I’m in my room writing this, cozily snuggled up underneath my Hello Kitty blanket (in proper Asian fashion) with a massive cup of tea next to me and jazz music playing in the background. The Sunday night scene is set and I feel shattered but fully satisfied after the last six days of training, my third week in. Tomorrow – Monday – is our day off. My muscles and joints desperately need the little holiday, especially after today’s training.
Kungfu training with the children
Every Saturday and Sunday our first class is with the children. During one hour and fifteen minutes we’re subjected to endurance and strength exercises; running, jumps, kicks, punches, squats, lunges, you name it. And you don’t slack, because the children don’t slack, so you hold that position even if your quads tremble with exhaustion and it feels like your legs are going to give way. Come stretching time it matters not that you’re not a flexible youngster, attempt the split you shall. Sometimes the class ends with ’50 pushups!’ followed by ’20 pushups on 3 fingers!’ followed by ’15 pushups on your fists!’ On the hard stony ground, that is. My jaw dropped in amazement as I saw some of the kids do pushups on two fingers. With these kind of exercises, we – the foreigners – get a break if needed. The children do not. Tough as nails they are.
The word of the day is: muscle ache
The muscle ache during my first two weeks was unreal as my body adjusted to the new training regime (from zero to five hours a day). On my second day I woke up with bricks for hamstrings which made even the simplest of movements (walking stairs, running, squatting) agony. I survived the next few days on willpower. My knees hurt from practicing stances and bending down longer and deeper than they are used to.
A practice of mind and body
But all beginning is difficult and kungfu is as much a practice of the mind as it is of the body. When I see the children train I get excited and I want to be able to train like them, jump as high as they do, have their stamina etc etc.. so I push myself until my body objects and bombards me with a ligament tear or so many knots in my muscles that I’m practically out of the running for the next couple of days.
Thus my biggest lessons learned so far:
1. Listen to your body
2. Adjust unrealistic expectations
3. Be patient
‘Feel your body, feel the movement’
Especially ‘Feel your body, feel the movement‘ is a statement endlessly repeated by our coach. And she explains that this is the only way to become aware of your limitations, both in body and in mind. And only through this awareness is improvement possible. Slowly and with a lot of patience.
But – all pearls of wisdom aside – the practice so far has been very interesting and diverse. In the morning during our first class we practice Jiben Gong (basics): kicks and short forms, combat moves and applications. In the second, individual class we practice our personal forms. I practice Tai Ji (Tai Chi) and sometimes Qi Gong. In the first class of the afternoon we either practice Baghuazang: Eight Palms, Shi San Zhuang (’13 stances of Longmen’) or Fali and the last class is reserved for individual forms again. I’ve picked up my sword play anew I’m loving it as I continue to practice my Wudang Tai Ji Sword form.
Practice, practice, practice
And the trick to improve – besides body awareness – is always more practice. After being able to remember a movement, a stance or a form, it needs to be perfected. Every day I add something new to my list of things that need more attention. Once my body is used to the current training intensity and my muscles give me permission, I intend to add one or two more hours of practice to my day. Above all I need to learn to relax my body, to feel my body and to find fluidity in movement. As much as the practice here is about learning new movements, it’s even more about learning to uncondition the rigidity in your mind when it comes to motion. And that’s a tough one. I’ve a long journey ahead of me.
But tomorrow I will relax, go for a big, bold breakfast in town and give my body a break.