We've started learning the 108 and well I must say it's definitely intense. Our Shifu gave us a bit of a lecture on Tai Ji that I found really interesting. He said that there's two ways to practice Tai Ji. One is for feeling, so for instance I would say the way people practice normally, working on fluid movement and continuous motion and learning to feel the chi in the movement.
He explained that the other way is to practice similarly to have fluid movement and continuous motion but also to have incredibly low stances. This builds up strength and flexibility together. He said that lifting weights and doing other things like push ups, sit ups, and squats etc., make your body strong but also tend to make your tendons and ligaments stiff. He said practicing Tai Ji with stances as low and as wide as possible helps build up what he calls elastic power. So it's not just the power in your muscles but also improves the power in your tendons and ligaments helping to prevent future injury. He feels that this kind of practice is very important.
I'm not going to go so far as to say that I really like practicing Tai Ji in this fashion but I can see and feel the difference in my body already and it's only been a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to the improvement.
Sunday 31 October 2010
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Eating Meat
So I've broke my vegetarianism.
I'm a little sad about it I won't lie. I think I lasted... about 4 years. Not bad. The reasons I chose to become a vegetarian still exist and I still feel strongly about them so I do find myself feeling guilty at times. I read in a book called the thrive diet a lot about the acidity of meat and the fact that it's really hard for the body to digest and often times sits in your intestines for a undetermined amount of time (which I really hate to think about). There is also the environmental reasons behind my choice that are really the reasons that make me feel guilty. I just try to make decisions to eat little meat. Although the diet here isn't formed so largely of meat as it seems to be in the prairies of Alberta. Also the meat in China is not so commonly mass produced and farmed like it is at home. You're more likely to be eating beef or chicken from a local farm.
It's really difficult where we're living to keep a vegetarian diet and not be lacking in protein. If I was just living a regular life here and not training for 8 hours and some per day then I think it wouldn't be a problem. Eggs and tofu are not totally uncommon. But I also have been living at the school for over a year now and I have to say that not eating meat here is pretty brutal. There is very little variety in the vegetables cooked at the school and eating cabbage, beansprouts, and squash really loses it's appeal after some point. You would think, living in the country that invented a lot of meat supplements, that there would be a lot of options for meat replacement. But maybe it's because we're living in a smaller town that these things are not available. It's frustrating never the less.
My mom did make the point that once I return home I always have the option of going back to being vegetarian. The initial transition was pretty hard last time but there's so many more option for delicious vegetarian food, and I generally cook my own food a lot when I'm living at home I have more of a choice of the things I need to eat.
I'm a little sad about it I won't lie. I think I lasted... about 4 years. Not bad. The reasons I chose to become a vegetarian still exist and I still feel strongly about them so I do find myself feeling guilty at times. I read in a book called the thrive diet a lot about the acidity of meat and the fact that it's really hard for the body to digest and often times sits in your intestines for a undetermined amount of time (which I really hate to think about). There is also the environmental reasons behind my choice that are really the reasons that make me feel guilty. I just try to make decisions to eat little meat. Although the diet here isn't formed so largely of meat as it seems to be in the prairies of Alberta. Also the meat in China is not so commonly mass produced and farmed like it is at home. You're more likely to be eating beef or chicken from a local farm.
It's really difficult where we're living to keep a vegetarian diet and not be lacking in protein. If I was just living a regular life here and not training for 8 hours and some per day then I think it wouldn't be a problem. Eggs and tofu are not totally uncommon. But I also have been living at the school for over a year now and I have to say that not eating meat here is pretty brutal. There is very little variety in the vegetables cooked at the school and eating cabbage, beansprouts, and squash really loses it's appeal after some point. You would think, living in the country that invented a lot of meat supplements, that there would be a lot of options for meat replacement. But maybe it's because we're living in a smaller town that these things are not available. It's frustrating never the less.
My mom did make the point that once I return home I always have the option of going back to being vegetarian. The initial transition was pretty hard last time but there's so many more option for delicious vegetarian food, and I generally cook my own food a lot when I'm living at home I have more of a choice of the things I need to eat.
Sunday 17 October 2010
Another performance...
