Dealing with inevitable lapses and obstacles

Returned to class at Manchester Bagua last night after quite a few lessons missed. A number of things have hampered my attendence - not least of which the closure of a whole train line which increases my travel time home considerably. Now, however, we have a car and the classes are back on!

It really felt like a homecoming. It felt so right to be back in class and I was pleasantly surprised both by how much I still knew and how much strength/technique I'd still maintained.

It was a relatively small class last night, this heat wave here in the UK is, after all, "beer garden weather", as they say. While disappointing to see, that was cool in some respects as it made the class more personal and, of course, made for more one on one attention from teacher for those of us who had turned up.

Now I'm settled into our new house, I have a much better situation for training at home. I have a large living room (which has room enough to walk a decent circle), a spare room (currently full of boxes and assorted stuff - but it has potential), a garage (again full of detruitus, but with enough room left for some practice) and even a garden for when the weather allows outdoor practice/scaring the neighbours.

The garage even has my wife's new crosstrainer (useful for warmups, maybe?) and my new 5ft heavy punchbag. It hasn't been hung yet, but leans provocatively against the garage wall. Soon, then, I hope to have something close to a personal training space. Once I pull my finger out and clear the garage before hanging the bag.

Still, first priority is to reinstill my daily training habits at this new address.

Watch this space!

Long live meatspace!

Most mornings, when I am enduring the tram ride to work, I notice that the vast majority of my fellow commuters* are somehow 'tuned out' of what is going on around them.  Either they are tickling their smartphones, their ears are plugged into some music device or they are lost in an e-reader.

Somehow, as a people, we seem to have lost the desire or ability to connect to the environment immediately around us.  Preferring instead to talk to someone miles away who isn't even a good enough friend to be with them in person.  Personally, I would prefer to witness and react appropriately to what is going on around me.  The driver's announcement being a convenient case in point this morning.  The line was down for a while.  Not that most of my fellow passengers would realise, as it was back up again fairly soon.

This doesn't just happen in the mornings, either.  At any time of day, the number of people around me either literally or figuratively 'plugged in' to some electronic device, draining their attention, is considerable.

I read something on a lifting site that said, "If you've got time to Facebook, then you've got time to train...".  This paraphrasing my earlier sentiments that I would now rather train than watch something I don't particularly like on tv.

What do each of us actually get from spending more time online?  The illusion of a social life?  How social are you if you hardly ever actually see your friends?  If I train, it might not be very rock and roll, repeating the same action again and again ad nauseam.  But I do get something at the end of it all - eventually.

That's why I'm shifting more and more of my endeavours into 'meatspace' (and why I'm posting on here less and less - sorry!)

Daily devotions or going through the motions?

I am currently managing, despite a family to look after and a lazy streak a mile wide, to train at home every night. Okay, so I'm not exactly running through all eight big palm changes or completing all the houtien lines in sequence, but I am managing to do a little.

I am concerned that my less than impressive physique is letting me down in class, so I've mostly been working on strengthening.  Once I am happy with that, though, I assume the nightly training will have become a habit and then I will simply substitute the strength training for something with a little more emphasis on technique.

Considering I know how adept I am at avoiding committing to anything, disliking exertion as I do, I am quite proud of myself.

"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.

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.

Serenity within chaos

Sometimes it can be hard to fit my bagua into my life.  Looking after my new daughter, giving the proper attention to my girlfriend, work, socialising and other hobbies all seem to have equally valid demands on my time.

I am currently trying to fit a bagua session into my morning routine.  Bagua in the morning just feels more in tune with representations of internal martial arts that I see in the media.  This isn't really practical for me, though, as I like a lie in, have a lot to do in the mornings and have to be in work and ready to go by 9am.

A better solution for me might be to do some bagua before bed.  Doesn't feel quite as 'right' somehow, but it is something to which I will be able to commit.

I can get over the 'your doing it wrong'-ness of it if it means I will be able to up my weekly training hours significantly.

I'll let you know how I get on...