The Week in Review

By David Mandeix
David Mandeix is a Green Belt at Wu Dao

This week has been an interesting mix for me, a veritable potpourri of training experience. Some of it was good, most of it was painful, but at the end of the week I'm still here and wanting more.

Monday
Monday was an excellent class, a real pick-me-up at the end of a long day. Having spent all Sunday resting, my motions felt very crisp and snappy. Encouraged by this, I pushed myself very hard that class. Exhaustion coupled with an overall feeling of well-being is a rare, but enjoyable sensation.

Tuesday
Coming off a strong Monday class, I may have pushed this class a little too hard. I was encouraged by signs of progress- oddly enough being able to feel when a motion is wrong or when a limb is out of place is sometimes more satisfying than getting the motion right. At the end of the first class I had to call it quits. I really dislike doing this sort of thing, because I feel that the sign of a good martial artist is endurance and the ability to perform at peak ability for an extended period of time. After all, it is easy to knock a person out accidentally. The hallmark of skill would be being able to knock people out consistently. Good technique should not be an accident.
Anyway, I gassed out and went home to try to rest and refuel.

Wednesday
I woke up exhausted. Or rather, still exhausted. On days like this Wednesday it is great to read other blogs and know that I'm not the only one feeling like this. Even better is getting to class and seeing my classmates and looking at them and knowing that the share the exhaustion. Nevertheless, it says something that we showed up.
Wednesday class ended up being great- I like to think of it as Kungfu for the soul. With the tournament looming there has been endless form repetitions, and a steadily rising physical demand on our bodies. We have been focusing on one side of kungfu exclusively for a while, and it was refreshing to get into the theoretical/ metaphysical side. A brief meditation session left me feeling recharged, and a detailed examination of the transition of circular to linear motion helped me to understand (if not yet preform) certain kungfu movements better.
While not physically taxing, it was good to approach Kungfu from the other side. The addition of some serious yoga stretches also helped us climb out of the exhausted rut we'd been in.

Thursday
Sometimes, the form just clicks together and my intent and motions align perfectly to create smooth, powerful technique. When this happens, the form becomes much less taxing to preform and seems to resonate within me. This occurs only once in a great while, but it usually gives me enough to keep me going until the next time it happens. I felt a few seconds of that harmony Thursday night. Clearly, Wednesday did me worlds of good- far more than I expected, as I was able to stick through both classes. Although they were tiring, I was happy to discover that my body was not at the point of failure at the end of the evening. I even had enough energy to preform a form in front of the class (completely different from doing it without anyone watching!).

Additional observation: Exercises we were once proficient in (Tan Tui-s, push ups, etc.) get rusty very fast, regardless of muscle growth in the area or how good we were last time. By extrapolation, the same must go for forms. Endless repetitions- justified.