ooh my body aches

training last night was brutal. so few people showed up even though testing is mere weeks away! it wasn't just me, everyone was sweating bricks. i had missed tuesday night training because of cursed work (though to be honest, it's not that often i have to work late) & i had heard it was a large class, at least double the # of people last night. i half expected the same but alas it was not to be.

i tried a new hair style last night. it is so important to figure out what to do with your hair if it is long. i used to just tie it in a high pony-tail to get it off my neck but i kept whipping my own eyes with it especially for xubu but this happens with most of the moves. we move fast! the pain is excruciating! sometimes my hair would just collapse. it was irritating! quan tuo suggested i braid it & after looking at him blankly for a few minutes, he showed me how to braid my hair. some of us former tomboys don't have the hours clocked fixing their hair into various styles & are loathe to start now! out of pure necessity, i have since badly copied his technique & it does help tremendously in keeping hair,heat & pain off my face & neck. also it spares me some crying! so last night, i braided two big braids down the sides of my head then pulled them back together to the top of my neck. it helped but it was a bit too tight. also the rouge wisp of hair in the front had it's own plans. i have tried other related techniques.it makes a huge difference to my eyes & my general annoyance level while training. quan tuo said it wasn't as shaolin as the other ones i have done. i will keep trying.

none of this helped, of course, since the pace in line was harsh. my body felt super heavy. sifu kept barking that my arms were bent during erqijao & i kept yelling yes sifu! although they were not bent, they were not locked! man, he always knows! ah, my continuing saga with sifu love. he did say to me that he didn't want to pull me off line so i tried harder until yangshen yunshuo! my last movement nemesis was fanyao & finally i can get through the line without sifu pulling me off the line during this spinning move for dropping arms. now i must triumph over the nausea & arm bending during yangshen yunshuo. but until then TRAIN HARDER, muster up MORE CHI through the dizzies & the pain.

as i previously mentioned, i have trained in other martial arts before but, thus far the hardest thing i have had to do is TO HOLD MY ARMS UP TO MY SIDES (as if crucified) OR, ABOVE MY HEAD. my god, the pain! it hurts the shoulder & the chest & sometimes the back - all at the same time. so many of the movements require us to keep the arms up. the funny part is that we are repeatedly told to RELAX while doing this. what an oxymoron! is this even possible? to not tighten up while doing this? that is my struggle. of course i can also stand on one leg holding a position a lot longer than many of my brothers & have great, quick reflexes. we do have, each of us, our own cross to bear. [that was a nice play on words i fi say so myself, hee3].

so at one point in the hour plus i had to repeatedly practice yangshen yunshuo, during the pivot, i left my knee behind & tweaked it. the pain is right above my knee cap so i did knee rotations whenever i had a chance but kept training. it was murder. blinded by my own sweat pouring down from the top of my head, i had a serious fit of the giggles. i did my best not to make eye contact with my brothers, especially quan tuo had a very concerned look on his face. i must learn to find my own game face aka tiger face or better yet dragon face but i like to smile when training & giggle when i am in pain. yeah, i am weird alright.

but i made it through training again & that really tells you you can keep going no matter what. we sat in mabu for a bit before sifu ended class & that was actually relaxing the lower i sank. i usually do push-ups, sit ups & back bends with some other brothers but instead i did a few push-ups into downward dog to assist the rock hard muscle cramp in my calves then sit-ups, completely foregoing the back bends. did enough of that with yangshen yunshuo. i even managed to do some cleaning meditation in gongbu before changing into street clothes to join a small group going to dine at one of our favourite vietnamese restaurants on baxter.

we are ravenous after training. i get super lightheaded if i don't have one of those EMERGENT C drinks [a life saver!] before training or a coca cola immediately after. it is so great to eat with my brothers & recant our experiences. i look forward to that immensely.

i invited sifu to eat with us & he actually thought about it for a minute. i have dined with sifu many times before but usually with the senior students (enigmatic level 2 folks). the last time we dined with sifu outside temple, quan tuo & i joined him & the senior students after a late night of construction work at temple. after that 3 month project doing demolition, then construction & for quan tuo & i the special flag project, i really feel at home at temple. it's not just a place i work out or train, it is where i belong.

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