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So, the session of the class I was taking Wednesday nights ended, and I thought it would be a good time to change it up a bit. I asked Dr Jay about moving to weapons, and he thought it was a good idea, so I called LaoMa, and he said I can come to his Wednesday evening weapons class. Cool.
So tonight I start learning short stick, which is similar choreography to the dao broadsword,* with some differences in holding the weapon (as the sword has a handle and sharp edges, while the stick is just a stick.) LaoMa said there were some "young people" in the class (about 15 yrs old), and he hopes that my showing up will make them a little more serious about it. I'm vaguely apprehensive about that. I want to learn the straight sword, but I'm not sure where that is in the scheme of things.
Most of what I need to work on in Chen style is really stuff I have to do on my own, repeating sections and postures until I have the right flow and movement from the dantien and breathing, and can put it all together in a fluid form. In classes, mostly, we focus on the postures, with some explanations of breathing etc, but to get it together, you need to spend time at home. So I'll have to break it down into small sections and work on the chansi and breathing for each movement.
I also need to practice the san shou I've learned. I'm getting better at it - I don't move like I'm in frozen molasses anymore, spending time thinking "OK, what's next?" - but in theory 21 days make a habit, so I've got another week and a half of doing it every day before I can go to, say, every other day. Learning another new form at the same time I'm trying to cement this one is probably inadvisable, but I'm doing it anyway. And besides, there's another san shou workshop in May, so I can review it then (and work out the "oh, I've been doing it wrong" parts) and add the final 15 steps. I need to email Dan and see if there's a good time for him to get together and practice, since he learned the opposite part.
I'm probably going to need to clear more of my schedule to get more than 20 minutes of practice a day. But what can I take out? Probably some evening random websurfing. Not writing, since I hardly spend enough time doing that as it is. Not sleep, because I need that. I could limit my reading time, I suppose. I don't watch that much TV, so cutting that out won't give me too much time. (Just 2 hours Monday evening, plus whatever fansubs we download, which right now is Gundam and Tytania, though we're super behind on the latter.) I could skip COUP, but I like the interaction. What I should do is block off some time on the weekend.
And, naturally, since I'm starting a new class tonight, I slept wrong last night and I can hardly lift my left arm and can't turn my head left. I hope the 2 ibuprofen I took kick in soon.
*If you play Soul Calibur, it's Yunsung's weapon. Straight sword is Xianghua's.
So tonight I start learning short stick, which is similar choreography to the dao broadsword,* with some differences in holding the weapon (as the sword has a handle and sharp edges, while the stick is just a stick.) LaoMa said there were some "young people" in the class (about 15 yrs old), and he hopes that my showing up will make them a little more serious about it. I'm vaguely apprehensive about that. I want to learn the straight sword, but I'm not sure where that is in the scheme of things.
Most of what I need to work on in Chen style is really stuff I have to do on my own, repeating sections and postures until I have the right flow and movement from the dantien and breathing, and can put it all together in a fluid form. In classes, mostly, we focus on the postures, with some explanations of breathing etc, but to get it together, you need to spend time at home. So I'll have to break it down into small sections and work on the chansi and breathing for each movement.
I also need to practice the san shou I've learned. I'm getting better at it - I don't move like I'm in frozen molasses anymore, spending time thinking "OK, what's next?" - but in theory 21 days make a habit, so I've got another week and a half of doing it every day before I can go to, say, every other day. Learning another new form at the same time I'm trying to cement this one is probably inadvisable, but I'm doing it anyway. And besides, there's another san shou workshop in May, so I can review it then (and work out the "oh, I've been doing it wrong" parts) and add the final 15 steps. I need to email Dan and see if there's a good time for him to get together and practice, since he learned the opposite part.
I'm probably going to need to clear more of my schedule to get more than 20 minutes of practice a day. But what can I take out? Probably some evening random websurfing. Not writing, since I hardly spend enough time doing that as it is. Not sleep, because I need that. I could limit my reading time, I suppose. I don't watch that much TV, so cutting that out won't give me too much time. (Just 2 hours Monday evening, plus whatever fansubs we download, which right now is Gundam and Tytania, though we're super behind on the latter.) I could skip COUP, but I like the interaction. What I should do is block off some time on the weekend.
And, naturally, since I'm starting a new class tonight, I slept wrong last night and I can hardly lift my left arm and can't turn my head left. I hope the 2 ibuprofen I took kick in soon.
*If you play Soul Calibur, it's Yunsung's weapon. Straight sword is Xianghua's.
