This week’s training has been the most rewarding for me so far.
Since the program started our Shifu has been training students for a tournament in Beijing. So although we did get a lot of personal attention, he was only available most days for one class per day. This week though, the tournament is over and done with and we’ve been getting his undivided attention. Which is awesome, but is definitely the most intense training we’ve had. It’s almost like the first week of the program all over again. Friday and Saturday’s classes were brutal, but I loved every one of them. We worked a lot on kicks and sanda (combat) training. Shifu taught us a new punch, kind of like a hook punch, for close range sparring. It’s pretty funny watching someone his size demonstrate close range combat with the biggest guy in the program. You can hardly see him pressed up against Evan’s midsection, but the instruction he gives is incredibly in depth and you can really see the transfer of power when he’s explaining it. I mean he’s about 5’7” and maybe 55kilos so it’s hard to believe someone his size can generate that much power in a single movement. But I’ve felt it, and it gives me hope.
The focus shields that we usually use here are not like the ones at home. It’s like punching a bag of sand. The first time we practiced thrust punches on them, I was really disappointed because I noticed that my wrists were not strong enough. It didn’t seem to matter how good my technique was, or how hard I punched, my wrists continuously folded. This time we were practicing and I really felt like I was transferring power. My wrists held up through at least 100 punches and I felt like I was getting real penetration of the shield. We’ve been practicing using our whole core section for punching and I noticed a huge difference. Because we’re spending so much time training, it’s not like you see daily improvement. It happens slowly, and so I really get excited when I do see a difference. Its small things like this that help me through the plateaus.
This Saturday we also had our first class on Taoist culture and theory. It was totally awesome! I’ve never really been a religious person, but I am a spiritual one. And Shifu talked about the Tao and how difficult it is to understand. He often makes the point that you can learn the Tao, and you can understand it, and you can know everything about it inside and out, but if you can’t apply it in your life then it’s useless. It’s important to understand it, but it’s also important to utilize it. He’s said it’s like practicing martial arts; at first you learn the forms, and you know the moves and the more you practice it the more skill you have. But if you don’t understand the movements, and the reasons behind them, then what’s the point?
The weather here this week has reminded me a lot of home. Friday and Saturday it was really hot. We were all out in tank tops, sweating our asses off. But since then it’s been cold and windy and rainy and this morning we woke up to a light layer of snow. It brings back some nostalgia and makes me more than a little home sick, but in perfect foreshadowing, this week Shifu also told us an old Chinese story that I really liked.
‘A student decides he wants to train and he goes looking for a master and everywhere he goes he carries a huge sack around on his back. He finds a master and when his master asks him what it is the sack, he tells him, “These are things I really love. My parents are in this sack, so they follow me wherever I go. I have food, and games, and my guitar. These things really make me happy so I keep them with me.” The master tells him to come with him and they go to the river. They take a boat and go across to the other shore. The master says to him “okay, now carry the boat with us.” And his student says “I cannot it’s too heavy.” Then his master says to him, “but it’s useful, we might need it, we should take it with us”. And his student says “yes but I cannot carry it around with me it’s impossible.” His master says “yes sometimes in life you have to leave things behind. Maybe even the things that you love.”
Wednesday 11 November 2009
Friday 9 October 2009
My Creative Side
So my friend Cam went on a short holiday for moon festival and while he was gone, I watched his room and fed his fish and turtles. As a gift for this incredibly difficult task, he brought me back watercolour paints, brushes and paper. As I looked at all these art supplies I thought to myself "Wow, Cam's gone totally crazy".
Outside of my martial arts, I don't spend a lot of time expressing my creativity. Actually outside of Kung Fu I don't really have a lot of creativity. I was almost dreading our date to paint this Thursday. I had no inspiration, I was so scared I would just end up staring at a blank piece of paper for an hour. So during lunch, I was telling some of my friends about the dreaded painting, and a friend, Jon, suggested I paint his portrait. I laughed really hard and sort of shrugged off the idea but by the time lunch was over I had decided to do it.
Cam and I spent hours sitting on the floor of his room, just playing around with the watercolours and by the time we were finished I had painted four pictures. Now, I don't claim that any of them are masterpieces but I was really shocked and amazed at how much fun I had. I did paint a portrait of Jon and today I gave it to him. And although obviously not done by a professional, he really enjoyed it. I actually had some other people ask me to paint portraits of them. I've found a side of myself that I never knew was there and a way to share it with other people... Very exciting!
