Ice and Hung Gar

Life is hard. Since an ice storm hit my county, life has been a bit harder. Numerous trees have fallen, heavily encrusted with ice: glittery, beautiful and dangerous. Tangled with the trees are the wires that bring electricity, telephone and internet service, usually considered essential, but actually only conveniences compared to more serious concerns of safety and freedom.

As I worked alongside my family in an effort to clear the road, for ourselves and our neighbors, the power of nature was everywhere -- shown not only in the beauty which many can appreciate but more astonishingly in splintery destruction. Whole trees had been uprooted by the weight of ice. Harmless and life-giving droplets of water had gathered to such an extent that they combined into a force that destroyed. Each tree trunk, every branch, individual pine needles, all were encased in ice. Each item weighed much more than normal.

As I began the work, grabbed the first limb, I was astonished at the effort required to shift its dramatically-increased mass. It took me a few minutes of adapting to the weight to realize that the first impulse I had was to shift my stance to accommodate the weight, and that stance was pure Hung Gar. Turns out, powering a punch from the ground, through the heel, channeling through the body correctly equals power to push a variety of items. The stance and shifts required to pull an opponent off balance equals power to move heavy objects. A correct stance meant that I was less likely to tumble backward onto splintered tree stumps. Properly shifted weight meant that I could pull heavier branches than before. Consistent training meant that I could work for hours instead of minutes.

Alongside my husband's powerful, efficient, and careful chainsawing, and both my sons' durable, enthusiastic energies, I was able draw on the power of Hung Gar to enhance my own effort. As a result, combined with the unexpected assistance of (believe it or not) volunteer firefighters from Alvaton fire department, the road to safety and freedom was cleared in a day.

Since I've updated my workout spreadsheet, and the old link didn't work when I clicked on it, here is the current link.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p47-aGTuSE8UU2p37we_CYgPublished on Jan 30, 2009 2:21:27 PM CST

Missing class... (in a good way)

I just finished the outline to my accounting final project and have to finish my push-ups and sit-ups. I was thinking how much I missed having class this week. In a way it was nice to practice the forms by myself with nobody to help with hints or advice, relying on my own memory. I do miss the group atmosphere though. I am looking forward to our first group session this weekend. I really enjoy the comeraderie that we all share.

I have a request for Steven though... I'm pretty sure I remember Tammy saying she was taking some classes about nutrition and health, although I could be mistaken. Would you be able to talk her into relaying some information regarding nutritional suggestions for people like us who are apparently forcing their bodies to do much more than they are used to? I don't know a whole lot about the subject but I have been eating like a horse since I started! Is that good or bad? Is my once a day vitamin enough? Should I eat certain kinds of foods to help build up my body? Things of that nature. Any advice would be most welcome.

I hope you all are having a good and productive week. Hopefully we will be able to have class tomorrow and everybody can make it. Maybe this will be the worst that old man Winter will throw at us this year!

A lesson learned the easy way.

I dragged my aching body off the couch into the office.  Sniffled, snorted, blew my nose.  Plopped down in my chair with a moan.  I'm sure glad I decided to stay ahead of my pushups and situps commitment instead of doing the minimum possible.  I am doing no pushups today.

time

It is a bit hard to fit the stuff in to our schedule some times I wait for the weekends and do them then and some times not.  How do you guys fit it in???

Training Smart

After 6 days of training with the new thought from Sifu Mike, I hurt.  My body had just gotten used to what I was demanding of it, then I started demanding more.  The point my body is at right now, I decided to train smart.  I will take it easy today, I will listen to my body.  I may do some pushups and situps, I will most likely do some forms, but I will not go full bore today.  My body needs to recover.  There is a time to sprint, and there is a time to catch your breath.

Where is the difference?

Where is the line between confidence and hubris? When does faking it become a path to making it real? Why is a swagger negative, and a strong stride positive? Where do the differences come from?

I've been thinking about RAoK and intentionality, wondering if the main ingredient to RAoK is intention ... But I don't think so. If I complete an RAoK just to check a box off each day, that's closer to a swagger than taking a strong stride -- closer to faking it. But remembering each day that such acts are important is starting to make it real. Assuming that something I consider a kind act is seen similarly by someone else is some kind of hubris --- but persevering into an understanding of RAoK that includes others' viewpoints may be confidence that the concept is valuable enough to work on.

Fine lines -- razor edges -- thin paths. The main ingredient to RAoK, today, for me, may be awareness.

