(no subject)

[tylik]

Haven't been writing enough of these. Which is too bad becase there's a lot about which to write.

My right shoulder/neck is mostly unknotted, I think. There were both muscular and mechanical components, can't say really which was primary. It was bad enough that Wednesday-Friday it limited how much computer work I could do in the lab. (Well, as I pushed it my right arm would go numb and I'd get one of those intense kind of numbing right sided headaches.) Yesterday I went after the muscular elements with a passion. That, stretching, and a day mostly away from the computer seemed to help.

My SI joint is being fairly well behaved, as long as I stretch and so on. Had that inside of the right knee pain which I suspect is caused by pelvic misalignment while practicing today. Was surprised, as I thought my alignment was decent. Three steps later there was a somewhat painful (noticable, not extraordinary) crack in the knee, and after that the knee pain went away.

Sparring this morning. We're looking at it being a morning thing. (Yes, a much better idea.) I'm settling into working with K fairly quickly, for me. I hope that as I do more sparring I'll be able to cut out the amount of time it takes me to get used to working with someone new. The shift in my fighting style was already evident. K's interesting to spar with - I'm used to pretty much everyone I work with being more aggressive, more strike oriented and less focused on weight and balance. Often with him I'm for strike oriented, though we're kind of learning to work in different modes, and as I (we?) calm down we match eachother more fluidly.

Things to not do again: high speed double figure eight arm swinging after I already have a bruise on the back of my hand. The dit da jow is helping, but after pushing that much blood into a hand that was already bleeding (I'm trying to do the double figure eights regularly, to see if I can toughen my blood vessels so I don't burst them every single time) for a bit there most of the back of my hand looked bruised.

Sparring before forms work is also really good - by the time I went down there (forms outside today, and I should do that whenever I can - now that I'm accustomed to Veale and don't need to reinforce the habit, I think outside is still more time efficient and often better for my focus) I was nice and warm and focused. My practice has turned after the time in Seattle. Generally slower, more focused on internals and more focused on open hand work. (Another reasons sparring is so good - doing something rigorous first fits this really well.) Focusing on my feet more on the weight shifts is good. Focusing on filling out the frame, likewise. And always, of course, suspend my head, move from the center... Really, everything Shifu told me can be condensed into two or three things, but I am quite certain I have enough to work on for the next six months. The above is the first one or two. The last is that with each movement I should be completely focused on the movement, not thinking of anything else, and particularly not thinking of the next movement.

It was windy today, and while I can not claim I silenced my monkey brain, it became slower and quieter and more willing to sit in a back corner of my mind and mutter to itself. I love the image of the wind blowing through me, emptying me of everything except for the forms in the instant I do them. I found more silence than I have for a bit now, through me and around me, pure and beautiful. (And the odd sense of pressure on my forehead, between my eyes. Which happens sometimes, but this followed me around longer. Not relevant to anything important, I think. And hey, it could be some sinus thing ;-) ) It sits upon me even now, though more lightly, hours later.

Last night when I got home K was doing yoga in the living room, and I joined him (somewhat idly) for a bit. It is occuring to me that I'm getting an awful lot out of my rather unfocused forays into yoga. It works on the body at a different granularity than most of what I'm doing, and has better leverage on certain things I've been working on from other angles. I'm thinking that perhaps this is something I should pursue in a more formal way. And there is a highly recommended studio just a few blocks away.

Along with that, I'm thinking a little of dropping the bagua class. Not yet, I think... but I feel less right now that I need a local martial arts teacher, and that situation has long been less than ideal. The commute, in particular - I really don't want to have that long regular drive when it's so easily avoided. (The eccentricities of the teacher are less of an issue.) I'm also not practicing as much as I ought, and this in a period where I'm spending even more time practicing in general. But I was starting to practice more before my trip, so I think I will give it another month before deciding. I was pretty frightened, at first, of being on my own. Now I feel like if anything I need more solitude, and more silence in my practice.

I'm also thinking that when the weather is mild, as it is today, I should bike rather than drive to the farmer's market. That will make me many kinds of happy.