Outside of my martial arts, I don't spend a lot of time expressing my creativity. Actually outside of Kung Fu I don't really have a lot of creativity. I was almost dreading our date to paint this Thursday. I had no inspiration, I was so scared I would just end up staring at a blank piece of paper for an hour. So during lunch, I was telling some of my friends about the dreaded painting, and a friend, Jon, suggested I paint his portrait. I laughed really hard and sort of shrugged off the idea but by the time lunch was over I had decided to do it.
Cam and I spent hours sitting on the floor of his room, just playing around with the watercolours and by the time we were finished I had painted four pictures. Now, I don't claim that any of them are masterpieces but I was really shocked and amazed at how much fun I had. I did paint a portrait of Jon and today I gave it to him. And although obviously not done by a professional, he really enjoyed it. I actually had some other people ask me to paint portraits of them. I've found a side of myself that I never knew was there and a way to share it with other people... Very exciting!
Tuesday 15 September 2009
A Day Off!!
This week so far has been totally awesome. We've been working our butts off but it's really paid off as far as I'm concerned. It seems that the days that we're fresh, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday they really push us hard, and then Monday and Tuesday we do a lot more Tai Qi and meditation. Wednesday(today), is normally our demonstration day but Master Yuan is filming a movie with Jackie Chan today so we get the day off. Well.. not exactly. We still got up and ran at 5am this morning and had our morning Qi Gong class. But it seems so much easier when in your mind you know that once it's over you get to rest.
Last night we had to demonstrate our basic form in front of the class, one at a time. Although I was pretty nervous, and I made some mistakes, it was a really positive experience. Training with the same group of people every day is sometimes frustrating. But last night we were all cheering each other on and encouraging one another. It felt like a sports team or something, not that I've ever been on a sports team. But it was a nice 'bonding' experience.
We've also been working a lot on flexibility training, We usually work in pairs and I find this very encouraging as well. There's so many people with different levels of flexibility but everyone's pushing one another and helping each other stretch past that comfort point. Sometimes it's painful but the results speak for themselves. Yesterday morning, after we had all finished our stretching exercises, Master Yuan gave us a flexibility demonstration. He wasn't warmed up at all, but can fold himself up into a pretzel. Pretty impressive. He did chin to toe with both feet. He says, "oh one side very easy, two sides very difficult." Crazy... Sometimes I don't even believe what I see. His muscles are so relaxed they are soft to the touch. Unless of course, he's using them to kick your ass. Bwahaha.
I'm really enjoying the training so far. Just trying to take it one day at a time. I'm just glad to have an extra day of rest to recover a bit. I am sore everywhere!
Last night we had to demonstrate our basic form in front of the class, one at a time. Although I was pretty nervous, and I made some mistakes, it was a really positive experience. Training with the same group of people every day is sometimes frustrating. But last night we were all cheering each other on and encouraging one another. It felt like a sports team or something, not that I've ever been on a sports team. But it was a nice 'bonding' experience.
We've also been working a lot on flexibility training, We usually work in pairs and I find this very encouraging as well. There's so many people with different levels of flexibility but everyone's pushing one another and helping each other stretch past that comfort point. Sometimes it's painful but the results speak for themselves. Yesterday morning, after we had all finished our stretching exercises, Master Yuan gave us a flexibility demonstration. He wasn't warmed up at all, but can fold himself up into a pretzel. Pretty impressive. He did chin to toe with both feet. He says, "oh one side very easy, two sides very difficult." Crazy... Sometimes I don't even believe what I see. His muscles are so relaxed they are soft to the touch. Unless of course, he's using them to kick your ass. Bwahaha.
I'm really enjoying the training so far. Just trying to take it one day at a time. I'm just glad to have an extra day of rest to recover a bit. I am sore everywhere!
Thursday 10 September 2009
I never know how to start...
The first week of the program is over. I've been trying to keep it simple and take it one day at a time. It's pretty overwhelming thinking that I'm planning to spend the next 5 years of my life training like I've trained this week. We get up at 5am and run 6 days a week. I've never run so much in my life. On saturday we actually ended up running for something like 50minutes. If someone had asked me if I could run a half hour I would've said no. But I have no watch and once you reach a certain point of exhaustion, you just can't waste the energy trying to figure out. You just push yourself as hard as you can and hope for the best.