I've noticed that even in video games (you know the ones with multiple choices) it feels imorel
to kill the good guys. no matter what game it is it just seems wrong.
does it mean that our moral code is just so deeply seated that no matter what your doing you cant ovoid your morel code. morality eems to be defined by your beliefs no one can tell you different.
just some thoughts.

me again i'm churning out blogs as fast as i can manage. my sisters home and i dont want to miss a bit of it. so steven, a definition of the ten tigers lite program; when you said 30 seconds each for five stances, does that mean each stance on both sides? okay blog back and let me know

hello again!

i'v fallen behind on my blogs so I've got to post three new blogs, and write three new entrees in my journal. im still really sore from doing gun gee (how do you spell that) full bore.
so on a previous note, i think any element can be argued the most closely related to life, metal too.

i'm doing fine

well i'm doing fine (repeat) and dean got any new pajamas yet...........how about now. just kiding...no but seriously. how's your stuff been going????

How do I feel?

Well, first of all, tired.  I just got back from training with Sifu Mike Marshall.  I have new insights, corrections, and motivation burning up my mind.

I have entered a level of soreness, that is starting to fade a bit, but I'm still sore nonetheless.  I am mainly discovering that when I have a commitment to meeting certain numbers of exercises that I don't make excuses.  I either consciously do what I set out to do, or consciously decide that I will let it slide on a particular day.  There is no sitting around thinking of reasons to not work out today.  As far as appetite, I am ravenous as always and I've added about five pounds.  My wife says my arms, chest and shoulders are bigger.

Dean asked for advice on performing with confidence.  I will share my secret with all of you now.  This goes back to high school, when I was sixteen and going to dances hoping to meet girls.  I knew that I couldn't walk around looking like I was feeling, which was shy and embarassed.  So I started developing my secret.  I carried it with me when I was a music student and had to perform in front of audiences who were sitting quietly waiting for me to pluck those strings on that guitar.  I carried my secret with me to Lost River Cave where I gave tours to strangers all day for years.  I still use my secret today when I get nervous.

The secret to my confidence is. . .

Lean in close and listen carefully. . .

Shhhhh. . .

I FAKE IT.

Yep, when I get nervous, I just pretend that I'm confident.  I walk as if I am, talk as if I am, breathe as if I am. . . Sooner or later my act becomes a fact, acting confident makes me feel confident.

Fake it, until you make it.

How does everyone feel?

I am sitting here contemplating the days events and started considering how I feel now that we are 3 weeks into the program. I feel sore but that is starting to diminish. I have found that my 30 minutes on the rowing machine is no longer giving me enough cardio to satisfy me. I have stepped up the pace and the resistance on my machine. Motivating myself to do the push-ups, sit-ups, and bag rounds is becoming much easier. An actual bag rather than a shadow would be much better from a training standpoint but I'm making due until I can find an actual bag! I find myself more often than not wanting to work out and feeling much better once I do. My energy level is gradually rising and my appetite has leveled off. I'm not eating as much as I use to but feel better anyway. My largest concern at the moment is related to my previous post; self-consciousness. This is a demon that I must confront, that I must conquer if I am to become all that I can be. This is something that I hope that you all may be able to help me with. You all seem so confident when performing in front of others and I must say I envy you for that ability. Any advice you can give on this matter will be most appreciated.

With that said, how are my teammates doing? How do you all feel at this point?

