Bradley, Rand, and I got together today for the first time in a long, long while, and it was completely awesome. After studying the Lion qinna techniques (from the video) and discussing a few other applications and drills, we left the situation completely brimming over with excitement for training. Our thinking is that getting together once weekly, or at least once biweekly, is very important to our development, and so we're going to try to continue to do that on a regular basis, particularly since we're not entirely 'homeless' any longer. I have to say that I'm greatly, greatly looking forward to it.
Also, it looks like Bradley might be doing the 100 days of standing while I do it. I haven't started yet because my wife and I have decided to do it together and will be starting in a couple of days, when it's a bit better suited to what's going on (and we're a bit more prepared for it).
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Welcome Back, Old Friend
I turned again today for a little over twenty minutes.... I had intended a longer session, but the natives (read: the kids) were restless (read: fighting), so I had to hang it up earlier than I wanted. I'm impressed somewhat with how stable my emotions remained while I finished out my turning, wound it down, and closed it up... and then when I dealt with the offenders.
Before they broke into my turning time, though, I was glad to welcome back an old friend, one that's been so rarely present in the past six months that I almost forgot he existed. Last summer, for lack of a better term, I called this friend an "arm-leading feeling," and it is an odd sensation that I'm being led around the circle by my arm or that I'm turning almost automatically, though the sensation is powerfully of the "wheeling outward" sort on the lead arm. It was pleasant and short-lived, probably because I gave it attention (which almost always scares it off), but when it happens, it always gives me the impression that I'm doing something right. It's nice to have received some feedback directly from my body, I suppose, and it's particularly nice that the feedback wasn't "way to break me, stupid," like it is sometimes.
After that, I studied the moving with the force forms that I know and thought about their structure and application before stressing my body a bit with more lying-step drills. Finally, I came in and my wife, who happens to be a yoga instructor, inter alia, led the children and I through a brief yin yoga (meridian stretching) session. It was really great and went exceptionally well with the needs of my body until one of the children opened her mouth to say something stupid. My practice wasn't lost, but unfortunately, my wife's composure was almost utterly destroyed when one of the girls said, during a guided meditation, "Mama, it's much easier to relax when people aren't talking so much." I'm guessing, based on the amount of fidgeting, insomnia, and stress-related psychosomatic disorders that the child experiences that she's not much of an expert on relaxing, so I'm not sure where she's coming from. She's also, apparently, no better at tact than she was a month ago.
Soon, meaning tonight or tomorrow, I plan to begin a one-hundred day practice of zhan zhuang, basing my decision upon the obvious benefits it brings to me and the fact that in eleventy billion sources on neigong or (neidan) qigong, the practice is cumulative, each day building on the day before it. It's said that one hundred days will lay a foundation in the practice, and that missing a day requires adding two or three to make up for it. I'm going to test my yi and shen and see what I can do about committing to one hundred consecutive days of thirty or more minutes of zhan zhuang per day. In addition, I'm trying to keep an equal number of consecutive days turning, even if all I have strength or time for is five minutes. Since it's not strictly baguazhang, I don't believe I'm going to keep detailed track of the qigong on here, but I may mention it from time to time, particularly if it impacts my practice.
Before they broke into my turning time, though, I was glad to welcome back an old friend, one that's been so rarely present in the past six months that I almost forgot he existed. Last summer, for lack of a better term, I called this friend an "arm-leading feeling," and it is an odd sensation that I'm being led around the circle by my arm or that I'm turning almost automatically, though the sensation is powerfully of the "wheeling outward" sort on the lead arm. It was pleasant and short-lived, probably because I gave it attention (which almost always scares it off), but when it happens, it always gives me the impression that I'm doing something right. It's nice to have received some feedback directly from my body, I suppose, and it's particularly nice that the feedback wasn't "way to break me, stupid," like it is sometimes.
After that, I studied the moving with the force forms that I know and thought about their structure and application before stressing my body a bit with more lying-step drills. Finally, I came in and my wife, who happens to be a yoga instructor, inter alia, led the children and I through a brief yin yoga (meridian stretching) session. It was really great and went exceptionally well with the needs of my body until one of the children opened her mouth to say something stupid. My practice wasn't lost, but unfortunately, my wife's composure was almost utterly destroyed when one of the girls said, during a guided meditation, "Mama, it's much easier to relax when people aren't talking so much." I'm guessing, based on the amount of fidgeting, insomnia, and stress-related psychosomatic disorders that the child experiences that she's not much of an expert on relaxing, so I'm not sure where she's coming from. She's also, apparently, no better at tact than she was a month ago.
Soon, meaning tonight or tomorrow, I plan to begin a one-hundred day practice of zhan zhuang, basing my decision upon the obvious benefits it brings to me and the fact that in eleventy billion sources on neigong or (neidan) qigong, the practice is cumulative, each day building on the day before it. It's said that one hundred days will lay a foundation in the practice, and that missing a day requires adding two or three to make up for it. I'm going to test my yi and shen and see what I can do about committing to one hundred consecutive days of thirty or more minutes of zhan zhuang per day. In addition, I'm trying to keep an equal number of consecutive days turning, even if all I have strength or time for is five minutes. Since it's not strictly baguazhang, I don't believe I'm going to keep detailed track of the qigong on here, but I may mention it from time to time, particularly if it impacts my practice.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Gratitude
While my wife was doing a yoga video about an hour ago, I heard the lady instructing remind her viewers/students to always give gratitude for the opportunity to do yoga.
I think such gratitude is immensely appropriate for practitioners of Yin Style Baguazhang, and I'm very thankful for the reminder as well as the opportunity.