The first week of the program is over. I've been trying to keep it simple and take it one day at a time. It's pretty overwhelming thinking that I'm planning to spend the next 5 years of my life training like I've trained this week. We get up at 5am and run 6 days a week. I've never run so much in my life. On saturday we actually ended up running for something like 50minutes. If someone had asked me if I could run a half hour I would've said no. But I have no watch and once you reach a certain point of exhaustion, you just can't waste the energy trying to figure out. You just push yourself as hard as you can and hope for the best.
Friday 28 August 2009
Well again it's been quite some time since I blogged.
Back in Wudang again. And it`s very exciting. It`s been great to reconnect with some of our friends here. And it`s been especially great to spend some time with our master again. He`s just got a lot of charisma and is really full of inspiration.
Brandi and I just got internet in our room.. So my plan is to start blogging once a week. A friend here, David Wei (the one who wrote the article about the women of wudang) suggested that it would be a really cool idea if Brandi and I journalled weekly for our five years here. So people could follow our transformation. Although I`ve heard this before, I need to be reminded regularly. Playing on the computer is not my favourite pastime. Just add it to the routine.
So on to the training. It`s been way more intense so far than last time even. Arg. We get up at 530am for Qi Gong and Tai Qi. And even though I`m not really a morning person, this is my favourite part of the day. Probably because the rest of it feels like torture Our fist class is from 830 to around 11. We do our hour of basics and then just practice forms. The program hasn`t actually started yet so we`re just working on the stuff we learned before. Once the program starts the setup of our classes will be much more structured. We don`t have class again until 7 pm (because it`s ridiculously hot during the day). This class is usually the most brutal. Generally for basics we do kicks and then practice forms again. But the end of class for the last few nights we`ve been doing extra strength training on top of everything. We do like 50 burpees, or we do over 100 squats, low back stances, jumping training... etc. I can easily say I`ve never sweated so much in my life. Or been this sore.
I`ve been going through a lot of mental stress at ths point too. It`s very frustrating when it seems like you get less and less flexible, and more and more sore, and don`t really see an improvement. I`m sure after I get more conditioned this will be better, but at this point it`s very discouraging.
On a cooler note: the last couple days it`s been raining here. So we`ve been training inside. Last night we practiced tumbling and doing kipups(which was unsuccessful for me) and then today we practiced push hands. It`s been really fun. My backs pretty sore today but maybe this will give my legs a bit of time to recover. All in all, I`m really excited to start the program, and I`ve never been so scared.
Back in Wudang again. And it`s very exciting. It`s been great to reconnect with some of our friends here. And it`s been especially great to spend some time with our master again. He`s just got a lot of charisma and is really full of inspiration.
Brandi and I just got internet in our room.. So my plan is to start blogging once a week. A friend here, David Wei (the one who wrote the article about the women of wudang) suggested that it would be a really cool idea if Brandi and I journalled weekly for our five years here. So people could follow our transformation. Although I`ve heard this before, I need to be reminded regularly. Playing on the computer is not my favourite pastime. Just add it to the routine.
So on to the training. It`s been way more intense so far than last time even. Arg. We get up at 530am for Qi Gong and Tai Qi. And even though I`m not really a morning person, this is my favourite part of the day. Probably because the rest of it feels like torture Our fist class is from 830 to around 11. We do our hour of basics and then just practice forms. The program hasn`t actually started yet so we`re just working on the stuff we learned before. Once the program starts the setup of our classes will be much more structured. We don`t have class again until 7 pm (because it`s ridiculously hot during the day). This class is usually the most brutal. Generally for basics we do kicks and then practice forms again. But the end of class for the last few nights we`ve been doing extra strength training on top of everything. We do like 50 burpees, or we do over 100 squats, low back stances, jumping training... etc. I can easily say I`ve never sweated so much in my life. Or been this sore.
I`ve been going through a lot of mental stress at ths point too. It`s very frustrating when it seems like you get less and less flexible, and more and more sore, and don`t really see an improvement. I`m sure after I get more conditioned this will be better, but at this point it`s very discouraging.
On a cooler note: the last couple days it`s been raining here. So we`ve been training inside. Last night we practiced tumbling and doing kipups(which was unsuccessful for me) and then today we practiced push hands. It`s been really fun. My backs pretty sore today but maybe this will give my legs a bit of time to recover. All in all, I`m really excited to start the program, and I`ve never been so scared.
Saturday 20 June 2009
One Chin Up
So I don't have anything too exciting to blog about.
I've had a problem surface in my journey towards black belt.
