More obstacles to training

Okay, so it has been ages since I attended baguazhang class. Other than the odd chance here and there to eat bitter, I have done very little in the way of training full stop. That said, the main reason for this lapse is that we are currently looking for a new home. This is taking up a lot of my time. I reconcile myself with the thought that, once we get moved, I will have a garden in which to practice and, hopefully, a spare room that can double as a baguazhang/yoga room (my wife does Iyengar yoga). So, in the long run, I am envisioning my bagua routine to improve by virtue of no longer being confined to a small apartment where I can only really practice jiben shou fa and a few, limited, lines and forms. Imagine having a whole garden to walk a proper circle in! :) So, watch this space and hopefully I will soon be coming to you with tales of extended practice sessions out in the summer heat.

Progress

Seems my more regular Baguazhang practice is beginning to bear fruit. I had another of my training epiphanies at last night's Manchester Bagua class. I found my basic applications working better and my teacher picked up on that. Although I already knew that the secret was simply to practice regularly, it is nice to have that confirmed with some actual, noticeable improvements that have clearly come from my practicing much more regularly than before. Now, I suppose, the key is simply to keep practising.

Quotes of inspiration & enlightenment

A young boy traveled across Japan to the school of a famous Martial artist. When he arrived at the Dojo he was given an audience by the Master.

"What do you wish from me?" the Master asked.

"I wish to be your student and become the finest Karate-ka in the land," the boy replied "How long must I study?"

"Ten years at least" answered the Master

"Ten years is a long time," said the boy. "What if I studied twice as hard as all your other students?"

"Twenty years" replied the Master

"Twenty years!" "What if I practice day and night with all my effort?" the boy said

"Thirty years," was the Masters reply

"How is it that each time I say I will work harder, you tell me that it will take longer?" the boy asked.

"The answer is clear. When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the way." ~ Text from: Zen and the Martial Arts (1979 edition) by Joe Hyams


"The ideals of the Martial arts and Martial virtues teach us how to balance our mental and physical skills and to find an awareness of our center. While the Martial arts revolve around the art of personal combat, it also demands that its adherents live in accordance with a certain warrior code of conduct and honor..

The Martial arts involve both physical training and mental conditioning. The devotee must train himself both physically and mentally; therefore mental discipline is both a pre-condition of learning the art and also the result of undergoing such training.

The Martial artist who has trained properly overtime is a confident, tranquil person." ~ The Martial way and it's Virtues: Tao De Gung (2003 edition) By F.J. Chu


"In the West, the 'Martial arts' are a fashion, they have become an urban sport, a technique, and have none of the spirit of the way..

True Martial arts take their spirit from Budo rather then from sport. I have nothing against sports, they train the body and develop stamina and endurance. But the spirit of competition and power that presides over them is not good, it reflects a distorted vision of life. The root of the Martial arts is not there...

In the spirit of Zen and Budo everyday life becomes the contest. There must be awareness at every moment - getting up in the morning, working, eating, going to bed. That is the place for the Mastery of self.

~ The Zen way to the Martial Arts (1982 edition ) By Taisen Deshimaru (Roshi / Zen Master)


"The arts of peace and the arts of war are like the two wheels of a cart which, lacking one, will have difficulty standing."

~ Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors (1982 edition - trans. Wilson) (Text from: Notes on regulations - written in the year 1620) by Samurai (Daimyo) - Kuroda Nagamasa (1568-1623)


"One who is good at being a warrior does not make a show of his might; One who is good in battle does not get angry; One who is good at defeating the enemy does not engage him"

~ Text from: Tao Te Ching ~ (written in the 6th century BC) ~ Lao Tzu ~

Dedication to Tyr

I have made what you might call a resolution to up my training significantly.

I also hope to train wiser and target those areas in which I am currently lacking.

When I think about it, it is such a small thing to include more bagua practice into my day.  The reality of my life, though, is that there is always something else that could also be occupying any time I do give to training.

I guess I just have to accept that I need to prioritise my bagua to ensure I get more training done.  Sacrifices might even have to be made.

Internal MA 'Epiphanies'.

One thing my Bagua instructor warned me about, almost immediately upon my resuming my MA training, was regarding the progress curve.  External martial arts, he said, has a pretty slow but steady rate of improvement during which you get steadily better and better over time.

Internal martial arts, he said, are different.  You train for ages without really feeling you get anywhere.  Then, all of a sudden, WHAM!  There's a big(-gish) leap in your understanding and ability.  I had one of those epiphanies, I think, during Friday's class.

All of a sudden, something he said (I forget precisely what just now) just resonated with me and I found it much easier to give my stance structure - more strength and structure than I'd had before, to be honest.

I did, however, find that a day out walking around in the cold on the Saturday made me feel like I'd injured myself.  Really, I think a combination of an overworked muscle group and the cold weather made me feel a few aches and pains for some days aferward.

That said, I am better now - so back to full training again tonight.

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.

These are the times when it's hard to attend class

Now that my daughter has started nursery, that is a bill of around £175 a week that needs to be paid from somewhere.  The place it is being paid from in our case is a load of overtime that I am doing in the callcentre at work.  I do an extra shift of 9am - 1pm every Saturday, and an extra two hours, 5.30pm - 7.30pm on a Wednesday evening, after my normal working shift.  I may well end up doing more, but even as it is, that all tallies up to quite a bit of time I spend away from home.  Away from my daughter and fiancee.

Last night, Manchester Metrolink was kind enough to fail and cause me to get home about 90 minutes later than usual.  That pretty much puts a stop to what little interaction I do get with my daughter of an evening.  Now, tonight is bagua class.  While this is something I do for myself and my own enjoyment - and I do enjoy it a great deal - when I am missing my time at home, another night where I don't get in until around 9.30pm is not something to which I'm looking forward.

But at the moment I am noticing more and more the benefits I am reaping from what little training I am able to do.  My balance is seemingly infinitely better.  My stamina is much improved, I even run for the tram now and then (when they are working!) and this is something I never did before.  Add to that the exercises I had difficulty with a year ago being much easier (or less difficult, might be a better way to put it!) and I see that, long term, attending my bagua class (at least) once a week is a sacrifice well worth making.

My daughter is 8 months old and will soon be running around.  Being fit enough to play with her and keep up will pay its own dividends soon enough.

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.