I think such gratitude is immensely appropriate for practitioners of Yin Style Baguazhang, and I'm very thankful for the reminder as well as the opportunity.
Man and Beast
Turning must be an interesting activity because it attracts a large amount of interest from both man and beast. First, there are the neighbors. I have several neighbors, all but one of whom have asked me what in the world I'm doing while I'm turning. All of those think it's pretty cool. One set, though, does not ask. Instead, when I'm turning, if they are aware of it, they come out to stare and point. Sometimes they stare and point longer than on other days (the time they spend is inversely proportional to the distance the temperature is away from 75 degrees Fahrenheit), but nearly every time they become cognizant of my turning, they come out to watch, like it's somehow a spectacle or in any grossly observable way different from on other days.
Second, there are the aforementioned neighbors' dogs, whom typically become aware of my turning about a quarter of the way through (after ten or fifteen minutes, usually) and begin barking at me from about one hundred yards away as if I'm trying to tear down their gate and plunder their poop farm of a yard. The dogs obviously (by watching their behavior much of the time) want more attention from said neighbors, and eventually, the rampant barking attracts them so that they can watch. It's quite the cycle. The dogs, it seems, have trained the people, but I understand that happens quite frequently in pet-owner relationships. The neighbors, nonetheless, are stupid. When their dogs bark at five, six, or seven in the morning, if asked about that behavior, they say that they couldn't hear it, though they were certainly awake (at least at seven) and that they must have been barking at "some kids out playing." How many kids are out playing at five a.m.? None. I'm not even turning then. In fact, I've never turned at five a.m. (though I have at six a few times, which did not get their dog going).
Third, there are insects. The South is a wonderful place for those, and various flies, mosquitoes, and several "other" category insects seem to have a wonderful time with a turner during the summer months. Sometimes, the sweating is so intense that an insect will land on my arm and , getting stuck, drown before it can take off again. None of it really bothers me except trying to keep the posture through being bitten by a mosquito, stung by a sweat bee, or have a humming mosquito try to make a camp in my ear.
Least offensive are the birds, which merely serve to distract me, particularly since they seem to be spending a lot more time a lot closer to my circle than they used to while I'm turning. They'll sit on the fence or even sometimes on the ground just a few feet from me and sing. It's hard not to choose to watch them because they're quite interesting and rarely so close. Today, for instance, a small gray bird came near, and I noticed that when it sang, it's entire body warbled with its note. I keep find myself wondering if one of these days a bird will choose to land on my outstretched arm or on the one above my head, and then I wonder if I could remain placid enough to prevent scaring it off if it did. It would be strange. Sometimes the birds distract me in other ways. Particularly, at least once a week I see some kind of National Geographic action involving one of a handful of species of native hawks or falcons. Occasionally, the bird of prey is carrying a small rodent or bird off into the distance, but more often it is being pestered and chased off by other birds, usually very small ones, although crows sometimes join in the sport. It's hard not to watch.
The kids, I guess, deserve a spot here as well now that they're back from their three-week adventure with the relatives. My training has taken a serious nosedive since their return, and it's not because I've been spending more time with them so much as it is because they're very noisy and almost needy. Constantly, it seems, they want or need something done, have done something poorly enough that it needs semi-immediate attention or remedy, or are carrying on, usually arguing with each other, especially at times when they think they can get away with it (like when I'm turning). That's quite distracting as well.
I think I remember talking about "the Tao" a few weeks ago and about how in the "modern" world such distractions are part of the training and should be embraced. I'm not feeling that way nearly as strongly right now after having had so much time without the kids, but I'm hoping I will again soon.
Second, there are the aforementioned neighbors' dogs, whom typically become aware of my turning about a quarter of the way through (after ten or fifteen minutes, usually) and begin barking at me from about one hundred yards away as if I'm trying to tear down their gate and plunder their poop farm of a yard. The dogs obviously (by watching their behavior much of the time) want more attention from said neighbors, and eventually, the rampant barking attracts them so that they can watch. It's quite the cycle. The dogs, it seems, have trained the people, but I understand that happens quite frequently in pet-owner relationships. The neighbors, nonetheless, are stupid. When their dogs bark at five, six, or seven in the morning, if asked about that behavior, they say that they couldn't hear it, though they were certainly awake (at least at seven) and that they must have been barking at "some kids out playing." How many kids are out playing at five a.m.? None. I'm not even turning then. In fact, I've never turned at five a.m. (though I have at six a few times, which did not get their dog going).
Third, there are insects. The South is a wonderful place for those, and various flies, mosquitoes, and several "other" category insects seem to have a wonderful time with a turner during the summer months. Sometimes, the sweating is so intense that an insect will land on my arm and , getting stuck, drown before it can take off again. None of it really bothers me except trying to keep the posture through being bitten by a mosquito, stung by a sweat bee, or have a humming mosquito try to make a camp in my ear.
Least offensive are the birds, which merely serve to distract me, particularly since they seem to be spending a lot more time a lot closer to my circle than they used to while I'm turning. They'll sit on the fence or even sometimes on the ground just a few feet from me and sing. It's hard not to choose to watch them because they're quite interesting and rarely so close. Today, for instance, a small gray bird came near, and I noticed that when it sang, it's entire body warbled with its note. I keep find myself wondering if one of these days a bird will choose to land on my outstretched arm or on the one above my head, and then I wonder if I could remain placid enough to prevent scaring it off if it did. It would be strange. Sometimes the birds distract me in other ways. Particularly, at least once a week I see some kind of National Geographic action involving one of a handful of species of native hawks or falcons. Occasionally, the bird of prey is carrying a small rodent or bird off into the distance, but more often it is being pestered and chased off by other birds, usually very small ones, although crows sometimes join in the sport. It's hard not to watch.