SO we just finished another performance with Jackie Chan which was pretty cool. We've spent the past week 'rehearsing' for our performance at the opening ceremony of the international wushu competition. Although I still do find it exciting to be in the presence of an amazing celebrity, I'm pretty much at my end of tolerance for dealing with Chinese culture. I've been swarmed by tourists asking to take pictures with me.
This morning we had to take a bus up the mountain to a temple at the top and do two more performances on the mountain. And once we were up there we found out that we would be doing the same thing for the next three days. I'm just exhausted by being a tourist attraction. I've never been in a situation like this before. How long do you let the government walk all over you before you have to draw the line somewhere? What options does a person really have in this situation?
This morning we had to take a bus up the mountain to a temple at the top and do two more performances on the mountain. And once we were up there we found out that we would be doing the same thing for the next three days. I'm just exhausted by being a tourist attraction. I've never been in a situation like this before. How long do you let the government walk all over you before you have to draw the line somewhere? What options does a person really have in this situation?
Friday 24 September 2010
Moon Festival
So Wednesday was moon festival or autumn festival by use of the lunar calendar and our Shifu was generous enough to give us 3 days off. I can't remember the last time we had a long weekend so this was a really nice break. All of the different classes were asked to come up with some kind of performance for the evening and so we did spend a little time practicing but it was really simple. Our class performed our Daoist chanting that we're learning and also acted out a very simple play from the three kingdoms period. It was really fun to get to use a bit of creativity with our costumes and to just do something a little out of the norm.
Our Shifu also bought a new karaoke machine (in China you can't have a celebration without karaoke). So we sang and danced and it gave us a really great opportunity to get to know some students that maybe we don't get to train with often. Also teaching some of the younger Chinese kids how to dance was hilarious. It's funny to think that someone that's so good at Kung Fu can't seem to figure out how to move to music. Not that I'm a professional or anything but I had a really great time with them. It's nice to see some of the younger kids get a chance to just fool around.
Brandi and I might be getting our own rooms (I'm typing this with crossed fingers). Although I do love my sister, it would be really great after a year of sharing a tiny room with way too much stuff in it. There would be some inconveniences for me since I don't have my own computer, but hey.. I can deal with it. I'm not much for this computer stuff anyways. I'll look forward to having room to spread out. Literally and figuratively.
Our Shifu also bought a new karaoke machine (in China you can't have a celebration without karaoke). So we sang and danced and it gave us a really great opportunity to get to know some students that maybe we don't get to train with often. Also teaching some of the younger Chinese kids how to dance was hilarious. It's funny to think that someone that's so good at Kung Fu can't seem to figure out how to move to music. Not that I'm a professional or anything but I had a really great time with them. It's nice to see some of the younger kids get a chance to just fool around.
Brandi and I might be getting our own rooms (I'm typing this with crossed fingers). Although I do love my sister, it would be really great after a year of sharing a tiny room with way too much stuff in it. There would be some inconveniences for me since I don't have my own computer, but hey.. I can deal with it. I'm not much for this computer stuff anyways. I'll look forward to having room to spread out. Literally and figuratively.
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Injury Number... Oh I Can't Keep Track
It seems like since our last Christmas break I have incurred injury after injury. I'm at the point where I'm so frustrated I just want to explode. First it was about three or four months of shin splints. Which means I had to stop running and could do no jump kicks for almost those entire months.
And almost as soon as I got over those I hurt my knee one class while we were practicing throws. I had just started running again. I was starting slow, running three times a week trying to make sure I didn't cause the shin splints again. Now at this point I've actually gotten over my great hate of running. I'd actually begun to enjoy it because it was something that I'd been forced to 'put on hold' for months.
I got a solid punch to the jaw in one of our sparring matches and had to get a serious anti-inflammatory from the hospital because I was in such incredible pain. For weeks I wasn't able to open my mouth fully and could only eat soft foods and had to chew very slowly and carefully. (Admittedly this had a positive effect on my eating habit which are generally stuff as much food in my mouth as fast as possible.)
After our trip to Beijing I was hoping for a fresh start. But somehow I seemed to have strained some of the tendons in my foot. I got an x-ray to make sure that the bones are alright and so now I'm baffled as to what I could've possibly done to my foot to cause this much pain. It doesn't really seem to be getting any better but this week is moon festival so we'll have two full days off. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I will heal.
