Mirrors

Started learning the horse whisk form, very exciting!  Working in front of the mirrors at the kwoon can be a bit grim,  what felt smooth and graceful while practising does not look like that in front of the mirrors ... yikes!!!   I look slow and lumbering, when I actually want to look cool and dangerous.  In my logical side I think ... okay you have only been at this form for a week, give yourself a break.   But my emotional side comes up with some very negative back talk and not just about my form but body image as well.

I want to use the mirrors as a tool to help me perfect my form but its hard not to be distracted by seeing EVERYTHING that I perceive as less than perfect.   Does everyone go through this mental exercise in front of a mirror.  I actually have to mentally drown out the negative body image rhetoric by focusing specifically and looking and asking myself are my feet or hands in the right positions, do I have my hips aligned correctly, are my shoulders in the right position in relation to my hips and so on.    Really what does my messy hair or body size have to do with my kung fu.   I need a new paradigm ...  one where I see a martial artist and focus on the skeletal alignment, stances and the flow of what I am doing and can turn off Terry on her personal channel listing all her imperfections.

Escrima sticks YouTube links and sites

Escrima sticks are being done by a number of people this year and I have been asked to provide some links on you tube (I did an escrima stick form a couple of years ago).   The terminology with this can be confusing, be aware that escrima sticks are also called kali , arnis, silat and the drills are called sinawali (weaving patterns) abaniko (blocking) drills,  also numerous striking patterns that have interesting names that involve heaven.  When doing searches use these types of terminology and you will get better results.  There are A LOT of stick fighting videos on you tube, in addition to the kali, arnis, silat and escrima there is irish, trinidad, zulu styles and the list goes on, if you are making your own forms you can have  fun looking at some of the other styles as well and pick out some cool stuff.    Trying to learn a escrima/arnis/kali stick form off you tube for single or double stick can be tough, most time the performances are so fast you can’t figure out what’s going on so I suggest learning basic striking patterns and drills first.

Not sure if you will be doing single or double stick forms  ...

The best sites for learning drills/patterns/footwork for double stick that I found are below:

do a search for sinawalli drills or kali sticks done by Stephen Mullins, he explains what's happening and goes through it slowly and there a numerous you tube videos, primitive but informative.

www.kalicenter.com    these guys have numerous videos you can find on you tube  for free , they  also have DVDs if you want to purchase them and below is the online school costs.

Kali Center Online School - Monthly Membership $12.99

Kali Center Online School - Yearly Membership $119

https://www.youtube.com/user/wmpyr  

showy but he can be tough to follow, he also has numerous you tube videos posted.

Below  are some great warm ups and  drills you need to know for doing double escrima stick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or72R0eyEZw&ab_channel=KaliCenter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ihl2oqqA8A&ab_channel=Trapona

Single stick drills

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16myQqtAnJc&ab_channel=karatevideoguy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMWGz7Mi-QU&ab_channel=kifighting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQyPRiIiQ4w&ab_channel=kifighting

The biggest struggle I had was with the footwork, and I just couldn't wrap my brain around the way they were doing it so I stayed with the kung fu footwork and stances.  Later I discovered there are many schools of thought on stances with the escrima stick(s) so its kind of your choice. 

Good luck and remember to have fun with this ....

Slow transition

So my brother (who lives in china) sent me this picture, it summarizes the year of the sheep leaving and the year of the monkey entering.  Thought it was pretty cool.

I am getting nervous excited about the chinese new year celebration and our perfomances ... I know a lot of people are already practicing their new forms but my transition from sheep to monkey seems to be slower and I am still very focused on my sword form performance and the dragon dance.  Have not even picked up the horse whisk yet and don't feel comfortable shifting my attention to the new form until after Feb 20th.  

My ankle is holding up okay ... wearing the brace certainly helps, wrists and shoulders are taking a beating and its good we only have 10 days left before the performance and big wind up of the sheep year.  

Retrospective of 2015

I am not a person that spends a lot of time thinking about the past, or analysing why or why not this or that did or did not happen.  This year had some high points and one really, really low one.  Looking back the low one seems to overpower the high points ... this is why I would rather not think about it.  My coping mechanism for dealing with the bad stuff is fight the battle and then win or lose bury it and move on.   Does this always work? ... Nope, but sometimes these things need to compost for awhile before you can see the benefits.  When you are too close it stinks.  So in retrospect the year of the sheep had some real manure moments ha ha ha.  

So here is the summary of year of the sheep.

My numbers started off decent, then Melanie wound up in the hospital and from June to the end of August I did not log a single act of kindness or  any pushups, situps or my form reps, as I was mostly in a daze, and if I was kind to someone, or did some training it was done with little attention and no retention.

The last few months however have been awesome, not so much my stuff but the I Ho Chuan team, and my daughters recovery.  

A couple of things I learned and or had confirmed this year are;

Silent River Kung Fu Blackbelts and the I Ho Chuan members are spectacular people (already knew this and appreciate everything you have all done)

Life is NOT FAIR  (already knew this too, did not need a reminder)

I can't fix everything (new lesson ... I have been 'fixing' things for a long time and I am actually pretty good at it most of the time) But this GBS thing just came out of the blue and there wasn't a thing I could do to change it, nor could I really help through the first 3 months. I just had to stand and and watch my daughter suffer.

Not everyone wants me to fix things for them (knew this but forgot it while the girls were in china ... so far most people have been fine with my fixing their lives ... not Melanie ... her first words when she was little was 'me do it' and she still insists on 'fixing' her own stuff).  She lets me help sometimes out of pity for my need to do SOMETHING.

I can pull off some intense training when under pressure ... (knew this from blackbelt grading year ... needed to get my sword form at least into some kind of shape before the end of the year and I am content that this and dragon dance are two things I managed to achieve from my requirements.)

Patience (did not have it and still don't)  endurance that I have!

So there you have it

Demo & Dancers

The demo on Saturday at the Festival of the Trees turned out awesome!!!
Always freaked out before the event but I really enjoyed myself.
The snow globe pics were fun.

Now we just have to get the dragon dances fancier more complicated moves smoothed out for the Chinese New Year.  Its always a challenge with the Dragon Dance to get 9 plus people trained, keep them un-injured and in town for practices.   This year so far we have managed to pull it off although the number of people on the un-injured status is getting smaller.   I must say the hardcore dragon dancers are very consistent and reliable and its great to be on the team with them (that includes you Ms. Kohut).

Terry's blog

Should I or shouldn't I do the I Ho Chuan next year?

My husband has always been very supportive of my interest and time spent doing Kung Fu.  He dosen't whine about never going out on Friday nights or the weekend practices and/or performances, he mostly just adjusted his schedule around my commitments.  But I must admit that when I told him that next year there will not be Friday classes and it will be moved to Thursday night he was pretty excited.   We can take motorcycle trips next summer over the weekend now! was his response. This comment stopped me in my tracks.  I guess I just got used to his support and stopped appreciating the fact that its not just me that makes sacrifices for Kung Fu and the I Ho Chuan program.   I felt pretty bad ... I mean really he has always worked hard and made sure that the girls and I have everything we needed.   His/our ballroom dancing is a one day a week thing with occasional weekend events and we have rearranged this many times to accommodate my kung fu.  Kind of unfair if you balance the scales on this.  So am I being selfish?  should I take a break from the I Ho Chuan? ... it is a big commitment!  We talked ... he is optimistic about the new schedule, we will be taking more motorcycling trips, and he is on board with me continuing with the I Ho Chuan for 2016.  (This is because he is awesome!!!)