The kids, I guess, deserve a spot here as well now that they're back from their three-week adventure with the relatives. My training has taken a serious nosedive since their return, and it's not because I've been spending more time with them so much as it is because they're very noisy and almost needy. Constantly, it seems, they want or need something done, have done something poorly enough that it needs semi-immediate attention or remedy, or are carrying on, usually arguing with each other, especially at times when they think they can get away with it (like when I'm turning). That's quite distracting as well.
I think I remember talking about "the Tao" a few weeks ago and about how in the "modern" world such distractions are part of the training and should be embraced. I'm not feeling that way nearly as strongly right now after having had so much time without the kids, but I'm hoping I will again soon.
Friday, July 4, 2008
The Six that Contain the Eight.
I've felt all eight forces now, and I could describe them in a fair amount of detail, though I feel the seizing and grasping tend to be slightly ambiguous where one stops and the other begins. After mentioning this research to a fellow much further along the path than I, I was applauded for my attention and effort and admonished to remember the six much more basic forces that are vastly more important: drilling out, pulling in, rolling out, wrapping back in, dropping the elbow, and relaxing the shoulder. Those came with the line "Lion is Lion," followed by "sweeping is sweeping," and then et cetera is et cetera. Point taken, and those forces have been a new, actually easier research focus for the Lion posture. Thus, in the Lion posture, we could say that there are the six that contain the eight.
Actually, those six apply in all of the strikes to the greatest extent that the body can handle or manifest. All I can say is.. wow. When I feel them, concentrating on them, and strike, my power feels full and developed. When I forget them, I'm strong but empty. They are critical. Combining them, standing there, I immediately felt my forearm unify with my arm, my arm unify with my shoulder, and my shoulder unify with my torso, all of which is driven efficiently and powerfully by my waist. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
Now to just successfully manifest it in more than 10% of the rising sweeping strikes I perform and in the remaining 100% of the other umpteen (we could argue twenty-three, but that argument is hollow) Lion System strikes.
Actually, those six apply in all of the strikes to the greatest extent that the body can handle or manifest. All I can say is.. wow. When I feel them, concentrating on them, and strike, my power feels full and developed. When I forget them, I'm strong but empty. They are critical. Combining them, standing there, I immediately felt my forearm unify with my arm, my arm unify with my shoulder, and my shoulder unify with my torso, all of which is driven efficiently and powerfully by my waist. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
Now to just successfully manifest it in more than 10% of the rising sweeping strikes I perform and in the remaining 100% of the other umpteen (we could argue twenty-three, but that argument is hollow) Lion System strikes.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Adaptation and Research
My body, I think, is starting to adapt to the new training elements. The leg routine is physically challenging but no longer destroys me. In fact, I can comfortably walk over six or seven miles now (my wife and I typically go for walks in the evenings), even after turning (30+ minutes) and doing stepping strikes and forms, so I think it has improved me. Furthermore, I can turn for more than half an hour again without extreme force of will being invoked, which I suppose means that my upper body is adjusting nicely to the gripping exercises and, particularly, to the zhan zhuang, and its crazy demands on my frontal deltoids and rhomboids. I wish I could say I can feel my energy level rising, but I feel mostly the same, if not a little calmer and more centered. Qi-related sensations have returned to my standing practice and meditation and even somewhat to my turning, though, so perhaps that's a symbol of progress, as is my highly increased ability to stand for longer periods. I sort of lament the fact that I don't have a high-level instructor in neidan exercises, though. If He Jinbao counts as one, then he's not offering any direct, overt instruction in the matter, nor is he doing any 'hands-on attunement' of the inner situation. It's said "when the student is ready, the teacher shall appear," so perhaps I'm less ready than I'm inclined to believe.
Since I am going this so alone (meaning without frequent direct contact with a teacher), as are most of the practitioners of Yin Style Baguazhang in the world right now, being that He Jinbao is only accessible to us for a very small fraction of the year, I've decided to stop 'practicing' bagua. Henceforth, there will be training and there will be research; the two being related since in any experientially based art, true training is an act of research. My first project is a detailed investigation of the most basic exercise in Yin Style Bagua, or at least the first one that I learned: the static Lion Opens Its Mouth standing posture, as well as that posture's role while turning. I sat contemplating last night what I would write about if I was asked to thoroughly describe the Lion representational posture, and I realized that my understanding of it must be somewhat weak. He Jinbao told us that all eight striking methods (sweeping, cutting, chopping, hooking, shocking, blocking, seizing, and grasping) of the Lion system are contained in that single posture. I'm almost certain I've felt the first four and know their location and method of action, but I'm more or less entirely lost on the last four. Finding those forces and focusing the mind upon them, either one at a time or all simultaneously, seems fundamental to the internal aspect of training Yin Style, Lion System. Therefore, I need to crystallize my understanding of the first four and develop an understanding of the last four. He Jinbao said, "Even if your body cannot produce all of the requirements of a posture or technique, focusing the yi on those requirements will eventually lead to the body finding them. Furthermore, while theorizing has its place, true development can only occur with practice and experience." Therefore, my method of research will be to search deeply mentally while focusing my intent on the requirements, trying to feel and thereby understand the forces in question. Eventually, also, I need more direct experience with what is meant to be felt in the waist and legs. Intellectually, I know this turns, that is tight, this one pushes, and that one pulls back, but experientially, I've barely touched these things.