It happens to be this leadership project. It's weird because I've always considered myself a leader in many ways but I can't seem to come up with something simple enough to accomplish. I was working with someone from the wagner society out by stony to do a naturalization project (tree planting and whatnot) but they were short on trees and I couldn't come up with them so the project fell through. Failure.. Boo..
But I'm taking it in stride because I did have a small breakthrough this week. I've been working on trying to do an unnassisted chin up for I don't know how long but I have been making no progress on the issue..
This week however I did one. And it felt great. That's the breakthrough.. now that I've done one.. I know I can do more. It's not an impossible dream because I've accomplished it. Yay!! That's about all I have to say about that.
Also.. I would like to add that I've been thoroughly enjoying the monday wednesday evening classes.. so thanks to all the sifus, sihings, and students that make the classes what they are!
I've had a problem surface in my journey towards black belt.
It happens to be this leadership project. It's weird because I've always considered myself a leader in many ways but I can't seem to come up with something simple enough to accomplish. I was working with someone from the wagner society out by stony to do a naturalization project (tree planting and whatnot) but they were short on trees and I couldn't come up with them so the project fell through. Failure.. Boo..
But I'm taking it in stride because I did have a small breakthrough this week. I've been working on trying to do an unnassisted chin up for I don't know how long but I have been making no progress on the issue..
This week however I did one. And it felt great. That's the breakthrough.. now that I've done one.. I know I can do more. It's not an impossible dream because I've accomplished it. Yay!! That's about all I have to say about that.
Also.. I would like to add that I've been thoroughly enjoying the monday wednesday evening classes.. so thanks to all the sifus, sihings, and students that make the classes what they are!
Sunday 31 May 2009
Reinspired
I sometimes find it difficult to remain inspired. I love the martial arts and I can't wait to go back to China when all I have to worry about is my consistent improvement. But I find sometimes I get wrapped up in the monotony of my life. Get up, go to work, go to class, and go to bed. Then get up, go to work, train and then go to bed. I fit time in for some other things in there too, but mainly this is what my life consists of. I get stuck, and instead of finding new and exciting things, I find myself sometimes drawn into the laziness of routine. A slave to pressure to become a complete robot.
I was feeling a bit like this for the past couple of weeks. I wouldn't use the word bored, but a bit discouraged. I was less excited to practice, mostly because I don't think I've been improving much. We had a class on Friday night and Master Brinker talked to us about how it only takes 15 minutes to drastically improve one technique, if you're practicing mindfully with the right intensity. So I've decided to up the ante for myself a bit. I've set some new goals for myself this month. I'm going to finish, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' and it's corresponding questions, and I'm going to break boards. It's one of the requirements that I'm most uncomfortable with.
Meeting Master McNeil this weekend really made me realize that as much as the physical aspects of Kung Fu are important, so are the spiritual. It takes a lot of spirit sometimes to keep yourself going. To push through the doubts and setbacks, and to grow as a person, as well as a martial artist. Kung Fu has made me the person I am today, and I continue training not only for self defense, but for my future.
So that I can persevere in my personal battle against apathy.
I was feeling a bit like this for the past couple of weeks. I wouldn't use the word bored, but a bit discouraged. I was less excited to practice, mostly because I don't think I've been improving much. We had a class on Friday night and Master Brinker talked to us about how it only takes 15 minutes to drastically improve one technique, if you're practicing mindfully with the right intensity. So I've decided to up the ante for myself a bit. I've set some new goals for myself this month. I'm going to finish, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' and it's corresponding questions, and I'm going to break boards. It's one of the requirements that I'm most uncomfortable with.
Meeting Master McNeil this weekend really made me realize that as much as the physical aspects of Kung Fu are important, so are the spiritual. It takes a lot of spirit sometimes to keep yourself going. To push through the doubts and setbacks, and to grow as a person, as well as a martial artist. Kung Fu has made me the person I am today, and I continue training not only for self defense, but for my future.
So that I can persevere in my personal battle against apathy.
Monday 18 May 2009
The Tournament
I felt slightly pressured to blog.
Although it's not a bad thing to blog, I just rarely get the access to a computer. I thought today would be perfect. Long weekend. Plenty of extra time not having to work and all...
I wanted to jabber a bit about the tournament.
Really it was one of my greatest experiences. I'm not much for tournaments, since, I went in one when I was an orange belt. That was a pretty long time ago. I just kind of decided that wasn't where I wanted to go with my Kung Fu. I thought it was all about showing off. But I am a lot more mature now and see the advantages to competing.
