Intermission

Had to miss a couple of weeks of classes this month.  Still practiced at home, but missing the classes alot - including the social side - not seeing (bagua) friends is a pain.

Gonna attend class again this Friday.  Will update you when I get home.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Proud of myself tonight.  I discovered that I have managed to forcibly change my attitude.

Whereas normally, I would put off my bagua practice til later - sometimes even bargaining with an offer of twice as much practice tomorrow in exchange for less practice today - tonight I felt the compulsion to do some bagua, was about to put it off til later, then got up and did 40 of each jiben shou fa exercise.

I'm on the right track, at least...

In it to win it

Though I am carrying a lot of 'holiday weight', to put it in the most abstractly polite way possible, I still can see the rewards of my bagua practice.  I am carrying considerably more muscle mass than at perhaps any other time of my life.  Add to that my improved balance, cardiovascular stamina and general attitude, I can see that even the relatively small amount of work I've put in thus far has been worthwhile.

I do wish I could arrange more free time, so that I could train formally, rather than having to fit in the odd exercise in amongst my working day and home life.  Still, that will have to wait until I win the lottery.

...Which, in turn, will have to wait until I start playing the lottery.

One fine day I'm gonna be the one...

My thigh muscles still ache quite a bit.  Probably down as much to squatting in a swimming pool on Saturday with my daughter, rather than through any tian gan strengthening exercises.

Currently watching District 13 on Film 4.  A good French movie that we saw a while ago.  Lots of free running and some pretty decent martial arts.  To be frank, it is the free running that impresses most in this movie, but the plot is suprisingly bearable, too.  How cool it would be to be fit, athletic and agile enough to perform some of the feats seen in the film.  Then again, my fitness is gradually improving and I am gradually finding that more and more things I thought were beyond me are actually doable.

On the subject of film, I have a pretty healthy world cinema section in amongst my DVDs, so I have seen more than my share of foreign movies - many not even from Hong Kong! ;)  Hollywood rarely does anything for me, these days, so I tend to keep my eye out for foreign movies with potential...

I need to think of what present I want for my birthday- something bagua-related would be cool.  Hmmm...

"I can eat more scran than Kevin Keegan can..."

Started the day with a large bowl of Sainsbury's High Fibre bran breakfast, with just a few sultanas added to taste.  This is the dietary part of my health kick.  Normally, I would skip breakfast.  But that is why my sugar level crashes mid-morning and I end up eating crap, or having my lunch early, forcing another crash later in the day.  Today, the bowl was huge and kept me really full all morning.

That morning included taking my six month old daughter to 'Puddleducks'.  She isn't exactly learning to swim there yet, but getting used to the water and accustoming herself to a swimming-like environment and learning important skills and body techniques for when she does start swimming.

The similarity between her Puddleducks/swimming and my Bagua/self defence is not lost on me. ;)

Early afternoon saw us home before north Manchester erupted due to the football derby.  I made lamb shank in a very healthy casserole which we had with kale.  Normally, we would have (lots of) rice or pasta with most of our meals.  However, we realise now that such a lot of carbs are unnecessary, and even a mistake, considering how sedentary our lifestyle can be.

After those very filling meals, I don't really feel the need to snack (though that wouldn't normally stop me), so we have enjoyed a cup of tea, and I now have a small glass of mead to congratulate myself on a good weekend. 

Tian gan exercises will be conducted before bed.  My teacher showed me another one that I took a particular shine to, as I could do it but immediately felt it working several important muscle groups.

Similar breakfast again tomorrow, with probably a chicken salad sandwich (no dressing) and plenty of fruit for lunch.  I am determined to make this healthy lifestyle reap benefits.  Though my weight doesn't exactly impinge negatively on my bagua a whole lot.  Having a bit of gravity to instill in my punches is a boon when my technique is still a little sub-par.

Pre-Heaven Soundtrack

To my mind, the music of Ennio Morricone (above) makes an excellent accompaniment to baguazhang training, especially pre-heaven practice, such as circlewalking.

To anyone who doesn't recognise this composer by name, they will undoubtedly have heard his work from films such as "Fist Full of Dollars" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

Even for those who do not train bagua, any of the many CDs available make excellent chillout soundtrack.  The tracks range from relaxing to inspirational.  Definately worth the mere few pounds for which most of his discs sell.

Post-class ache in effect

Had a great first class back last night.  Lots of heavenly stem (just as I hoped/feared), some houtien and two man drills.

http://www.manchester-bagua.org/
On the way to class, I was discussing with my 'kung fu brother' background music appropriate for bagua practice.  I tend to think that, for circlewalking and pre-heaven practice, you can't do much better than Ennio Morricone.

Pre-heaven Soundtrack

It is ambient and laid back enough not to steal focus from your practice, but still has a certain amiunt of gravitas - which I findalways helps prolong my enthusiasm.

Friday, I'm in love

Class tonight.  First lesson back after the xmas break.  Gonna be a hard one.

My teacher is going to be starting up a second class on a Tuesday.  Before the holidays, the plan was for the Tuesday class to be more self defence/sparring and hotien oriented and the Fridays to be more circle walking, tian gan and palm changes.

Sounds good, and if it can be combined with getting some more students into class, that would be cool.

Update tomorrow as to how the class went.

http://www.manchester-bagua.org/

Nappies before Neigong

I appear to be stretching the bounds of this '100 days of bagua' already as the only training possible last night was some chicken-step while I attempted to sing my daughter to sleep.

This just reiterates what I have said in previous posts about training that I can do in concert with my daily chores being better for me as things stand.

Hopefully, some Tian Gan wil be in effect tonight.  Added to my usual leg strengthening (I started bagua just over a year ago with really weedy legs for a guy of 6'3"!)

Living on a razor's edge...

No bagua so far today.  A restless six-month old will do wonders to raise the priorty of a lie in at six in the morning, trust me.

The chinese have a phrase 'heavenly stem' (tian gan), which sounds really wonderful and pleasant.  However, if you train in bagua, then the phrase calls to mind only pain.  It refers to a series of strengthening exercises that put the body through its paces.

These were what I was intending to train today.  Perhaps they are better to complete this evening.  That way, if I am knackered then I can go straight to bed.  Or the sofa.  Whichever is closer.

Back to normal(-ish)

Got up at 06:30 this morning to do some bagua.  Not actually that much of a feat when you have a six month old.

Jiben shou fa were the focus again.  The basic hand movements are most convenient for a flat with limited space like ours.  At the weekends and/or when the weather improves, trips to the park will be possible to enable me to practice the more space-intensive stuff like the palm changes and houtien lines.

Then, of course, I also have my friend and bagua classmate, Jim, living down the road.  We may manage some two-man drills and throwing practice - if the whim takes us.

100 Days of Bagua - The early days

My 100 days of Bagua kicked off yesterday while I was still at my parents' place in Lincolnshire, celebrating the new year.  My training was pretty minimal, but I did some jiben shou fa.  Piercing palm, chopping palm and crashing palm were performed in front of a large mirror - which I found to be a great help.  This may be worth noting for the future - if I can do some of my practice in front of a similar large mirror, maybe this can help me with my forms?

Tonight, I will probably do some more jiben shou fa and maybe some leg-strengthening exercises.  Don't want to do too much as I have overdone the festitivities a little of late, we only got back to the flat a few hours ago and I am back at work tomorrow morning.