This is the most difficult training here. Getting past the frustration of injuries and not being able to participate in all the things I want. Arg! I'm sure I'm not the only person who has ever been through this. But this is new for me and I'm struggling.
And almost as soon as I got over those I hurt my knee one class while we were practicing throws. I had just started running again. I was starting slow, running three times a week trying to make sure I didn't cause the shin splints again. Now at this point I've actually gotten over my great hate of running. I'd actually begun to enjoy it because it was something that I'd been forced to 'put on hold' for months.
I got a solid punch to the jaw in one of our sparring matches and had to get a serious anti-inflammatory from the hospital because I was in such incredible pain. For weeks I wasn't able to open my mouth fully and could only eat soft foods and had to chew very slowly and carefully. (Admittedly this had a positive effect on my eating habit which are generally stuff as much food in my mouth as fast as possible.)
After our trip to Beijing I was hoping for a fresh start. But somehow I seemed to have strained some of the tendons in my foot. I got an x-ray to make sure that the bones are alright and so now I'm baffled as to what I could've possibly done to my foot to cause this much pain. It doesn't really seem to be getting any better but this week is moon festival so we'll have two full days off. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I will heal.
This is the most difficult training here. Getting past the frustration of injuries and not being able to participate in all the things I want. Arg! I'm sure I'm not the only person who has ever been through this. But this is new for me and I'm struggling.
Thursday 9 September 2010
Eat, Pray, Love
I don't have a lot to say this week. I just finished reading the book called 'Eat, Pray, Love', by Elizabeth Gilbert. (I know that it's been made into a movie but movies sometimes are just missing something...). I really liked reading someone else's perspective on the search for happiness and enlightenment. Her approach to finding these things in some ways is completely different from my own, but in other ways, very similar. I found that it really opened my eyes to the motivation behind a lot of the decisions I make especially in my relationships to other people. I'd recommend this book to just about anyone although I'd guess it would appeal more to women.
And... Just as a side note. Reading about someone spending four months in Italy doing basically nothing except learning Italian and eating a plethora of delicious food (that I of course don't have a chance of eating anytime soon) was torturous and fabulous.
Hopefully next week I'll have more to say about training because I don't think I'll have finished my next book by then. Ha!
And... Just as a side note. Reading about someone spending four months in Italy doing basically nothing except learning Italian and eating a plethora of delicious food (that I of course don't have a chance of eating anytime soon) was torturous and fabulous.
Hopefully next week I'll have more to say about training because I don't think I'll have finished my next book by then. Ha!
Thursday 2 September 2010
Wudang.... Home Sweet Home
Pretty frustrating that I made a commitment to blog weekly and then just actually couldn't get access for 2 weeks. ARG!
It's great to be back to the old and the familiar. I don't want to spend this whole entry complaining about how terrible our trip to Beijing was, so I'm just going to make it brief. We ended up staying for 2 weeks instead of 4 days so we were more than a little unprepared. We spent the majority of our time there waiting for something. Waiting for the bus, waiting to rehearse, waiting for dinner, etc. I'm not a particularly patient person, so I'd have to admit, this drove me a little insane. Other than that, and the fact that our government liaison had to be one of the most annoying Chinese women I've been forced to spend time with, I actually kind of enjoyed myself. I'm a people person, and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people.
There was one in particular (I'll omit names), that had to be the epitome of jerkiness. I really can't remember ever meeting someone that left me so offended at the end of any interaction between us. But I was particularly proud of myself. Despite one outburst after an especially lewd comment, I didn't really let him get under my skin. I just mostly pretended as if he wasn't there. Our Shifu always says that it's a special skill being able to ignore people and let people like this one leave you unaffected. I also met some really great people. Some, I was disappointed to not have the chance to get to know better. We exchanged emails so I hope that in the future our paths cross again. It was really interesting as well to meet people from a different style and see their different levels of skill. Some had just arrived in China, and others had been here for a year or so. Also had the opportunity to meet a Shifu from the Shaolin temple. 6 to 7 thousand students and he's been there for 12 years or something. Definitely some interesting experiences. This for me, was the best part of the trip.