In addition, I reckon my mind is a bit too active still, though it's much calmer than it was a month or two months ago. I may, soon, start to carefully document a huge proportion of my thoughts and thought processes in order to increase my awareness of them. I suspect my mind (xin) is still running the show and doing the job rather poorly, preventing my xin and yi from harmonizing (the first internal harmony). If I understand the source of the wildness of my xin, then I can marry it with my yi and develop much more deeply and effectively. This will require time, which luckily, thanks to my career, I have a plenitude of for the next month and a half (thought eventually, I'm going to have to start working on math again...).
Since I am going this so alone (meaning without frequent direct contact with a teacher), as are most of the practitioners of Yin Style Baguazhang in the world right now, being that He Jinbao is only accessible to us for a very small fraction of the year, I've decided to stop 'practicing' bagua. Henceforth, there will be training and there will be research; the two being related since in any experientially based art, true training is an act of research. My first project is a detailed investigation of the most basic exercise in Yin Style Bagua, or at least the first one that I learned: the static Lion Opens Its Mouth standing posture, as well as that posture's role while turning. I sat contemplating last night what I would write about if I was asked to thoroughly describe the Lion representational posture, and I realized that my understanding of it must be somewhat weak. He Jinbao told us that all eight striking methods (sweeping, cutting, chopping, hooking, shocking, blocking, seizing, and grasping) of the Lion system are contained in that single posture. I'm almost certain I've felt the first four and know their location and method of action, but I'm more or less entirely lost on the last four. Finding those forces and focusing the mind upon them, either one at a time or all simultaneously, seems fundamental to the internal aspect of training Yin Style, Lion System. Therefore, I need to crystallize my understanding of the first four and develop an understanding of the last four. He Jinbao said, "Even if your body cannot produce all of the requirements of a posture or technique, focusing the yi on those requirements will eventually lead to the body finding them. Furthermore, while theorizing has its place, true development can only occur with practice and experience." Therefore, my method of research will be to search deeply mentally while focusing my intent on the requirements, trying to feel and thereby understand the forces in question. Eventually, also, I need more direct experience with what is meant to be felt in the waist and legs. Intellectually, I know this turns, that is tight, this one pushes, and that one pulls back, but experientially, I've barely touched these things.
In addition, I reckon my mind is a bit too active still, though it's much calmer than it was a month or two months ago. I may, soon, start to carefully document a huge proportion of my thoughts and thought processes in order to increase my awareness of them. I suspect my mind (xin) is still running the show and doing the job rather poorly, preventing my xin and yi from harmonizing (the first internal harmony). If I understand the source of the wildness of my xin, then I can marry it with my yi and develop much more deeply and effectively. This will require time, which luckily, thanks to my career, I have a plenitude of for the next month and a half (thought eventually, I'm going to have to start working on math again...).
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Qigong
I've been meaning to post for a few days, but every time I sit down to do it, either Blogger is playing at some updates or I have something more pressing to use the computer for. In the meantime, I've kept training, which I prefer to posting anyway. Since it's been four or five days since I've said anything (or longer?), it's fair to guess I've put a couple of hours on the circle since my last post and have continued with the Heavy Grippers per the instructions. I can rather comfortably 'close,' meaning almost close with only a couple of millimeters to go, the two-hundred-pound one five times now in the right and three in the left, but my workout centers on sets of twelve or ten with the one-fifty -- followed by air grabs and the seizing and grasping palm postures along with some fingertip pushups.
Today, though, I turned for thirty-five or so and then did my leg workout again, twice through, and kind of marveled at how much easier it was than this time last week (which means it was still hard). I added in some forward and backward jogging to up my cardio, per the instructions of my chiropractor/nutrition therapist -- right after the jumping (grr...). It felt good, though. I also managed a fair amount of one-step and three-step striking, but I did no forms.
What I have done, and what has really cut into my ability to turn for over twenty-five or thirty minutes without really putting forth some will to continue, is start to restore my once flourishing qigong and meditation practices. Currently, I'm hitting ten or twenty minute sessions three or four times per day in zhan zhuang and sitting at least as long in quiet meditation. To add to it, I've also added in a handful of other balancing qigong exercises. This was all spurred by seeing a demonstration of a commonplace skill in intermediate or advanced Chinese martial arts, fa jin or fa jing. After studying up rather intensively on it the other day, I found that regardless of knowing techniques for it, fa jing is not really possible at all without a firm, long-term foundation in qigong. Since I had started down that road about two years ago in a fairly effective way and then bailed on it completely after about four months (due to a life-situation change and poor adaptation to it in terms of continuing many of my pursuits in favor of other, also healthy, ones), I figured I already had a theoretical foundation and should get back to the practice. Thankfully, my wife is undertaking the endeavor with me, which is exciting and helpful because I don't feel like I have to alienate myself from her for a while each day to cultivate. In any case, though, the zhan zhuang I'm doing doesn't so much tax my shoulders as leave them rather exhausted so that after twenty-five or thirty minutes in the Lion posture on the circle, my arms are unduly heavy and need a break.
I'm looking forward to the development this should bring. Just starting the practice with resolve has really changed my overall daily pattern from one that was possibly laced with destructive time-wasting on a rather large scale to one that is far more healthful and enjoyable. Once I've adapted to the combined training, I'm hoping to see gains on the circle and throughout by bagua. I'd love, in fact, to see an amping up of my shocking strikes, which I consider to be rather deficient at the time being.
Today, though, I turned for thirty-five or so and then did my leg workout again, twice through, and kind of marveled at how much easier it was than this time last week (which means it was still hard). I added in some forward and backward jogging to up my cardio, per the instructions of my chiropractor/nutrition therapist -- right after the jumping (grr...). It felt good, though. I also managed a fair amount of one-step and three-step striking, but I did no forms.
