Beat the battle of the germ

So I got sick on Friday. Really ... why not Tuesday or Wednesday, at least it wouldn't mess up my weekend when the cool stuff is going on and I could stay home from work instead. Essentially all I did was sleep for two days straight. Yuk! Of course it messed up the numbers ... I am attempting to get things back in line.

The good thing about winter is that there are fewer distractions ... not tempted to go out to the garden or go for a spin on the motorcycle, or sit out on the deck and have a glass of wine and enjoy the quiet, things like that. However it does mess with some practice because going outside in two feet of snow to work on a form is not really an option. Fortunately for me I am spoiled and can practice inside in the shop (at work) where it is a heck of alot warmer and not much I can damage. So I certainly have no excuse for being behind on my form reps ... which I still am but it is looking better than a month ago so progress is being made.

I have been reviewing the bokken form and I must admit I lost most of the sequence of the thing while focusing on other forms. I keep adding moves from the broadsword form too it so its become a hybrid. Master Brinker did warn us about things like this so I am trying to not beat myself up about it and just fix it.

Reading, Mediation, Gardening, Art

I love to read and quite often will have several books on the go at the same time.  Right now its 'Being Peace' by 'Thich Nhat Hanh'  ,  the '50 Best Ways to Simplify your Life'  and 'Meditation for Beginners' by Jack Kornfield.  I have read all of these books before in my usual speed read type of way but what happens when I do that is I fail to incorporate some of the really important stuff that these various persons wrote about.  I picked these three because they compliment each other from a number of different directions.  Mr. Hanh is very 'eastern' in his approach, Mr. Kornfield says the same kinds of things in a more western approach and the people who wrote 'the 50 best ways...' are very how to step by step and so its kind of interesting and cements the philosophies more strongly in the mind.  I am doing a single chapter per week in each book and will work on absorbing the concept they are try to teach.  This will prevent me from speed reading and allow time to process.

'Being Peace' by 'Thich Nhat Hanh' 

1st chapter something important I forgot 'smile'

Breathing in I calm my body
Breathing out I smile
Dwelling in the present moment
I know this is a wonderful moment

I struggle with mediation so its been a challenge but I forgot to smile!  I admit at first I felt kind of like the Joker in the batman movie looked .... rigid and pained but its getting easier.

Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield

1st chapter talks about being mindful, and developing the 'art of living'.  It does not specify any type of meditation other than finding one that works for you and sticking with it.  For me its something active, like gardening .... grubbing around in the dirt gets me away from myself and all the 'important' things I have to do, I am in  the moment, loving the smell, the feeling, the giving, its pretty awesome in a weird sort of way.

Simplfy your Life by Fanning & Mitchner

Simplicity is not a state of rest, it is dynamic.  The goal is not to arrive at a static balance in your life but to become skilled  at the process of shifting the center point so that the whole asymetrical structure of your life remains in balance.    Personally I don't work well with the word balance and will be changing it into 'harmony' in my mind.  Balance implies some sort of measurement of equaility which I don't believe is fair or even possible most of the time ... however harmony can be achieved without always being in balance.  If that makes any kind of sense.  In addition there is a project for my art journal where I map out various aspects of my life which is supposed to assist me in finding harmony.   Will be working on that this week.

Cool Dragons

It was awesome doing the dragon dance practice with two dragons ... we have named them 'Smog' and 'Draco' and we have roughed in two teams although it may change as we need a good mix of small and big people on each team for some of the showy stuff that is being planned.  Its going to be spectacular I think doing this at the new venue where we have more room and integrated with the lion.   I sure hope somebody is planning to record the performance at the promotion/new years ceremony ... I will be buying the DVD.

So this has been a week of catching up ...  at work and on my numbers.  We were travelling and hotel rooms really don't have enough room for forms, especially not weapons but hey I did imaginary ones.  Meaning going through the moves without the actual weapon in hand,  it lacks the power but as I was fixing some stuff in the cane form that has to do with hand positions and I have a great imagination I think it worked okay. Both Stick and Part One and Two of the cane form go straight forward and back so I could even do the footwork for those however the third part 'points' or pokes as I think of it was a little cramped but worked. So I am not as far behind as I might have been if I had been trying to do mu long koon which is huge.

