Version 1.0

My Horse Whisk form is at about 1/3 done ... this is a long form and I am constantly trying to remember the sequence.  Sifu M Beckett probably gets frustrated going over this again and again with me.  My process from the sword form is to name different sections.  For example the sword form had the intro, a basic, the kick/block/pose, the twizzler, the block/strike, a basic, the corkscrew and the finish.   So far the whisk form has the intro, the figure eight circle, bagua walk, unnamed section ... the bird, windmill left, strike right, double flick, twist behind back, I think its ...  the double swish with knee to the bird, lateral strike front and back and then the triple crouch but I could be wrong!  Some of these may be renamed as I learn more of the form and understand the application behind the form but its confusing already and I am only a third done.  I am seriously concerned I am not going to have the whole sequence by the end of March, and for sure I will be talking to myself while performing what I do have.

A rare and special sunday

This week I have a free sunday to blog, which for me is really unusual.  Normally I have my Mom and Aunt for dinner, possibly others as well, but my Mom really looks forward to busting out of the seniors apartment where she lives in Leduc. So normally I would have picked up my Mom after lunch, she would spend the day out here and then we would do a big family dinner.  At about this time I would be driving my Mom and / or aunt home to Leduc and /or Edmonton.  This week my brother and I took Mom out for dinner and visiting last night (saturday),  I was so tired from Martial Arts Fitness and open training that I really didn't want to go out anywhere ... however as my brother is rarely in town it wasn't something I could duck out of.   However today I am really glad as today I have a day to myself.   Its a bit of a treat,  Mel is good about letting me do my thing and letting me listen to my favorite music all day.   Dean had a project going with his motorcycle and essentially once I growled once or twice everyone left me alone.   Sometimes a person just needs some space to rest and recharge.   My hubby he is always okay with people around, drives me crazy sometimes, I am looking forward to putzing around in my garden and he is planning a barbeque with a minimum of  four people coming.  Its caused an argument or two in our 30 years together.   Today was wonderful, really I am not good at sitting around unless I have book in my hand, so putzing around the house today, cooking, cleaning my kitchen, doing some laundry, listening to my favorite music ... nothing urgent, it was awesome.  I had nothing to accomplish, did stuff just because I wanted to!

We were dropping off a table at my aunts place in Edmonton and on the way we were listening to the Nitty Gritty Dirt band CD and my and the girls favorite songs 'The house on Pooh Corner' came on.   Melanie and I know all the words so as normal we start singing along.     When the girls were little they would sing all the disney movie sound tracks to Dean and I in the car, it  was always such a treat ... I mean really they knew all the words for the Lion King. Today I got really choked up and could hardly keep from crying ... this past June I was terrified that my daughter might have some horrible disease / condition that would kill or permanently handicap her.  Would I ever hear her sing again ... it just hit me today and its impossible to explain how special it was at that moment that Melanie was in the truck and singing along to one of our favorite songs ... thank you God!

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).