What I have done, and what has really cut into my ability to turn for over twenty-five or thirty minutes without really putting forth some will to continue, is start to restore my once flourishing qigong and meditation practices. Currently, I'm hitting ten or twenty minute sessions three or four times per day in zhan zhuang and sitting at least as long in quiet meditation. To add to it, I've also added in a handful of other balancing qigong exercises. This was all spurred by seeing a demonstration of a commonplace skill in intermediate or advanced Chinese martial arts, fa jin or fa jing. After studying up rather intensively on it the other day, I found that regardless of knowing techniques for it, fa jing is not really possible at all without a firm, long-term foundation in qigong. Since I had started down that road about two years ago in a fairly effective way and then bailed on it completely after about four months (due to a life-situation change and poor adaptation to it in terms of continuing many of my pursuits in favor of other, also healthy, ones), I figured I already had a theoretical foundation and should get back to the practice. Thankfully, my wife is undertaking the endeavor with me, which is exciting and helpful because I don't feel like I have to alienate myself from her for a while each day to cultivate. In any case, though, the zhan zhuang I'm doing doesn't so much tax my shoulders as leave them rather exhausted so that after twenty-five or thirty minutes in the Lion posture on the circle, my arms are unduly heavy and need a break.
I'm looking forward to the development this should bring. Just starting the practice with resolve has really changed my overall daily pattern from one that was possibly laced with destructive time-wasting on a rather large scale to one that is far more healthful and enjoyable. Once I've adapted to the combined training, I'm hoping to see gains on the circle and throughout by bagua. I'd love, in fact, to see an amping up of my shocking strikes, which I consider to be rather deficient at the time being.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Heavy Grippers
I'm fairly well against using weight training or even equipment-assisted resistance training as an accessory to martial arts. Perhaps that's an unfair thing for me to have decided, but I feel like my body offers me plenty enough resistance as it is in almost all regards. I only have to think about trying to turn for a half hour longer than I'm used to, doing the low hooking strike, or considering the outstanding physical abilities of gymnasts to realize that there is a large amount of stuff that I cannot do with my body alone that I could do, and weight lifting isn't required to do any of it. I'm not saying it's not good, though I've read that the Chinese medicine perspective on it is that it locks qi in the muscles, which is worse for development than otherwise. I'm sure my leg workout the other day did the same to me, though, without having to implement weights. My major grief with it, I think, is that most weight-lifting exercises aren't terribly functional maneuvers. For my minute, I'd rather put in my time building functional strength than cosmetic strength, and since very few of my daily activities involve moving around a heavy bar in a repetitive fashion, I don't see it as being particularly useful. Perhaps I'm missing something (I did lift regularly for years and got quite strong doing so, I just don't do it any more). Perhaps I'm not.
One exception to the above rule that I feel strongly enhances the goals of YSB training, so long as they aren't used to excess, is the tool called the Heavy Gripper, which are essentially grip strengtheners designed to put forth a rather substantial amount of resistance. I guess typical grippers offer 30-60 lbs of resistance, and the lightest of these is 100. They go in 50 lb increments up to 350 lbs, which seems rather ridiculous. Based on Bradley's and Rand's highly successful use of these tools to achieve bone crushing ("feels like Matt Bild") grip, I purchased the lightest three of them and received them today. I pumped out a nice warmup of 15 on the 100's with each hand and then worked out with the 150's. After I did three sets with those, ranging from 15 (the first time) to eight reps per set, I did my best to close the 200's five times with each hand, which I can almost do once or twice with my right and have no hope of with my left yet. I did air grabs for 100 after that and the seizing palm posture, putting my mind firmly into the idea of strengthening my fingers, hands, and forearms with it. Later, though I didn't do the posture proper, I did the grasping palm hand position for a few minutes on each hand (about a minute or so at a turn). There's some noticeable soreness in my forearms now, and I look forward to getting "Matt grip" in the coming three months or so using them three times a week in the meantime. I think if anyone's serious about training any kind of martial art, particularly one that emphasizes grabbing, seizing, grasping, or throwing in any capacity, picking up a set of these grippers is entirely worthwhile. Like it says on the packaging, though: don't overtrain! Also, keep in mind that your training should come first, grippers, weights, and even calisthenics are primarily accessories to your training.
One debatable point, and one I see a lot all over the BGZ online world, is implementing the use of heavy (or not so heavy) weights in turning, and I'm not sure about that. For me, I think turning for an extra ten minutes is probably more valuable and more in line with the goals of the practice, but I'm pretty sure in the "old days" BGZ artists used the iron rings, heavy stones, and weighted jars to effectively the same ends. It's obviously a better workout in terms of challenging the musculature, but, as I said, I'm not positive that it's entirely in line with the goals of the practice. My line will probably always run like this: "If I want harder turning, then I will turn for longer." [or do the bear posture....]
One exception to the above rule that I feel strongly enhances the goals of YSB training, so long as they aren't used to excess, is the tool called the Heavy Gripper, which are essentially grip strengtheners designed to put forth a rather substantial amount of resistance. I guess typical grippers offer 30-60 lbs of resistance, and the lightest of these is 100. They go in 50 lb increments up to 350 lbs, which seems rather ridiculous. Based on Bradley's and Rand's highly successful use of these tools to achieve bone crushing ("feels like Matt Bild") grip, I purchased the lightest three of them and received them today. I pumped out a nice warmup of 15 on the 100's with each hand and then worked out with the 150's. After I did three sets with those, ranging from 15 (the first time) to eight reps per set, I did my best to close the 200's five times with each hand, which I can almost do once or twice with my right and have no hope of with my left yet. I did air grabs for 100 after that and the seizing palm posture, putting my mind firmly into the idea of strengthening my fingers, hands, and forearms with it. Later, though I didn't do the posture proper, I did the grasping palm hand position for a few minutes on each hand (about a minute or so at a turn). There's some noticeable soreness in my forearms now, and I look forward to getting "Matt grip" in the coming three months or so using them three times a week in the meantime. I think if anyone's serious about training any kind of martial art, particularly one that emphasizes grabbing, seizing, grasping, or throwing in any capacity, picking up a set of these grippers is entirely worthwhile. Like it says on the packaging, though: don't overtrain! Also, keep in mind that your training should come first, grippers, weights, and even calisthenics are primarily accessories to your training.