Saturday

This Saturday I am going to help with the little leopards and they are a riot.  Yes you have to be on your toes and for a group of people that are 1/3 of my size (if that) they can be pretty overwhelming in large groups. Its sure not boring!  If you get the chance you should help out!    Then Tai Chi ... breakfast ... dragon dance practice ... and a bunch of us are going to get together to spar afterwards.   Could you have a better day?  I don't think so!  Look forward to seeing you there.

As promised the post

The tiger challenge went really well!  I am very proud of the I Ho Chuan team, the dynamics of tasks and people all came together very smoothly.    It can be very tough to get that many people who are all very different with different skill sets to work on a project like this.  It bodes well for the Chinese new year and promotion ceremony in January.   As disappointed as I have been in my execution of the cane form  I took Sifu’s advice and thought about what would benefit me more, doing a favored old standby (safe) or performing the form I have been working on for the year  and have been very frustrated with (riskier) and getting the feedback on my execution of the form.  So I did the form ... I got scored.  What is the feed back in this.  As I am always really nervous when performing I cannot remember who the judges were, in fact I can’t remember most of the performance.  What I want is the feedback so that I can continue to improve ... was it better than before?  Has progress been made?  Have the different things I been working on perfecting in the form helped or hindered?  So I am asking because I really do want to know.  Please judges or anyone else feel free to comment. 

I will attempt the hyperlink on the mirrored blog

On to better things

At the I Ho Chuan Meeting on Saturday Sifu Brinker called me on my unwillingness to share (blog) when I believe that I have nothing positive or enlightening to share.  The past few months have been very challenging and it is the responsibilites in my personal life which has pushed out pretty much everything else.  So my hubby, kung fu, dancing, my job, it all got pushed aside.  It was very frustrating, blogs were roughed in but never posted because they were me venting rather than seeing anything positive in the experience.  I am not like a lot of members on the I Ho Chuan team who really 'THINK' about whats going on in their lives and ponder the intricacies of the moment.  I am more the head down, plow forward and get through it!  It was a difficult experience, a task to be endured, resolved, and once completed, buried as quickly and efficiently as possible.  So its over ... possibly I just need more time to appreciate the opportunity for learning.

On to more exciting things!  I am really enjoying the I Ho Chuan this year ... especially the dragon dance team. I like the people on the team,  I like the challenge of it!  Its a performance that I can do and not freak out as I am not up there alone.  Anyone who has the opportunity to be on the team and has not taken it ... well you are missing out big time.   I was really hoping that we could do the double dragon at the chinese new year event it would be awesome.

Reality Check

Driving home from Kung fu class tonight and listing to the CBC radio, there was a documentary being aired about one of the wives of Joseph Cogne (not sure of the spelling) the international courts just convicted him of numerous crimes and sentenced him to life in prison.  He is a rebel leader somewhere in Africa (only caught the last 10 minutes of the show).  This lady was talking about how she was kidnapped as a young girl, raped, held captive for 11 years as one of Jospeh's numerous wives.  Birthed 3 daughters, and lost one during fighting between and rebels and government forces.

Well it just made all my problems pretty minor in comparison. 

Another thing that I have been dropping the ball on is my graditude journalling and it shows in my additude,

I am grateful to live in this beautiful country where it is safe for me and my loved ones.
I am grateful for my beautiful home and yard
I am grateful for my very special husband & daughters
I am grateful for a full tummy every night
I am grateful that Canadians prefer dialogue as a way of solving problems and not guns
I am grateful that Mr Repay and Mr. Csillag did not drop me during dragon dance practice.

I have lots of wonderful things in a very busy life ... apparently problems exist just so we can appreciate all the good stuff.

What about me?

I know this happens and I tried to prepare for it ... but no matter what I do I just can't control everything. Family issues have been eating up my time like crazy ... I have not done any spanish lessons,  art projects, practice reps of tai chi, missed two weeks of blogs, no kick sequences.   I am only just barely keeping up with the situps and pushups, fallen out of the habit of recording my acts of kindness ... I don't feel very kind ... just annoyed and tired of how I seem to be the only one who actually does anything for my mom (my side of the family).

I want to stand up and yell "hey what about me????"   "I have important things to do you know!"

Would my brothers just leave my mom uncared for if I stopped dealing with all the issues, checking on her, making sure she is still alive?  What kind of people am I related to?