I'm so happy to be back in Wudang. Getting back to our regular schedule, drilling forms, going to bed completely physically exhausted instead of mentally depleted of energy. I don't think I've gotten to the point yet where I can look at Shifu without a huge grin on my face. If anything, this trip really helped put my training back in perspective for the coming months before the break.
It's great to be back to the old and the familiar. I don't want to spend this whole entry complaining about how terrible our trip to Beijing was, so I'm just going to make it brief. We ended up staying for 2 weeks instead of 4 days so we were more than a little unprepared. We spent the majority of our time there waiting for something. Waiting for the bus, waiting to rehearse, waiting for dinner, etc. I'm not a particularly patient person, so I'd have to admit, this drove me a little insane. Other than that, and the fact that our government liaison had to be one of the most annoying Chinese women I've been forced to spend time with, I actually kind of enjoyed myself. I'm a people person, and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people.
There was one in particular (I'll omit names), that had to be the epitome of jerkiness. I really can't remember ever meeting someone that left me so offended at the end of any interaction between us. But I was particularly proud of myself. Despite one outburst after an especially lewd comment, I didn't really let him get under my skin. I just mostly pretended as if he wasn't there. Our Shifu always says that it's a special skill being able to ignore people and let people like this one leave you unaffected. I also met some really great people. Some, I was disappointed to not have the chance to get to know better. We exchanged emails so I hope that in the future our paths cross again. It was really interesting as well to meet people from a different style and see their different levels of skill. Some had just arrived in China, and others had been here for a year or so. Also had the opportunity to meet a Shifu from the Shaolin temple. 6 to 7 thousand students and he's been there for 12 years or something. Definitely some interesting experiences. This for me, was the best part of the trip.
I'm so happy to be back in Wudang. Getting back to our regular schedule, drilling forms, going to bed completely physically exhausted instead of mentally depleted of energy. I don't think I've gotten to the point yet where I can look at Shifu without a huge grin on my face. If anything, this trip really helped put my training back in perspective for the coming months before the break.
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Beijing and Jackie Chan
Got some exciting news today. Ten people from the traditional class are going to be in a TV performance with Jackie Chan. So this Friday we will be headed on the train to Beijing. I'm really excited. Not only do I really need a little bit of a rest, our accommodation and travel are all paid. We were also promised a 500kuai bonus for spending money. Sounds a little too good to be true so I'm not gonna keep my hopes up but it's a nice thought. It's about 100 Canadian dollars which can get you quite a lot in China. The chance to eat some western food is definitely an incentive in itself. It will be cool to travel with a group of my team members as well. Hopefully we'll get a little bit of face time with Jackie Chan, but seeing as he is China's biggest celebrity I'm gonna try to not get my hopes up for that as well. Many of the Chinese students at the school are definitely jealous so we promised to try and get a few autographs.
On another note. I've been getting acupuncture for my knee and I seem to be having really good results. We'll see how this performance goes and after that hopefully I will be as good as new. I was hoping to do some editing to my blog but since China's firewall is so strong, I've been mostly unsuccessful. Oh the joys of censorship. Ha!
On another note. I've been getting acupuncture for my knee and I seem to be having really good results. We'll see how this performance goes and after that hopefully I will be as good as new. I was hoping to do some editing to my blog but since China's firewall is so strong, I've been mostly unsuccessful. Oh the joys of censorship. Ha!
Saturday 7 August 2010
Here it goes again...
So I haven't blogged since February. I'm not even going to try to fill you in on what's happened in the past 6 months. I don't think I could fit it into 10 posts nevermind one.
So I've set a new years goal for myself and I'm starting early. On September 1st we hit our one year mark since the start of the program so this is my new years resolution. I had a couple of hard months motivation wise. The past month I've been feeling pretty great although it seems I accumulate one injury after another. But I noticed that I've been spending more and more time finding motivation by reading other people's blogs. Today I read Sifu Brinker's message 'the key is right in front of you' on kwoon talk and decided I needed to make some changes. I'm not a big computer person. I get bored sitting in front of a screen typing emails, I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people. But if I can find inspiration in so many other people's struggles and successes then hopefully I can inspire others in the same way.