It made me specialize practice in my two favourite forms. I loved every second of practicing those forms for the tournament. A couple months ago I wouldn't have said they were my two favourite forms but after spending so much time on them I was really happy with the improvement that I felt in both. Kempo, I've known so long I almost zone out sometimes when I'm doing it. It's like when I'm finished, I can't really remember doing the form, only that I've arrived at the end. I really had to start focusing on all the details and I've become completely fascinated with it. And my horse hair whisk form, was one of the most difficult forms I've had to learn. I have a long way to go but I was happy with the improvement.
I really had a positive experience at the tournament as well. I enjoyed helping out at ringside, watching a lot of the other belt levels compete. It's the first time I've been to a tournament in years and to see such good sportsmanship and positive attitudes really got me excited. Even with the younger competitors who can't seem to help but love a bit of the glory, acted with a lot of respect towards one another. I was really thrilled to see that.
When it was my turn I was definitely more nervous than I expected, I felt a lot more emotional than I expected, but I made it through. Afterwards I was thinking that I should have entered more. That's how things go sometimes. I wasn't brave enough to just get up there and do everything. But I felt brave enough afterwards. Ha ha. Where were you courage??
I discovered that tournaments can certainly be used as a tool for improvement. Once I got up there and did my forms, it didn't matter what medal I got, if any. What mattered was that it was a victory for myself. I feel stronger mentally, I'm inspired again by what Kung Fu does for me, and I have visible improvement in my forms. I mean if that's not success I don't know what is. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Although it's not a bad thing to blog, I just rarely get the access to a computer. I thought today would be perfect. Long weekend. Plenty of extra time not having to work and all...
I wanted to jabber a bit about the tournament.
Really it was one of my greatest experiences. I'm not much for tournaments, since, I went in one when I was an orange belt. That was a pretty long time ago. I just kind of decided that wasn't where I wanted to go with my Kung Fu. I thought it was all about showing off. But I am a lot more mature now and see the advantages to competing.
It made me specialize practice in my two favourite forms. I loved every second of practicing those forms for the tournament. A couple months ago I wouldn't have said they were my two favourite forms but after spending so much time on them I was really happy with the improvement that I felt in both. Kempo, I've known so long I almost zone out sometimes when I'm doing it. It's like when I'm finished, I can't really remember doing the form, only that I've arrived at the end. I really had to start focusing on all the details and I've become completely fascinated with it. And my horse hair whisk form, was one of the most difficult forms I've had to learn. I have a long way to go but I was happy with the improvement.
I really had a positive experience at the tournament as well. I enjoyed helping out at ringside, watching a lot of the other belt levels compete. It's the first time I've been to a tournament in years and to see such good sportsmanship and positive attitudes really got me excited. Even with the younger competitors who can't seem to help but love a bit of the glory, acted with a lot of respect towards one another. I was really thrilled to see that.
When it was my turn I was definitely more nervous than I expected, I felt a lot more emotional than I expected, but I made it through. Afterwards I was thinking that I should have entered more. That's how things go sometimes. I wasn't brave enough to just get up there and do everything. But I felt brave enough afterwards. Ha ha. Where were you courage??
I discovered that tournaments can certainly be used as a tool for improvement. Once I got up there and did my forms, it didn't matter what medal I got, if any. What mattered was that it was a victory for myself. I feel stronger mentally, I'm inspired again by what Kung Fu does for me, and I have visible improvement in my forms. I mean if that's not success I don't know what is. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Our Way Home
So we left Wudang a whole 3 days ago but it feels like ages...
I'm really sad. There's just something so amazing about waking up every day and knowing you're going to spend the whole day doing something you're passionate about. Of course there's parts of the training that almost feel like torture but when you can see better results all the time it makes those times feel so much more important.
Our last couple days of travel have been pretty bad. Spent seven hours in hard seats on the train from Wudang to Wuhan. Then our taxi driver couldn't find our hostel so he chose to drop us off on the side of a dark road in the pouring rain to fend for ouselves... people amaze me sometimes. Anyways, we got another taxi who also couldn't find our hostel but at least dropped us off at a pretty decent hotel. We visited a Daoist temple the next day which was certainly the highlight of our time in Wuhan. The monks there were really friendly and nice. I don't think it was a very touristy temple. We got more stares than normal. Hahaha.
Sleeping on the train was really great. I mean we had beds, but you can't sit up in them so we spent 17 hours laying down. Can't complain too much.. better than 17 hours sitting.