6 Harmonies & Forms

So I have been staying very focused on the 6 harmonies in my forms ... its been frustrating to say the least.   It does not seem to matter which form I do I am like a light fixture thats shorting out.   I will go thru parts that flow really nice and I am feeling it ... grounded ... feeling the power moving thru the movement and then pfft, the light goes out and nothing!  Mostly it happens when I am not in a horse stance or bow stance ... there is something not 100% correct in the cat stance and when I do things like attacks to opponents behind me or I am retreating.  Maybe its just my visualization/interpretation of what is happening that messes me up but I crash and burn badly in those types of moves.  Sifu Brinker yet again explained the harmonies in the cat stance ... so the plan is start with the move before a cat stance and the move after in a number of different forms and hopefully I will be able to establish the connection/flow throughout.  Wish me luck!

Dragon Dance

I just wanted to say how much fun I am having with the dragon dance practices ... you know other people actually pay to go to a gym and work up the kind of sweat that we do at practice.  They spend their time with machines and equipment, very little interaction with other people, staring at bad television, other people on equipment, or parking lots while they work out.  No team spirit, no creative juices flowing, no getting tangled up in the dragon with a lot of other fun people trying to learn/perfect a new skill.  Seems a shame ... do they realize what they are missing?  

Great Team

So one of the nicest things about having decent internet access at home is the fact that now I have time to read other peoples blogs on a more consistent basis.  It was always pretty hit and miss and then I would get so far behind well it just seemed I was out of the loop so to speak.  Not anymore, and let me tell you there are some very interesting and insightful people at Silent River Kung Fu and I loved spending the evening catching up on the blogs.  I learned a lot ... got some tips and got a rush thinking about what a great team I am part of.

KungFu & Dancing

So I know its kind of weird that I study Kungfu and ballroom dancing as well, but there are some things I learn in both activities that apply to each other.  Weight distribution and orientation in the hips and feet is very similar.  Despite some of the fancy upper body stuff in dancing, the orientation of the spine (core) is what allows you to move efficiently both in marital arts and dancing.  Being physically relaxed and yet engaged also travels across both mediums.  And circles, both dancing and kung fu are all about circles. 

I think the one of the most important things that dancing has added to my kungfu is my awareness of foot work.  Feet were just something I used to stand on, all I really worked on was making sure my stances were technically correct.  Now my awareness of where I am putting myself in relation to my opponent and the footwork to make it all happen when practicing is so much better.  I actually feel it when I get it right.

One of the biggest negatives that has travelled from dancing to kungfu is my willingness to lift my heels off the floor and it shows now in some of my stances / kicks ... if you see me do this give me heck!  Smooth dances like the waltz & foxtrot have rise and fall in the feet and I am way too comfortable now with lifting my heels off the floor ... so I am constantly watching for this.

There are a number of kungfu things that don’t translate well to the dancing,   I struggle with straightening my leg (locking the knee), opening my arms into big sweeping gestures, lifting my chin and stretching the neck, arching my upper back, and pointing my toes ... the kung fu side of me is screaming nooooooo ..... 

Last Fridays black belt class was awesome, thank you Master Brinker .... I know sometimes you get frustrated and probably want to knock on my head and ask ‘hey is anybody in there listening’ and I guess Friday I was ready to ‘hear’ what you were saying about chi.  I am already practicing with this on the heavy bag and in my forms ... for me something just clicked.

Update

Had like the best weekend ever on the long weekend, it started wtih Tai Chi on Saturday and ended with pushups on Monday night.  Did not go anywhere really just a couple of barbeques but the weather was great,  got to practice my forms out on the back deck and out by the garden between planting and yard work.    Freaked out the neighbors Dobermans doing the stick and cane forms out by the garden.  Really glad there is a big fence between me and them.  Was really tired in a good way with all the outdoor activity.  Still struggling with getting the Spanish lessons in ... figured out maybe I need to be on the back deck with the laptop while doing them ... just want to be outside I guess. 

Handed in the last of money for the Pandamonium, raised approx $1300.00 only achieved half of what I set for a goal and now am kicking myself for not putting in more effort as it really wasn’t that hard to do.   Business associates and dance friends and family well I never even talked to all of them.  Next year I will start earlier, talk to more people and as result raise more money.  Feel bad about not achieving my goal because it certainly was achievable ... just had to put in the effort.

