New blog, odds and ends

I've created a new blog for the Yin Style Baguazhang, Knoxville, study group specifically, so I can turn this blog back toward being one about my personal journey instead of one about our group. Follow the linked words to check it out.

That said, I can give some little updates on my own training, specifically on my circle-turning goal, which has occupied my attention far more than it has space on my blog! Details after the fold.

So, here's what happened: in doing a monumental chore for my wife near the end of March, I ended up hurting myself pretty bad, like had to take more than a week off pretty bad. That got me pretty far behind on my turning goal, among other things, and so I haven't had much to say about it. I've really rallied through the last half of April to make up for lost time at the end of March and beginning of April, and because of that I can now proudly announce that as of last night:


I have succeeded in getting 100% on-track with my goal for the first time this year!

Since my goal is to turn for 12000 minutes (200 hours) this year, that means that I'm floating somewhere between 4100 and 4200 minutes (this year) as of last night, and I feel much better about that. I'm trying to even my practice out between Lion and Phoenix (because of my shoulder injury, which is slowly improving, Lion has been less on the agenda than Phoenix), so I'm sore in all of the Lion-ish places again, which is also nice.

Here is something interesting I've noticed as an upside to all this turning:
My feet are different.
This is true almost without question.
They hit the ground differently when I turn, they hit the ground differently when I walk, they feel different. They're remarkably stable-feeling now.

I've also noticed an unambiguous improvement in my ability to do applications successfully. Turning really does everything they say it does, so give it a try, do it for a long time, and take it seriously.

I'm starting to gather the impression that there are some other strategies to getting your turning to improve that I wouldn't have suspected until I have put myself through this as well. I'll follow up with details when my schedule allows. Right now, I'm off to our Monday night group training class!