One debatable point, and one I see a lot all over the BGZ online world, is implementing the use of heavy (or not so heavy) weights in turning, and I'm not sure about that. For me, I think turning for an extra ten minutes is probably more valuable and more in line with the goals of the practice, but I'm pretty sure in the "old days" BGZ artists used the iron rings, heavy stones, and weighted jars to effectively the same ends. It's obviously a better workout in terms of challenging the musculature, but, as I said, I'm not positive that it's entirely in line with the goals of the practice. My line will probably always run like this: "If I want harder turning, then I will turn for longer." [or do the bear posture....]
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Legs II
So I took a day of rest and stretching for my weary legs, and then, yesterday, I decided to hit them again with the same workout to whatever level I felt that I could complete. Instead of jumping right into it, though, I started out with a turning session of just over 30 minutes in the Lion posture, which felt really good and, I noticed, significantly energized me. In addition, I did the Lion standing posture as well for a few minutes to each side. The leg workout was definitely much more difficult than the first day owing to the soreness in my quadriceps muscles, particularly in the deep horse stance and shocking palm posture phase (I found the pain to be so unbearable in my thighs this time that I entirely abandoned the illusion of holding any posture with my upper body). Upon finishing the routine once through, I found myself far less exhausted and sick-feeling than I did at that point on the first day, though I did end up doing slightly (40-ish vs. 50-ish) fewer repetitions of things, particularly the strikes. All in all, though, I think I made measurable progress. I opted not to do it a second time and considered going through one round of a similar workout for my shoulders, which I think I'll be doing today. Instead, I did a few more leg exercises such as body-weight squats, lunges, and stair-steps, all eight emphasized forms twice with power, a fairly large number of one-step and box-step strikes, and a reasonable study of the reversing the body step and strike method as practiced in the Lion system forms of the same name. Then I called it a day, though I did some stretching and light striking again later in the evening. My legs actually feel better today than they did yesterday, so sucking it up and training through the soreness was actually a pretty good idea, I think.
The big realization that I had with everything I did yesterday occurred while I was turning. It hit me rather hard that it seems, though I could be wrong in my assumption, that most folks think of turning for thirty minutes as something to kind of dread, something they have to build up to in case He Jinbao decides to ask them to do it (or has them do an even longer turning session) in his presence during one of the tour stops or at an intensive. For us, though, since we've never known better, thirty minutes on the circle is an invigorating, pleasant day. I don't mean to sound like I'm tooting my own horn with that... it's just that we took a few things to heart in our previous workshop visits with He Jinbao and made our training fit those. I'll give some examples to close:
1. My first turning experience with He Jinbao involved him having me turn for 60 minutes and being told only to put my arms down if I absolutely must and only to switch sides when I could no longer endure the posture. He directly told me that in YSB, it is very important to learn to endure and to suffer in order to have development. This was done out in the sun on an asphalt parking lot in Vermont in late summer.
2. My second turning experience with He Jinbao involved him having us all turn for 75 minutes during which time I committed myself to not putting my hands down at all even if I had to switch sides every two times around the circle. This was the day after the day in Point #1, so I was possibly the most sore I'd ever been or close to it. I was commended for my efforts but told I had quite a few things messed up and that I needed to pay closer attention to the requirements. So much for ego....
3. I have turned on my circle long enough and hard enough to know that something changes inside of you when you can complete thirty minutes without putting your hands down and think of it as an easy day. You become a different person, better, though not better than others. It does not cause you injury. As long as you stay hydrated, this is even possible in very hot weather or very cold weather. [I have turned long enough to sweat out, meaning I was sweating like crazy and then suddenly stopped sweating, which is probably a real sign of dangerous dehydration. On many such occasions, I stopped, drank, and started again.]
4. "This pain will not kill you or deform you, so you can endure it." -one of my mantras
5. "There comes a point when it simply cannot hurt worse than it does now, so at least it won't get any worse." -Bradley Moore or maybe myself, 2007
6. "I get sore too. Don't give up." -He Jinbao, 2006
7. "When everybody else was turning for two hours, I turned for two hours and forty-five minutes, in Lion, without putting my hands down. That's one way I know my heart is the best." -He Jinbao, 2007 -- I really took this to heart in two ways: a) in the days when The Man was training, it was almost certainly routine for people to turn for two hours at a clip; b) two hours isn't too long to turn; in fact, if you can endure it and maintain the proper posture and sinking qi, longer is better.
8. "We're just going to turn for thirty minutes today, so it should be easy. Don't put your hands down unless you have to, and don't do any posture but Lion." -He Jinbao, 2007
9. "Keep up your turning... an hour a day, right?" -Matt Bild, 2007 -- I took this seriously too, though I spent much of the working year (school year) too busy to comply. This is the minimum guideline that I should expect to work with or surpass, as detailed in Point #7.
