lobes

Lobes of Steel

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Published: August 19, 2007

Consider this before skipping yet another workout: Exercise can improve your brain, too.

learning

Practicing Ba Gua Quan, like any other art, is like learning a new language.

1. First you have to learn the letters, or characters.
2. Then the words.
3. Then sentence structures.
4. Then paragraphs.
5. Then eventually, poetry.

My goal, even though I think I'll never reach, is poetry.

teacher-student relationship

Here are some interesting articles from Blue Dragon School of Martial Arts:
http://www.bluedragonkungfu.com/Members/Resources/Student%20Resources.htm

This one article, for example, talks about the traditional teacher-student relationship:
http://www.bluedragonkungfu.com/Members/Archives/Traditional_Education.htm

I would think that the articles have mostly been contributed by Mr. Raymond Ahles.

mental and physical aspects

*****

“If you concentrate on the mental aspect it is inevitable that the physical side will follow.”

Herb Elliot, Gold Medalist, 1500m, Rome 1960

*****

I found this quote at an interesting website: www.gymjones.com

believe

If I match proper breathing with proper movement, everything becomes effortless. I feel less tired, and actually feel more energized, after our martial arts training. I've read ideas about "effortless action" only in books, and now, it's semi-real to me. To describe this little experience, it feels like I'm holding something solid, but I cannot see it, and in my socially-acceptable idea of reality, I'm not holding anything, which really does not make sense. This experience was probably just heat escaping out from my palms, or my head, due to lack of breakfast.

But the question is, how do we start believing on something or anything? How do we prove that something is real? Is it something that we see or feel? How about our sense of touch, taste, or smell? What if one of our senses is right, and the other is wrong? Which one do we believe? What if our senses fail to sense? Things like wind, gravity, magnetism, electric current, black holes, etc., have already been scientifically proven to exist. But what about the ones that have not? How do we sense genuine love, or the existense of God? Do we take a leap of faith, and proceed with the assumption that this something which does not make sense really does?

One day, all things unfamiliar will becomes familiar, and everything will start to make sense.

Maybe the first step is to believe, which could be the hardest step of all.

broadsword

We just started learning a bagua broadsword form last Saturday. As usual with a new form, several feelings come into mind, like clumsy, heavy, wierd, awkward & confused. We're using a wooden sword for practice.

And for this year, we're still training outside, in the cold of winter 2007. Actually it's not that bad yet, thanks to global warming. The trick is to bundle up with multiple layers of clothing. Once the body generates enough heat to sustain the cold, then you start unwrapping yourself. If you're not generating heat, then you have to train harder. There are some ice patches on the ground, which makes it slippery, which is also part of the training.

We're still doing the Xing-yi form. We started with this form last year. I still need a lot of improvement. The form comprises of metal, wood, water, fire and earth elements. In general, all martial art forms require improvements through training, and this type of thinking carries over to your daily chores in life. With the Xing-yi form, the focus is unidirectional. Most of the stress I feel is on the right leg when doing the form. My guess is that this form is concentrating more on the right leg for suport. Either that, or I'm not doing the stance correctly. As an experiment. maybe I'll try doing the opposite direction of the form one of these days.

My horse stance has gotten lower. Maybe because of my Ashtang Yog training, which I've started about 3 weeks ago. The Pranayams, which are a variety of breathing exercises done in cross-legged sitting position, complements my practice of Bagua a lot. I think the Pranayam aspect of Yog is worth looking into to improve one's Bagua practice. Breathing is one of the foundations of Bagua. In general, correct breathing means maximum efficiency for the mind, body and spirit.