The Power of Focusing

Today I was practicing Fu Hok at home and decided to add in the element of focusing my energy in the movements. In order to do this I asked my imagination to conjure up a worthy opponent to face me in battle. Being a cooperative imagination, it did just that. So here I was, face to face with a martial arts master from the past ready to tear my head off and drink my blood! He attacked with a one two combination which I successfully countered with the Tiger Crane bow. As he stepped back to consider his next attack I gathered my strength in three deep breaths. I then blocked a series of punches and started focusing my power with three palm thrusts. As he attacked again, this time with a straight punch, I deflected his blow with a snake strike, blocking first and hooking his hand to my waist them letting his arm guide my fingers to his eyes. He managed to grab my hand but I broke his grip with side to side shakes followed with a dead hand to the back of his wrist. Amazingly, he regained a grip on my hand and forced me to pull my hand back to my chest and roll my wrist before forcibly returning it to the chambered position. His grip finally broken, he tried the same series of attacks which I defeated with the same techniques using my left hand. I could now see a grudging measure of respect in his eyes.
His next attack was an attempt to get in close. I stepped into a low horse stance and delivered a blasting double uppercut just under his rib cage as he stepped in close to grapple. Unbeknownst to me but knownst to him, his friend had snuck up behind me. Betrayed by my own imagination, I saw him from the corner of my eye and elbowed him in the sternum and had to immediately press my first opponent to the ground as he lunged for my waist. Again, I focused my energy with three palm thrusts and countered a punch with a double snake strike. With anger in his eyes and a battle cry on his lips he lunged at me. I felt his attack falter as his arms were deflected from the rotating motion of my arms and upper body. I saw pain in his eyes when my double palm strike landed in the hollow below each shoulder. He tried to lunge again only to be deflected to his right and was shocked to the core as my palms again connected, this time on his collar bones.
As his hammer fist came down I blocked high and then barely managed to deflect his front kick with a low chopping forearm. After stopping another hammer fist with a high blocking forearm I knocked down a low punch and struck for the eyes again with a snake strike. Taking the initiative, I hooked both of his hands out of the way, grabbed his wrist in my left hand as I stepped forward and simultaneously pulled him towards me and shifted to bow stance while I delivered a devastating tiger claw strike to the side of his face. Not learning his lesson he struck again with his right hand. Using the same technique I delivered another stunning blow using my left hand to the side of his face. This time I used a half butterfly to pull him off balance then blocked high to lift his arm and took his breath away with a powerful tigerclaw strike just below the sternum. My arms windmilled in circular blocks as he threw four quick punches. As his friend was getting his wind back and setting himself for another attack I jumped high into the air and stunned him by smashing my backfists downward onto his already damaged collar bones. My opponent screamed in pain and went to his knees, temporarily out of action.
Taking advantage of the second attackers amazement that his master was down I stepped across, hooked his lead foot out of place and launched a side kick at his groin. He partially deflected my kick and threw one of his own. My rolling bridge knocked his leg out of position and my hand flew up to block the follow-up punch. As he punched at me again I used a snake strike to block and retaliate. He managed to block and grab my hand in an iron grip. Rotating to a horse stance I peeled and pulled my hand free and immediately rotated back to bow and felt his rib crack as I drove my palm into his side.
By this time my blood was really flowing. My heart rate was up and I could feel power in my movements. As I rotated back to my horse stance to defend myself against the kung fu master my right arm came down to block his attack. I could feel the strength in my arm as it flew up to block high. My balance was excellent as I chopped his kick away from my body. I could feel the power generated by rotating my upper body and shoulder as I deflected a blow to my side. Now it was my turn. I focused all my energy, all my thought into my right arm. It was going to strike the masters jaw but it was not going to stop there. It would continue until it reached the end of my technique and this one blow was going to end the fight. I released my arm and it literally flew to the target. Nothing could stop it, not even my pajama bottoms which had inadvertently hooked on my little finger. I did not feel any resistance nor did I realize I had torn the entire leg out of them until my hand returned to my side! Not only had I defeated the kung fu master and his student but I had destroyed my own pajamas. Regardless, I was the victor!
The moral to the story, which is true by the way, is that focusing on the techniques and using not only your physical strength but the strength of your spirit can turn these awkward movements into very powerful techniques. It still amazes me how "right" the movements can feel when performed properly and with power. I think my current battle is with the master of self-consciousness. I still worry that others are watching and cheat myself of valuable time to perfect the forms and move forward with my training. This is something I could use much encouragement with. I have long realized that learning kung fu is much less about defeating a physical opponent and mostly about mastering the greatest opponent of all... Myself.

Reaching our goals

I kind of wish this blog had a way to create "threads" so that replies were linked to particular postings. If anyone knows of such a feature, share the info!

In partial response, though, both to Steven's last posting about having a hard day and mine about the feeling of team, I was thinking about how easy the numbers of pushups/situps seemed when we all got down on the floor together, counting them off. Alone, I can't do as many nearly as fast. Perhaps we could add some at the beginning and end of adult classes -- for those who want to. Those numbers could either help make up a given amount in a day or be extras to keep from falling behind. The support may help all of us reach our goals.

Hard Day

I won't bother with details, but today was hard.  I didn't meet all my goals for the day.  I might still add more, but for now I just have to be OK with falling short for the day.  Hopefully doing a little extra on days when I could will minimize the impact of today.  I did more than I felt like doing, but just not as much as I had hoped.  I'm guessing that we will all have days like this, just hang in there when you do.

Remember to breathe...

I have been reading about Zen meditation and breathing is a very important aspect of this activity. It is also critical in any form of martial art, proper exercising, running, sparring, and life in general from minute to minute. It is so important that our body knows how to perform this function without conscious thought. I have also realized that even though the human body inherantly knows how to breath, the process can be trained for better efficiency and even greater benefits.

