881

8875

AOK

164

177

Km

465

275

Blogs

8

9

Sparring

12

177

Hand Form

94

177

Weapon Form

68

177

Repair Relationship

0

9


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

As Promised

Image
I was SO sure I was going to blog after Sifu Rybak’s last prompting for us to write something  over the weekend, or to even at least check when the last time we posted a blog was, but I did not do either and somehow all that time has slipped by me without my notice of how long it has actually been or how many ideas I have lost because I did not capture them, explore them, or share them. But that’s not what this blog is going to be about, a blog about holding myself accountable, about what I have been doing wrong in my approach to blogging this whole year, and what I am going to do to fix it. That blog needs to be written, and soon, but the thought of writing that big self-critical and completely honest analysis of my year sounds daunting, and when compounded with the guilt from missing the last prompt, and having not written anything in that time, writing that blog right now would be detrimental to my progress. The pressure would stop me before I could even open my laptop. So inste...
Read more

Tonight’s Class

 Things I learned in blackbelt class tonight: 1) it is valid to have your intent be “to have fun” while running through a form! For so long I have been working on always having a reason or some focus when I’m going through a form, I’m working on my horse stances, I’m working on this particular technique, I’m trying to understand this motion, I’m trying to feel my energy, but tonight Sifu Hayes reminded me that every once and a while I need to do my forms for the sake of enjoyment. To remind myself why I love them so much. To feel the joy of movement that inspires me to do each form again and again in the future. I have been too focused on developing knowledge, and skill and I have been neglecting deepening my passion. 2) I have been doing the high-rising-block-palm-heel part of Mlong Kuen AND LAU GAR WRONG THIS ENTIRE TIME?! So, it’s nice to have that straightened out. 3) I also had my arms reversed (left hand was on the bottom, right hand was on the top, and it’s actually meant to...
Read more

Long Overdue

April 12th.  That was the last time I published a blog. 45 days in which I seemingly could not find even 10 minutes to spare to write something, to write anything, to even just list my numbers. Not only that but I have completely fallen off the wagon with reading blogs from the rest of the team. It has made me feel disconnected and it has made the time even more slippery, not being able to read the milestones my teammates have reached, not being able to share in their struggles, not really realizing that people have written six, seven, or more blogs when I have failed to write even one.  The worst part of this all is that I have not felt a sense of panic, a sense of urgency that with each passing week I was falling further and further behind in this requirement. Sure, I had missed a few, but I could write a few extra  and catch right back up right? As I’m writing this out I’m not even sure I could guess how many weeks I have missed.  “Where am I? What am I doing...
Read more