Rewarding Careers in Child Development and Human Relations

A woman, renewing her driver's licence , 
was asked by the woman at Registry to state her occupation. 
She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself. 
'What I mean is, ' explained the woman at Registry,
'do you have a job or are you just a ...?' 

'Of course I have a job,' snapped the woman. 
'I'm a Mum.'

'We don't list 'Mum' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it,' Said the recorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation.
The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, 
efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like, 
'Official Interrogator' or 'City Registrar.'
'What is your occupation?' she probed. 

What made me say it? I do not know.
The words simply popped out.
'I'm a Research Associate in the field of
Child Development and Human Relations.'
The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in mid-air and 
looked up as though she had not heard right. 
I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words. 
Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, 
in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire. 
'Might I ask,' said the clerk with new interest,
'just what you do in your field?'
Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, 
I heard myself reply, 
'I have a continuing program of research,
(what mother doesn't)
In the laboratory and in the field, 
(normally I would have said indoors and out).
I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) 
and already have four credits (all daughters).
Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, 
(any mother care to disagree?) 
and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it).
But the job is more challenging than most run-of- the -mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.' 

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she
completed the form, stood up and personally ushered me to the door 

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, 
I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, 
(a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, 
testing out a new vocal pattern. 
I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy!
And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just another Mum.' Motherhood! 
What a glorious career!
Especially when there's a title on the door. 
Does this make grandmothers 'Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations' 
And great grandmothers
'Executive Senior Research Associates?
I think so! 
I also think it makes Aunts. Associate Research Assistants.' 

The Air Card

So I live in the country and as a result computer access to the internet from my home is sporadic at best as a result I have done the majority of my internet stuff from the office in edmonton.  Today I set up my 'aircard' and I talked to the girls in china on skype and I did a google search on a number of subjects and actually had the computer respond without me needing to cook a meal during the wait ... all from home.  I have tried a number of different technology options but this Graminia area seems to be a real dead zone, finally something that works. I am jumping up and down and kicking my heels together!  So now I can blog when I actually have time to think and will not be constantly interrupted with tasks/responsibilities at work.  Its a huge relief as the blogging while at work can be very challenging to accomplish, next is setting up my new phone so that I can receive emails and be in touch with KwoonTalk so I am always in the loop and not a couple of days behind everyone else.  I truly appreciate technology today!  I think I will blog again on Sunday ... just because I can.

Alpha Mind Training Course

I took this four day course quite a few years ago and it has made a huge difference in my life.  I am a multi-tasker constantly being distracted by the urgent rather than the important so yeah I get alot done ... but do I get the right things done?  I found the alpha mind training improved my focus daily, allowing me to be more in the moment rather than performing mental gymnastics with a number of different things.  It helped me define ME and what I consider important, helped me with my goal setting ... my fear of failure ... my unwillingness to take risks, it showed me how to use my brain and achieve more with a lot less emotional anxiety and stress, lets just say that I loved the program and what it has done for me.   This program also totally lines up with the I Ho Chuan and its concepts ... so as far as I can see you can't go wrong with taking this course.

Go for It ... You Won't be Sorry

Crazy and Happy

Had a good week this week,  spent time on my Cane form and it is all roughed in which is really encouraging.  

Struggling with the stick form as parts of it do not seem to be transitioning very well.  I’ve been paying attention to the foot work as this is usually where the problem starts but it hasn’t really been working out very well, not sure why!

 

Playing with the form I designed is exciting and frustrating ... I`ve been trying to change the orientation on parts of it so that it shows better as a performance but I keep changing my mind so I am essentially driving myself crazy with options.  Will have to ask someone to watch me tonight at practice to get some second opinions.  

My learning Spanish got seriously dropped ... company and recovery from the said company and I haven`t done anything for 3 weeks.  Not good, got my office set back up and will get back into it this weekend. 

The art project is rolling ... picked up a book on cartooning for beginners and having fun with it.  You had to know that anything arty I did would involve words ... good grief. :)

Parental Descretion Advised - Womens Health

The past week was medical stuff ... due to the fact that my mother had breast cancer I am considered high risk so they (medical professionals) want me to have a mammogram and such every year now since I turned 50.   I don’t like getting an x-ray ... seems counter intuitive to zap yourself with radiation every year to check if you have cancer ... so I have been investigating other options.   During my research I discovered that this technology is used a lot as a diagnostic tool (not just for breast exams) and is reputed to find the potential for tumor growth much earlier than an x-ray and eliminates the radiation factor unless absolutely necessary.

