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Sep. 25th, 2009 08:21 amI do the work because it's good to do the work. Progress is... pretty abstract, really, most of the time. I just try to keep pointed in the right direction, and figure I don't have the right ruler anyway.
But sometimes there are these gifts.
The last bit I've been working a lot on laojia yilu. Partly because I've been flirting with a cold, and while I've been working on erlu, that's kind of harsh, partly because what I'm working on is easier and more direct in erlu, and bringing everything together in yilu is a better test. Attention. Peng. The dynamic between complete relaxed, and powerful - like iron! Okay, so I'm just a geek, but even in my tired, slightly ill way it's been kind of exciting. The work is good, even if I feel like the parts come together but don't quite stay together. A few days ago I noticed something about how peng works in my arms, so I've been working with that, and it's starting to become more natural. I guess I'm kind of refactoring my conceptual model, and once I get the bugs worked out I can mostly just apply it. (...one long form correction, for the rest of my life...) So I decided to work on on the competition jian form, applying the same concepts...
...and it was a different form. Astoundingly a different form. I think I found the dragon in it. (And I've been meaning to get serious about Chen jian, but now I really need to. Master Chen said it was a dragon form. And I can feel that now.) I wonder what Shifu will think? It's such a signature form of hers, but then I haven't seen her do it for a few years. (She did a bunch of Chen jian when I was having private lessons this last visit, though.)
On the purely physical side, I've been going through one of my periods of a lot of SI joint instability, and doing a lot of leg work. (With all the host of compressed nerves, hips that click oddly and trying not to limp around too much.) It's been doing better, though my knees have been (symmetrically, which is an improvement) sore the that bit. But today, starting yilu the first time, I noticed that I could stand straight legged with my feet together, and then bend my knees into the opening without them knocking together at all. Now, I've been substantially knock kneed all my life. The leg work I've been doing is, among other things, supposed to address that, but it's one of those long, slow remodeling processes. But darn, that's a really nice encouraging reason for my knees to be sore.
But sometimes there are these gifts.
The last bit I've been working a lot on laojia yilu. Partly because I've been flirting with a cold, and while I've been working on erlu, that's kind of harsh, partly because what I'm working on is easier and more direct in erlu, and bringing everything together in yilu is a better test. Attention. Peng. The dynamic between complete relaxed, and powerful - like iron! Okay, so I'm just a geek, but even in my tired, slightly ill way it's been kind of exciting. The work is good, even if I feel like the parts come together but don't quite stay together. A few days ago I noticed something about how peng works in my arms, so I've been working with that, and it's starting to become more natural. I guess I'm kind of refactoring my conceptual model, and once I get the bugs worked out I can mostly just apply it. (...one long form correction, for the rest of my life...) So I decided to work on on the competition jian form, applying the same concepts...
...and it was a different form. Astoundingly a different form. I think I found the dragon in it. (And I've been meaning to get serious about Chen jian, but now I really need to. Master Chen said it was a dragon form. And I can feel that now.) I wonder what Shifu will think? It's such a signature form of hers, but then I haven't seen her do it for a few years. (She did a bunch of Chen jian when I was having private lessons this last visit, though.)
On the purely physical side, I've been going through one of my periods of a lot of SI joint instability, and doing a lot of leg work. (With all the host of compressed nerves, hips that click oddly and trying not to limp around too much.) It's been doing better, though my knees have been (symmetrically, which is an improvement) sore the that bit. But today, starting yilu the first time, I noticed that I could stand straight legged with my feet together, and then bend my knees into the opening without them knocking together at all. Now, I've been substantially knock kneed all my life. The leg work I've been doing is, among other things, supposed to address that, but it's one of those long, slow remodeling processes. But darn, that's a really nice encouraging reason for my knees to be sore.