So I'm blogging. And I will be blogging every week. I have a plan. Now the next step is taking consistent action. I'm actually looking forward to this. I'm going to make it last. Even though I haven't been writing, I've been reading. Thanks to everyone who shares their thoughts and experiences.
So I've set a new years goal for myself and I'm starting early. On September 1st we hit our one year mark since the start of the program so this is my new years resolution. I had a couple of hard months motivation wise. The past month I've been feeling pretty great although it seems I accumulate one injury after another. But I noticed that I've been spending more and more time finding motivation by reading other people's blogs. Today I read Sifu Brinker's message 'the key is right in front of you' on kwoon talk and decided I needed to make some changes. I'm not a big computer person. I get bored sitting in front of a screen typing emails, I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people. But if I can find inspiration in so many other people's struggles and successes then hopefully I can inspire others in the same way.
So I'm blogging. And I will be blogging every week. I have a plan. Now the next step is taking consistent action. I'm actually looking forward to this. I'm going to make it last. Even though I haven't been writing, I've been reading. Thanks to everyone who shares their thoughts and experiences.
Wednesday 10 February 2010
So This Is What It's Like To Feel Powerful....
It's really been way too long since I've blogged. I doubt anyone's bothering to check it anymore. I'm a sort of lost cause when it comes to journaling. I love the feeling of picking up a pen and writing down my thoughts, but for some reason typing just doesn't do it for me. It's part of my new years resolution this year so I'm really gonna work at it...
I came back to Wudang and my training feeling completely renewed. I know that I will continue to struggle a lot over this next year, but being back here really reminds me of the purpose of being here and of the commitment that I've made. I've been approaching my training with a different attitude. And I'm not saying that the training isn't as difficult but I've been enjoying it more. Admittedly we haven't started running again yet, but I'm going to try to keep a positive attitude about that as well. I've only been here for a couple weeks but already I've sprained my ankle. It's healing faster than I expected.
Meditation is going really well. I was able to sit through a one hour meditation 2 days in a row. I've never been able to do this before so it was big progress for me.
Today it snowed and so we had class indoors. I don't generally enjoy training inside because it seems to get repetitive, but today we did some weight training and I've never felt so strong in my life. I did about 15 shoulder presses with about 24kg. I recall the last time we did it, I couldn't even hardly do 5 (with assistance from some of my kung fu brothers). This was really exciting for me. I'm already incredibly sore even though it was only about 7 hours ago, but the feeling of success is worth all the pain.
This week we also started a new form Tai Yi Wu Xing Quan. It was quite a surprise to be learning this form already. On the program plan it's a third year form. I'm really excited though. Brandi and I learned this form on our first visit to the school but I'm learning a lot relearning some of the moves. We've also been practicing dragon claw every day. Today after doing all those shoulder presses it was like torture but my hands are noticeably stronger already. Can't wait until I can hold myself up on my CLAWS! Grrrrr............
I came back to Wudang and my training feeling completely renewed. I know that I will continue to struggle a lot over this next year, but being back here really reminds me of the purpose of being here and of the commitment that I've made. I've been approaching my training with a different attitude. And I'm not saying that the training isn't as difficult but I've been enjoying it more. Admittedly we haven't started running again yet, but I'm going to try to keep a positive attitude about that as well. I've only been here for a couple weeks but already I've sprained my ankle. It's healing faster than I expected.
Meditation is going really well. I was able to sit through a one hour meditation 2 days in a row. I've never been able to do this before so it was big progress for me.
Today it snowed and so we had class indoors. I don't generally enjoy training inside because it seems to get repetitive, but today we did some weight training and I've never felt so strong in my life. I did about 15 shoulder presses with about 24kg. I recall the last time we did it, I couldn't even hardly do 5 (with assistance from some of my kung fu brothers). This was really exciting for me. I'm already incredibly sore even though it was only about 7 hours ago, but the feeling of success is worth all the pain.
This week we also started a new form Tai Yi Wu Xing Quan. It was quite a surprise to be learning this form already. On the program plan it's a third year form. I'm really excited though. Brandi and I learned this form on our first visit to the school but I'm learning a lot relearning some of the moves. We've also been practicing dragon claw every day. Today after doing all those shoulder presses it was like torture but my hands are noticeably stronger already. Can't wait until I can hold myself up on my CLAWS! Grrrrr............
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