This is kind of personal yet I worry that many women are not aware that they have any other choice outside of the standard mammogram.  So if you need more info here is a link to a website,

http://www.iact-org.org/articles/articles-second-look.html   read this one start to finish as it presents both sides of the story.

I still take the report to my doctor and get a referral for an ultrasound of any suspicious areas, which they always did after the mammogram anyway, now I just skip the mammogram and the radiation.  This is new and controversial but for the earlier treatment alone I believe it is worth investigating.

Behind already and its only April

So I had company for the last ten days and although it was great to see everybody (and I mean everybody) it was very busy, noisy, crowded and messy at my house and challenging to get my training time in.  I was all up to date on my goals and now I am behind on everything.  So cranking on the requirements, and I can’t remember all the acts of kindness that I did in that period of time,  probably lots, but I never wrote them down so I have a serious hole in my notebook.  Made the moves for my forms without the stick or cane, having a two year old in the vicinity makes it kind of scary as she moves pretty fast and I was concerned she would run (runs everywhere) into the danger zone.  Got in some work on my own form so its fresh again and of course I made a few modifications to improve the flow.  Finally got started on my art journal and realized that this is going to be a lot more work than I expected.   My little cartoon has been a couple of weeks in the making.  Doing a project per week, now seems pretty ambitious.  I will keep working at it and hopefully it will come together a lot faster as I get more proficient. 

Plastic

So last year one of my goals was to reduce the amount of plastic in my life ... which turned out to be quite the challenge and required some very different buying and storage choices (mostly in my kitchen).  And because I was very focused on the subject I learned a lot,  the link below however is totally new for me and very exciting (in an environmental nerd sort of way).  Thank you Ben Conway (studying in China with my girls) for bringing this to my attention.  Truly gives a person hope for the healthy future of mother earth with people like this young man thinking about and coming up with innovative solutions for the problems that we have created.

A 19-year-old has developed an ocean cleanup array that could remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic from the world's oceans.

More info: http://bit.ly/11E4ZK2

Watch his TED talk here: http://bit.ly/PFHhrT

54

So I have achieved 54 years of living!  Still feel like I'm in my thirties with alot to learn and part of that is because of my martial arts/I Ho Chuan. Setting goals and constantly working to be more/better/evolved as a person, well that kind of thing keeps you looking forward ... not always reminiscing about the past and seeing  your life winding down.   My life is actually ramping up and thats a good feeling and although sometimes it seems there just isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done, I always have lots to look forward to and be challenged by.

A Moment

At Tai Chi class I was working on the transition in part two from carry the tiger up the mountain to fist under the elbow which involves a 270 degree turn which I have always found difficult to achieve slowly and maintain the timing in the hands.  Sifu Dennis was helping me and the way she described it was the turn is done with the core, for most of it the arms and hands are just along for the ride!  The problem is that most of us lead it with the hands and arms ... so with that in mind I have been working on that part and wow what a difference.   It amazes me that a discussion like that and change of mindset while doing the move can have such an impact on the actual performance of your body.   I don’t consciously engage or disengage any muscles I just think okay lead with the core while practicing and the hands figure out where they need to be.  I am going to be more aware of this throughout the tai chi form and probably driving Sifu Dennis crazy with questions at class but hey for me it was a big moment.

Went for a couple of massages on my back and legs so all those tight muscles are much softer and alot less painful.  Progress is being made! Yeah!!!

Hola

So on the weekend I got the Spanish Course loaded on computer (learning Spanish is one of my goals for the year). I got the Rosetta Stone course which is so far awesome!   Monday & Wednesday nights I got lessons 1 & 2 done and the way it is taught is awesome.  No English is spoken or written the only indicators are sets of pictures and you have to figure it out, which really makes it stick in your mind.    I can read and figure out stuff pretty good its the pronunciation that I have to go over many times.   There are sounds in Spanish that I have never made before so when you are reading the words a person sounds it out based on English pronunciation which causes problems between the brain and the mouth.  I think the toughest word so far is newspaper periodico (this has funny symbols over the vowels which my keyboard does not have and I struggle to say).  I have tried some of the small phrases out on the Spanish speaking workers at the office .... being very polite they don't laugh at me but I talk very sloooowly in comparison to the way they speak.   I recognized one word when they were talking this morning agua water which although pretty minor made me feel pretty good about my whopping two lessons.  So I am done writing escribe for today and will say Goodbye    Adios!