10. "90% of your practice should be home practice; classes are only for learning new things and getting corrections," (Yoga practice guideline) which I've combined with "We start every one of our meetings with about 30 minutes of turning." -Dan Crescenzo, 2007. I figure if classes, being limited time engagements, begin in a serious study group with 30 minutes straight, then 30 minutes forms kind of a minimum for a daily home practice. Mine should meet or exceed that whenever I am physically capable and not otherwise committed.
11. "If you can keep the posture correctly and stay down low while turning for two hours or more, then great! Keep it up!" -Matt Bild, 2008 (this month, in fact).
12. "Forget everything else for now. Turn Lion." -Rand Cardwell, 2006 near the beginning of my real start in YSB.
13. "Turning is the most basic and most profound exercise in baguazhang."
I guess if nothing else is great, then at least my turning should be good. My real goal, of course, is to train hard and do as much as I can the way it is to be done, gaining physical development as well as understanding, both of myself and of the techniques.
The big realization that I had with everything I did yesterday occurred while I was turning. It hit me rather hard that it seems, though I could be wrong in my assumption, that most folks think of turning for thirty minutes as something to kind of dread, something they have to build up to in case He Jinbao decides to ask them to do it (or has them do an even longer turning session) in his presence during one of the tour stops or at an intensive. For us, though, since we've never known better, thirty minutes on the circle is an invigorating, pleasant day. I don't mean to sound like I'm tooting my own horn with that... it's just that we took a few things to heart in our previous workshop visits with He Jinbao and made our training fit those. I'll give some examples to close:
1. My first turning experience with He Jinbao involved him having me turn for 60 minutes and being told only to put my arms down if I absolutely must and only to switch sides when I could no longer endure the posture. He directly told me that in YSB, it is very important to learn to endure and to suffer in order to have development. This was done out in the sun on an asphalt parking lot in Vermont in late summer.
2. My second turning experience with He Jinbao involved him having us all turn for 75 minutes during which time I committed myself to not putting my hands down at all even if I had to switch sides every two times around the circle. This was the day after the day in Point #1, so I was possibly the most sore I'd ever been or close to it. I was commended for my efforts but told I had quite a few things messed up and that I needed to pay closer attention to the requirements. So much for ego....
3. I have turned on my circle long enough and hard enough to know that something changes inside of you when you can complete thirty minutes without putting your hands down and think of it as an easy day. You become a different person, better, though not better than others. It does not cause you injury. As long as you stay hydrated, this is even possible in very hot weather or very cold weather. [I have turned long enough to sweat out, meaning I was sweating like crazy and then suddenly stopped sweating, which is probably a real sign of dangerous dehydration. On many such occasions, I stopped, drank, and started again.]
4. "This pain will not kill you or deform you, so you can endure it." -one of my mantras
5. "There comes a point when it simply cannot hurt worse than it does now, so at least it won't get any worse." -Bradley Moore or maybe myself, 2007
6. "I get sore too. Don't give up." -He Jinbao, 2006
7. "When everybody else was turning for two hours, I turned for two hours and forty-five minutes, in Lion, without putting my hands down. That's one way I know my heart is the best." -He Jinbao, 2007 -- I really took this to heart in two ways: a) in the days when The Man was training, it was almost certainly routine for people to turn for two hours at a clip; b) two hours isn't too long to turn; in fact, if you can endure it and maintain the proper posture and sinking qi, longer is better.
8. "We're just going to turn for thirty minutes today, so it should be easy. Don't put your hands down unless you have to, and don't do any posture but Lion." -He Jinbao, 2007
9. "Keep up your turning... an hour a day, right?" -Matt Bild, 2007 -- I took this seriously too, though I spent much of the working year (school year) too busy to comply. This is the minimum guideline that I should expect to work with or surpass, as detailed in Point #7.
10. "90% of your practice should be home practice; classes are only for learning new things and getting corrections," (Yoga practice guideline) which I've combined with "We start every one of our meetings with about 30 minutes of turning." -Dan Crescenzo, 2007. I figure if classes, being limited time engagements, begin in a serious study group with 30 minutes straight, then 30 minutes forms kind of a minimum for a daily home practice. Mine should meet or exceed that whenever I am physically capable and not otherwise committed.
11. "If you can keep the posture correctly and stay down low while turning for two hours or more, then great! Keep it up!" -Matt Bild, 2008 (this month, in fact).
12. "Forget everything else for now. Turn Lion." -Rand Cardwell, 2006 near the beginning of my real start in YSB.
13. "Turning is the most basic and most profound exercise in baguazhang."
I guess if nothing else is great, then at least my turning should be good. My real goal, of course, is to train hard and do as much as I can the way it is to be done, gaining physical development as well as understanding, both of myself and of the techniques.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Legs
After returning from a family vacation to Ohio, I've gotten back to the business of training. I had another pretty serious headache on Sunday, and so I used that day to come up with training regimens to follow in the coming weeks. On the one hand, I decided that I'm going to try to implement what I'm calling "single-palm intensives" at least once per week. In those, I'm planning to focus on the basic stances, strikes, and forms of a single palm, eventually getting through all eight, and putting particular emphasis on the techniques from the eight forms designated as extra important this year. The intention is to follow, roughly, the outline of events at a typical U.S. Tour workshop, that being standing, striking, break, turning, and changing, with relevant application study or practice (depending on if I'm working out alone or not) after striking and changing. I think those should be good, but I haven't done one yet.
In addition to that, I've devised six circuit-style conditioning routines focusing on different aspects of training: leg strength, hand and arm strength, core and waist strength, shoulder strength, coordination and stepping, and general YSB-based conditioning. The basic idea is that YSB exercises or techniques that develop the themed aspects are interlaced with calisthenics to the same effect. Each one finishes on the circle for a rather short jaunt, and the intention is to turn for a longer period after the entire workout is completed, meaning after the entire circuit has been run through two to five times. Yesterday I tried the leg-strength workout, and I sort of made it all the way through twice, but there was no bonus circle walking afterwards. There was, instead, sitting there watching sweat drip off my nose at a fairly high pace and hoping I wouldn't throw up. Today, it's easier to write about doing it than to, um... walk or stand, so here's what it consisted of, to give an idea of what these things I cooked up are like...