Shanghai has been really good. We've been surprisingly busy... going here and there, looking for this and that. We went looking for a silk market yesterday which we didn't find, but found alot of other things instead. Including some silk. Haha. That's just the way things work sometimes.
Pretty much since we left I've really just been looking forward to getting home. Big cities are really not my thing so I'm glad we're leaving tomorrow. Not looking forward to getting up at 530am though.
Since I haven't packed yet.... that's the end of this post.
I'm really sad. There's just something so amazing about waking up every day and knowing you're going to spend the whole day doing something you're passionate about. Of course there's parts of the training that almost feel like torture but when you can see better results all the time it makes those times feel so much more important.
Our last couple days of travel have been pretty bad. Spent seven hours in hard seats on the train from Wudang to Wuhan. Then our taxi driver couldn't find our hostel so he chose to drop us off on the side of a dark road in the pouring rain to fend for ouselves... people amaze me sometimes. Anyways, we got another taxi who also couldn't find our hostel but at least dropped us off at a pretty decent hotel. We visited a Daoist temple the next day which was certainly the highlight of our time in Wuhan. The monks there were really friendly and nice. I don't think it was a very touristy temple. We got more stares than normal. Hahaha.
Sleeping on the train was really great. I mean we had beds, but you can't sit up in them so we spent 17 hours laying down. Can't complain too much.. better than 17 hours sitting.
Shanghai has been really good. We've been surprisingly busy... going here and there, looking for this and that. We went looking for a silk market yesterday which we didn't find, but found alot of other things instead. Including some silk. Haha. That's just the way things work sometimes.
Pretty much since we left I've really just been looking forward to getting home. Big cities are really not my thing so I'm glad we're leaving tomorrow. Not looking forward to getting up at 530am though.
Since I haven't packed yet.... that's the end of this post.
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Coming to a close
Hey so it seems like forever since I've blogged so it's gonna be a long one. Around Christmas time I started to have some major problems with my lower back. Major problems to the point where sometimes I was bed ridden because I couldn't sit and could only stand for short periods of time. Also one of the reasons I haven't blogged in ages.
So it's been about 10 to 14 days now since I stopped going for acupuncture. I feel alot better. I've really recovered well. The training's going really well. I finished my horse whisk form (which I swear is definitely the most difficult form I've ever learned) and just a few days ago finished Tai Chi 28. The next form I'm planning on learning is the most basic one (which I should have started with). Live and learn.
I've made a kind of crazy decision. There's a program being run by the headmaster of our school here (Master Yuan), which is either 3 or 5 years long depending on how far you want to take it and so I've decided to at least do the 3 year program. It's basically all of the forms of the school and includes some hard chi gong and alot of internal training. I'm really looking forward to it. It starts in September. It's become almost like a second home here. Me and Brandi have really become close to quite a few of the students.
I've also started training Iron palm which I surprisingly really love.. I'm not sure yet what it is that I love about it but the benefit is definitely obvious.. it's a 3 year process so it's a pretty big commitment in itself. I also plan to do other iron body training which I'm also really looking forward to.
So we're leaving in less than 2 weeks which I'm excited about and sad about. I really don't want to return to the working force for any amount of time but I'm sure it will reap it's benefits in the end. I can't wait to see everyone when I come home....!!!!!
So it's been about 10 to 14 days now since I stopped going for acupuncture. I feel alot better. I've really recovered well. The training's going really well. I finished my horse whisk form (which I swear is definitely the most difficult form I've ever learned) and just a few days ago finished Tai Chi 28. The next form I'm planning on learning is the most basic one (which I should have started with). Live and learn.
I've made a kind of crazy decision. There's a program being run by the headmaster of our school here (Master Yuan), which is either 3 or 5 years long depending on how far you want to take it and so I've decided to at least do the 3 year program. It's basically all of the forms of the school and includes some hard chi gong and alot of internal training. I'm really looking forward to it. It starts in September. It's become almost like a second home here. Me and Brandi have really become close to quite a few of the students.
I've also started training Iron palm which I surprisingly really love.. I'm not sure yet what it is that I love about it but the benefit is definitely obvious.. it's a 3 year process so it's a pretty big commitment in itself. I also plan to do other iron body training which I'm also really looking forward to.
So we're leaving in less than 2 weeks which I'm excited about and sad about. I really don't want to return to the working force for any amount of time but I'm sure it will reap it's benefits in the end. I can't wait to see everyone when I come home....!!!!!
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