The Cure for Horse Stance

I was complaining about horse stance on January 4th. The first Kung Fu day of the new year. My Sifu said, "I hear you complaining about horse stance, but all that tells me is that you need to do more horse stance." How much of that is true in my life? I complain about what I'm going through. I'm never focused outside of me and where I am and what I'm doing (or NOT doing). I never am looking at the future. The future benefits or goals of where I am today and where I want to be going. This is true in my life. Both physically and spiritually. Yes. We must focus on what we are doing now. But if what I am doing now has no eternal benefit, why am I doing it? In sanskrit there is a word, Anarthas. It is from two words, "Artha" meaning "of value" and "An" meaning "not". So in my christian background "besetting sins" are a problem but in the Vedic tradition, "besetting sins" are of "no value". This sift in understanding makes leaving "besetting sins" behind easier because I am spending more time doing things of eternal value and future benefit and, gradually, less time and "taste" for those things, habits, etc, that are of no value to my lasting nature and future. Is "horse stance" of value? I guess it depends on the situation. To Sifu it is of value. If I'm in a physical fight it is of value. If I'm in a spiritual fight, the tenseness of the holding of a stance or a position. The pause. The breath before the next action when tempted. This "stance" can be just the thing to let the temptation pass and lead to that one small block, stop or hit or punch that can lead to one small step forward to the victory of leaving my old self and the old me behind and moving into my new future. Or not. This could all be crap that I'm dreaming up. But I like how this horse stance works. More Horse Stance. Less Complaining. Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

My third day but, in Kung Fu time, it was only day 2.

16 December 2020 I finally met Sifu today. He is very open and engaging. He was working 3 groups. 1 large intermediate to advanced group (about 8), 1 lady learning Qi-Gon and the newbie group of One! So we redid the stances. He checked my positions, my hips get in my way and my feet needed to be repositioned a little but the stances were much easier today and holding them was easier as well! Then I did 8 "up and back" with the stances. I watched him work with the intermediate students. Then I remembered the 1000 staff hits that I only did 100 of on my Day Zero back on the 9th. So I grabbed the heavily padded staff and threaded it through the angled hole behind your back that you get when your fists are at your waist and did the hip rotation, hit the punching bag with the ends of the staff 600 times. Sifu came and started me on two of the close punches. In Kung Fu you have many strike options, close punching is for 2 to 2 1/2 feet away. There are 6 different close punches. We worked on straight and vertical punches which refer to your hand position at the striking point. The really hard thing for me to learn is the whirling motion. At the time that one hand is striking, your non striking hand is in a blocking position by your chest. When someone who is trained is doing this, they move, water-like, the striking hand forward and the non striking hand blocking then both hands change position, like a waltz and the blocking hand now strikes and the striking hand now blocks. He made it look so simple and easy. I'm like rubbing my belly and patting my head at the same time trying to get the rhythm for 250 straight punches and 250 vertical punches in before the end of class. To Sifu and Simu's credit they are available until closing but I'm the one with the time constraint. I really am glad I went tonight. Christmas is coming so my dojo work is finished until January 2021 so I will practice, practice, practice and hope to become more fluid like and less three stooges like in the next few weeks. Everyone Have a Happy Holiday. May your Zoom gatherings be glitch free. May your food be real. May your family and friends continue to be so! See you on the other side!!

Kung Fu start up.

On December 9, 2020 I did my first Kung Fu class. The Simu (female instructor - say "See Moo") asked many questions that didn't make sense at the time. The first question was, "Do you want to start on Day 0 or did you want to start on Day 1?" I asked what the difference was and she said that Day 1 is the start of Kung Fu training. So I said, "Day 0 please." Today, December 15, 2020 was Day 1 of Kung Fu training. I'm certain that the monks that created this martial art are turning over in the graves and are truly dissapointed in the physical state this 53 year old body is in. With intense struggle and failure I did finish Day 1. This is the learning of the stances day. I know nothing of any martial art training. I told Simu on my first day that my mind is a blank slate and to write on it. She did today. I have run 3 marathons. Hiked mountains. Dealt with what I thought was pain before but this was very different. Holding low and high stances for 5 minutes each doesn't sound hard but until you try it, you have no idea. While holding each stance I am being given a run down of the how and whys of this stance. I kept breaking, falling, losing balance. Just making a mess of it. She kept me going. Gave pointers on holding, tilting pelvis, imagine your foot is a sandbag. She truly gave a lot of help to distract me from my pain and uncomfortableness. To try and help me hold each stance. My left knee injury was not helping. I over extended my knee joint a few months back. When we did the stances "backwards" and the weight was shifted to the right leg the positions became way easier to hold and maintain. We covered 7 stances: Horse, Front Cross, Crane, Arch, Cat, Rear Cross, and Horse again. Then we did the stances front and back seven times. Simu then taught the greeting and awaiting instruction motions and positions. Some "spin blocks" for inside and outside attacks with my arms in horse stance. I really need to strengthen up. I believe this will help my recovery in my legs. This balanced training and working out I hope will help me get better. Running in this body of mine is not the best thing. Here's hoping to a better 2021. Good night COVID!!