Warm up: Lion posture to both sides twice, 5-8 breaths per side followed by approximately five minutes turning the circle.
Routine: 1. Capturing sweeping, performed statically, for roughly 1 minute or approximately 50 strikes, emphasizing staying low and sitting down at the waist which does all the work while paying attention to the meaning of the strike and action of both hands;
2. Close-legged body-weight squats for roughly 1 minute or approximately 30-35 repetitions, emphasizing good form and a patient cadence;
3. Shocking palm posture to the center for 2 to 3 minutes, since without the waist turning, it is the easiest of the postures to sit down low at the waist, emphasizing sitting down as low as possible and maintaining even breathing, which is hard at this point;
4. Wide-legged body-weight squats for roughly 1 minute or approximately 30-35 repetitions, emphasizing good form and a patient cadence;
5. Low hooking strike performed either statically or with the squat-stepping method indicative of the Enfolding forms, 30-50 repetitions or roughly 1 minute, emphasizing the meaning of the strike and proper execution of the technique;
6. Lying-step rotations, meaning squatting as low as possible in a lying-step position to one side and then, staying low, rotating it back to the other side, back and forth, for one minute, focusing on breathing and proper leg position;
7. Lying-step striking in the box pattern for roughly 1 minute in each direction or for roughly fifty total strikes (twenty-five-ish in each direction) using various strikes from the lying step forms and putting particular emphasis on visualizing their use in a fighting situation;
8. Jumping exercises -- this might be completely retarded, but jumping is hard and tiring and uses the legs heavily -- any of a variety of jumping maneuvers including jumping up to touch a branch on a tree, jumping up onto a stump or (the bottom) stair on my porch, jumping jacks, faux jumping-rope, etc. It sucked, big-time;
9. Turning the circle in an extra-low position, using the mind to emphasize the use of the legs and feet in turning, twelve revolutions in each direction; and
10. Repeat the whole blooming thing (though I failed miserably on the second round of lying-step strikes when I got to the second direction).
Cool down: Wind down on the circle, stretch the legs, and attempt to not be sick. Awesome.
I'm just dying to try the YSB-based conditioning/endurance drill or the hand and arm strength routine now. I can hardly walk today! I'll probably try to turn it out later.
In addition to that, I've devised six circuit-style conditioning routines focusing on different aspects of training: leg strength, hand and arm strength, core and waist strength, shoulder strength, coordination and stepping, and general YSB-based conditioning. The basic idea is that YSB exercises or techniques that develop the themed aspects are interlaced with calisthenics to the same effect. Each one finishes on the circle for a rather short jaunt, and the intention is to turn for a longer period after the entire workout is completed, meaning after the entire circuit has been run through two to five times. Yesterday I tried the leg-strength workout, and I sort of made it all the way through twice, but there was no bonus circle walking afterwards. There was, instead, sitting there watching sweat drip off my nose at a fairly high pace and hoping I wouldn't throw up. Today, it's easier to write about doing it than to, um... walk or stand, so here's what it consisted of, to give an idea of what these things I cooked up are like...
Warm up: Lion posture to both sides twice, 5-8 breaths per side followed by approximately five minutes turning the circle.
Routine: 1. Capturing sweeping, performed statically, for roughly 1 minute or approximately 50 strikes, emphasizing staying low and sitting down at the waist which does all the work while paying attention to the meaning of the strike and action of both hands;
2. Close-legged body-weight squats for roughly 1 minute or approximately 30-35 repetitions, emphasizing good form and a patient cadence;
3. Shocking palm posture to the center for 2 to 3 minutes, since without the waist turning, it is the easiest of the postures to sit down low at the waist, emphasizing sitting down as low as possible and maintaining even breathing, which is hard at this point;
4. Wide-legged body-weight squats for roughly 1 minute or approximately 30-35 repetitions, emphasizing good form and a patient cadence;
5. Low hooking strike performed either statically or with the squat-stepping method indicative of the Enfolding forms, 30-50 repetitions or roughly 1 minute, emphasizing the meaning of the strike and proper execution of the technique;
6. Lying-step rotations, meaning squatting as low as possible in a lying-step position to one side and then, staying low, rotating it back to the other side, back and forth, for one minute, focusing on breathing and proper leg position;
7. Lying-step striking in the box pattern for roughly 1 minute in each direction or for roughly fifty total strikes (twenty-five-ish in each direction) using various strikes from the lying step forms and putting particular emphasis on visualizing their use in a fighting situation;
8. Jumping exercises -- this might be completely retarded, but jumping is hard and tiring and uses the legs heavily -- any of a variety of jumping maneuvers including jumping up to touch a branch on a tree, jumping up onto a stump or (the bottom) stair on my porch, jumping jacks, faux jumping-rope, etc. It sucked, big-time;
9. Turning the circle in an extra-low position, using the mind to emphasize the use of the legs and feet in turning, twelve revolutions in each direction; and
10. Repeat the whole blooming thing (though I failed miserably on the second round of lying-step strikes when I got to the second direction).
Cool down: Wind down on the circle, stretch the legs, and attempt to not be sick. Awesome.
I'm just dying to try the YSB-based conditioning/endurance drill or the hand and arm strength routine now. I can hardly walk today! I'll probably try to turn it out later.
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