Stick with it

Kids kung fu this morning, didn't feel much like going especially since my two were not around, but dragged myself down there anyway. Turned out to be not too bad - couple of new kids in the tinies class who were trying really hard and having lots of fun, then the new style combined over 8s class which was fairly well behaved.

Also D turned up to use a bit of the hall to practice his stuff because he struggles to get to the weeknight classes, which meant I got to spend a little bit of the time helping him with choy li fut.

Went through the start of nam chuan towards the end, which I'm keen to get sorted - it was actually the first kung fu form I learnt all those years ago (coming up for 10 years soon!) - I'd been doing some lightweight tai chi for a few weeks when someone persuaded me to go along to a seminar with the head of our school where I got thrown in at the deep end with nam chuan which is a very bold and energetic form, very unlike the internal stuff I was used to - but I was instantly hooked!

Didn't stay for too long afterwards because both T and I are still recovering from a virus, but did manage to revise the second stick set and the 2 person mantis set ("Mantis grasps Cicada"). Slowly but surely getting back into shape....

Two Lunchtimes

I'm a little behind on my blogging, so just a quick one to log two lunchtime practice sessions at work - the first dedicated to wing chun and the second running over the kids syllabus in preparation for the grading this Saturday. I just have to hope that T doesn't ask me to lead through the Nam Chuan because I can't remember it at all!

Confusion Reigns

Kids Kung Fu this morning. Despite all my practice at Nam Chuan on Thursday, it all went pear shaped when I tried to take the kids through it - the problem is that my eldest tells me I'm doing it wrong because she can tell I'm unsure about it, then shows me something that bears some similarity to what I was doing but is subtly different. Then I lose confidence in my memory of it and give up. The problem is that I haven't done it enough for my body to remember it, it's all in my head. Until it's in my muscles I won't really know it....

Necessary force

Made it in time to Kung fu despite hectic meeting schedule at work. I was happy to see the lad I injured last week was there - looks like I didn't cause any lasting harm. Went through nam chuan again with T but it's still not really sinking in so it's a good job it's not something I've got to grade on. Then lots of wing chun again, and some bokken.
Downstairs to tai chi without a break and straight into yang short form to the left which is always a challenge, but I actually felt quite pleased with my focus. 

Then we did some 2-person work where D asked us to try to think of how we could "add more power" to a move. When it came to my turn to demonstrate my suggestion it was accused of being particularly brutal! I don't think I've really got the hang of the tai chi minimum force attitude - I'm more of the "if someone is trying to hurt me then they've lost their right not to be hurt" school. Finished with a bit of chen, which made my knees hurt as always, and I still can't do the exploding outwards bit properly.