Remember to breathe... I am learning how truly relaxing the act of breathing can be. I have experienced this relaxation during some very stressful times over the past couple of months. To relax the mind, let my thoughts flow without hindrance until they become less distracting, not holding or pursuing. I have found the experience of just breathing to be an eye in the storm, a rock to steady myself on, a starting point to calm myself and face the problem at hand.

I am looking forward to learning more and to sharing and experiencing this new territory with all of you. It seems the more I learn the more I realize how little I know. Now I am hoping that when I click the publish button, you will all be able to see what I just wrote. Here goes...

the feeling of "team"

I suspected when I asked for a "lite" version of ten tigers that the experience would be something important -- that even though I could not see how to fit the full experience into the upcoming year, I wanted as much of it as I could get. I was right. The feeling of "team" is uplifting. Why does it make such a difference? All of these requirements (save the lessons) are things we could each do alone -- and I had been trying to live in a similar fashion already. But the "alone" is the trick. "Alone" is not uplifting (though it can be at times). Having support, talking and writing with people who feel the same, being on the kwoon floor within something even larger -- that's a very fine feeling of "team."

my blog...yay

We had a really nice walk yesterday (we meaning me Anne and Eli) we went down around the creek and Eli got up to his waist in freezing water and said that it felt good and, yes, I said “good“!? We saw three crawdads in the same pool. I am sorry about your hip, Steven... I wonder why Dean hasn't said any thing yet? I hope he does soon.

It's all about becoming a better individual ...

It's good that Steven's bursitis has cropped up as an issue. As odd as that sounds, It gives us all a chance to think about what each of us will do if/when the time comes that we run into a wall. What will any of us do if we break an arm, become ill, or develop a condition that precludes some types of participation? I see this program as a process of self-improvement, so could we substitute out something that becomes impossible at the moment for some other equally good thing that is possible? I was recently reading one of Tom Callos' blogs that mentioned adding positive elements to life (and eliminating negative ones). His list included ten minutes of meditation (and I thought about where I could possibly fit THAT into my day ...). But something like that, some substitute, might be a really good option in such a situation. Then, rather than adding a worry such as falling behind, we could add another good experience.

my first blog, whoooot!

of the five elements, water seems to be the most closely related to life.
the element fire may represent the sun.
wood may represent the trees, or the vegetables that grow in our fields.
metal is one of the essential tools in our life.
earth is home of water, and water is the source of life.

a good analogy for life is a water fall.
you follow the river of life to the inevitable waterfall at the end where you descend
to the lake of resources, only to taken into the clouds where upon you fall down to river again.

to me even as i'm saying this, i think this is an Egyptian way of thinking, reincarnation.
i don't so much as believe in reincarnation as i wish for it to be true.

the book worm

Snag

I've run into a physical snag.  The bursitis in my hip has flared up again.  So I'm laying off the walking.  I figure it is better to get behind in the miles than to irritate my injury.  The question is, how will I catch up?

Acts of Kindness

So it occurs to me that our particular Ten Tigers group is in the habit of doing acts of kindness already.  I think that this project for us will, rather than get us used to doing them, get us used to recognizing them when we do them.  For example, tonight I went to IGA to pick up something for dinner, then cooked dinner.  I could have let Tammy do it, or gone with her suggestion to just thaw something out, but I decided to go ahead and do those things.  I didn't realize until afterwards that those are simple, small acts of kindness.  Noone ever said the acts of kindness had to be huge, monumental tasks.

first thoughts

I have already run into a conceptual snag. What qualifies as an act of kindness? Does it have to be something thought up just because of this program, or something that I did without thinking? Where does an act of kindness fall within the ordinary duties of being a mother, spouse, student, teacher (and all the myriad of roles I might have in a year)? Steven suggested that it's the spirit of the task – the motivation. That helps. But it's odd to find that something I thought I knew about already – a random act of kindness – is turning out to be a bit more elusive than expected. The classic saying comes to mind that goes something like “teach people to fish and you've fed them for life.” It's one thing to talk about ideals, and another to live them.

Also, I have felt like years have been flying by. Now this one seems to have slowed down, at least in the beginning, and may stay a while. I plan on savoring it.

Post from Steven

Day 2 and I have already discovered something great about this project.  As I sit here, I've not quite accomplished my goals for the day.  Two days ago if I were at 95 pushups and situps I'd call it enough, but not today.  I'm getting back on the floor to knock out some more.

Also, I think I like this format better for my spreadsheet.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p47-aGTuSE8UU2p37we_CYg