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.