A few deep breaths

Since we had four days off for Chinese New Year, this week was a long one. Eight days later and I'm so physically exhausted walking up the stairs is an ordeal. I had a very productive week though and feel like I made some serious inroads into working through my forms. Shifu was away for a few days which gave us all some free time to work on our own.

I really noticed when I was training for the tournament in Huang Shan last year, how many movements from my forms get kind of glossed over while training in the group. I see the benefit in training as a group, it pushes you to work on your speed, and really keeps up the intensity of your training when you're just pushed along with the group drilling form after form. But I have also noticed, that over time, some small details get lost in the drive.

So I really tried to take advantage of my independence this week and go through the movements of each form consciously, thinking about the details in the arm motions and the timing of my stepping. I noticed that generally the forms that I'm more confident in, I have clearer understanding of my body and the coordination of my movements, whereas the forms that I feel less confident with, the more blurred my movements are. This gave me a great perspective on the forms I need to work on the most and where I'm most lacking in my training. All in all, great week.