Something cool I found

Found this link on a blog site from one of the students at the school where Brandi & Mel are studying and it has a huge message.

THIS VIDEO WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

No matter what it is you're doing as a living, this video makes sense to your life.

Do you even desire?

www.doyoueven.com

In the zone

I have been thinking about my performance at the tiger challenge.  I know the form Mu Long Kwoon, I practiced like crazy so I was at that place where I could run through the form without thinking about it.  Sure I’m nervous but I’ve been doing kungfu and dance performances in an effort to overcome that and it is better.   Now after messing up I am again dreading the next time I have to perform ... so I’ve gone back, not forward, after this experience. 

I didn’t give myself enough room, the form is big and although I started and was in the zone so to speak I quickly ran out of space and almost into the judges.  That wierded me out and I popped mentally out of that no thinking just doing frame of mind into an ‘oh my god now what’ moment.  For me when I ‘plink’ out of the zone like that I’m not aware of where I am in the sequence of the form.   Maybe that makes me weird but its how it works for me.  Parts of many of the longer forms have repeat movements and sequences so it can be scary when you lose your focus on the doing, just going with the flow, and realize you have no idea where in the sequence you are.   What maybe I should have done at that point is some move that would have allowed me a moment to regroup mentally and get back into that doing frame of mind.  What I did do however, is just grab a similar section of the form and go from there.  I never did get back into the ‘zone’ so feeling panicked, awkward and embarrassed that I just messed up and that it is probably reflected in the movement of the form I just sort of stumbled to the end. 

Its not realistic to expect the surroundings/conditions/preplanning to be perfect everytime.  Especially when performing at a lot of different locations like we do in the I Ho Chuan.  So how does a person prepare and stay in that zone even when things go awry?  How do you get that doing frame of mind to stand against outside distractions/influences?  Do I have poor focus?  Should a person prepare an emergency response / Hail Mary sequence to save the day?  Should I stay out of the doing not thinking zone when performing?  If that’s even possible? Am I just weird?  Insights would be appreciated.

Heads Up

So finally the situation with my right foot is improving.  It’s totally frustrating trying to get an answer from doctors.  I mean my foot hurts right ... so I go to see the doctor and they take xrays ... nothing broken.   Good news yes, however after that they are of no help whatsoever.  No heal spurs, no breaks beyond that they have nothing but theories, it might be planters facitis (?) go buy orthotics for your shoes, see a podiatrist (?) still no conclusive answer.    I feel like I’m in an episode of ‘House’  (for those that don’t watch TV this is an old doctor drama where they almost kill the patient experimenting with different treatments).   So I’m discussing this with the girls while they are home and my niece Jena who is a physiotherapist says to me “I think its probably your back aunty”.  She starts explaining that nerve pressure/irritation/damage in your lower back can actually cause heel pain.  Really ... because the pain is in my heel, so I call my sister who is a massage therapist in BC and she agrees with Jena.   I have never heard of that before ... so somewhat sceptical I make an appointment at the clinic where Jena works (it can’t hurt) and viola after two treatments I can walk without limping.  Apparently I irritated a nerve in my lower back which is causing pain down the back of my leg and into my heel.  I have some stretches to do for awhile yet in the future and instructions about no rough stuff like being thrown until we have the situation firmly under control, but just being able to walk with no pain is like heaven after these past six weeks.  So a heads up ... in today’s world of health care it is necessary to find your own solutions for anything that can’t be viewed in an x-ray or tested for in a lab. 

After Xmas

It has been a great holdiay ... the girls are home and we have been visiting or visited by friends and relatives alot.  Brandi has gone thru the Tae Hau form with me and I now have the better understanding of the moves that I am making in this form.   When I learned the beginning of it in China the teacher did not speak great English (none) so I was learning moves and not really understanding what I was doing ... it feels much better to know that a particular move is a strike or block  etc.   Makes it easier to remember and get the flow going so I expect it will feel and look alot better shortly.    Did 500 situps and 250 kicks on New Years, pants are still too tight (appears it will take alot more than 500 to burn that off).  Hope everyone had as great a holiday as we did and best in the new year.