Day 16

So I'm really relaxed and tired out now from training and so I'll keep it fairly brief. All went well today. My tai chi form is really coming along nicely. I've got tons of questions for Sifu Dennis next time I see her. The flow is a lot better though and my footwork is improving. I've been concentrating on footwork and stances in my tai chi form and my kung fu forms too and I'm noticing two things a)it's a lot worse than I thought it was and b)it's getting better more quickly than I thought it would. All in all I'm pleased. Good night.

Day 15

I am half way done!

Initially when I started planning this project I considered making it 90 days. Everyone said I was crazy so I brought it down to 30. Now part of me thinks that was a good idea. It's pretty hard to find 2 hours every day, I'm a busy gal. That has definitely been the biggest challenge for me thus far. Another part of me thinks 30 days is maybe too short. I still have tons to work on and I need more time to do it. Do I really think I could maintain this pace for 90 days straight? Definitely. Would I live in filth and have no contact with the outside world? Maybe.

I'll be training way harder in China for about 90 days but there won't be any other responsibilities to take care of. No cooking, running errands, or work to get in the way. I'm really excited about that and I also wonder what kind of pace I'll be able to keep once I get back. That'll be interesting to see.

All in all I'm glad I decided on the 30. I'll still train hard afterwards and hopefully I'll also have time to see more of the people I care about and take care of all the things that I'm currently letting slide (like the dishes!). I don't want to take too much time off though, I need to stay on my game.

Day 14

It's been a while since I said anything about my push ups but all is going well. For a while I felt as though I'd stopped progressing and was staying at the same level but now recently I've had a big improvement. I feel so much stronger than before I started this project and I'm proud of myself for making it thus far.

I also feel good about the things I've been working on each day. The forms I've been practicing are getting better and better, I'm getting stronger, I have more stamina, and my foot position on my side kick is looking more like it should.

I've noticed both in the training and in my push-ups that sometimes it feels like what I'm doing isn't working and I get discouraged and critical. Somehow though it all comes together and I experience a big leap in progress where I can see a major change and feel really good about all my effort. I can see now that in the past if I was feeling that I wasn't getting better fast enough I'd get impatient and move on to something else. If I'd only kept working on it, I probably would have experienced a great improvement.

Hindsight really is 20/20.

Day 13-Lucky # 13

I really did feel lucky today. Lucky to have kung fu in my life, lucky to be surrounded by wonderful people, lucky to be fit and healthy, and lucky to live in such a privileged country. I imagine what it would be like to grow up on the other side of the world sometimes. I might never have been able to learn kung fu as a female in some cultures. I might not be able to afford the luxuries that I so enjoy like fresh groceries and a comfortable place to live. I might not have the freedom to believe what I want and be the weirdo that I am.

One of the reasons that kung fu is so important to me is that it helps me to be more humble and more compassionate. It has opened my world so that I can see more, good and bad. It gives me the passion to change what I can and try to make things better somehow. The biggest difference it has made for me personally is that it has given me confidence. Confidence to speak up for myself and others and to stand up for what I believe in. I can say with certainty that I would not be who I am today if I never met Master Brinker and started training all those years ago.

When we bow in and out at the beginning and the end of class what do you think about? When we say "past masters" I think of all those who have directly or indirectly helped me get to where I am even without me knowing. I feel gratitude for all their efforts and caring. Throughout our history people have struggled to pass on their knowledge of kung fu, sometimes even risking their lives to do so. We are blessed and privileged to be part of this lineage.

Day 12

Holy crap! I'm almost half done already! Time really does fly.

My back has been sore since Friday, I'm not sure why, so today I decided to do my push-ups and some strength training and then I did a yoga routine for healing a sore back. I think it was a really good idea because as soon as I was done I felt amazing and now tomorrow I'll be able to train like usual again. I think part of why it was so great is also that it was so mellow and relaxing. I feel like it healed my mind as well as my body. That's one of the things that I love about yoga, it's a great way to nurture yourself which is especially important for martial artists because training hard at anything takes it's toll on a person.

Day 11

Today I was really tired. I went for a swim which was good to cool off and for a bit of cardio but afterwards I was totally wiped out. I had to struggle to finish my push-ups and my training for today but I did it. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more energy again and I'll go to bed at a decent hour. I've definitely been getting less sleep since I started this training routine. Some days it doesn't matter so much, the exercise gets me pumped up and I have more energy, but other days it gets to me a little. I can't blame the workouts for it though. If I didn't go out I'd have gotten more sleep last night and tonight so it's all about priorities (there's that word again). More and more I'm learning about what my priorities are and that in the past there were lots of times when I put other things before kung fu. I'm certain that's a big reason why I've had such problems with consistency. All I'm doing now is putting kung fu first (and sleep last) and I've already noticed big changes in the way I see things.

Day 10

Black belt class today was totally awesome! We did this really fun drill that was a great workout, helped us review our curriculum, and tested our reaction time. Basically we went in partners and one person had 2 shields or focus mitts and they called out random techniques and the other person was doing them. The class flew by! I think this is something that I'm going to incorporate into my home training.

One bad thing was that my back was sore for some reason and kicking high was uncomfortable. I'm going to sleep now though and if it's not better tomorrow I know a great yoga routine for it that really works.

Day 9

I really did have renewed energy and purpose today. Throughout the day at work I was thinking about what I need to focus on the most and prioritizing those things. Even though I only trained for the 2 hours, it feels like I was training all day. That means that by the time I got home from work I new exactly what I was going to do and I was super focused. I'm certain I was much more effective because of it. I guess this is what Master Brinker means when he talks about mental training. I can see that if you were doing that all day every day you really could progress quickly with only 10 minutes of practice a day. Those 10 minutes would be planned to the max by the time you got to them.

I'm really learning a lot already about the way I normally do things and other ways that those things could be done. I'm usually very lackadaisical and sporadic in my training, pretty much doing whatever pops into my head. Now I'm seeing that it pays to be organized and consistent.

Now I'm tired though and I'm going to bed. Good night.

Day 8

I was feeling good when I woke up this morning but my muscles are really tired from yesterday and the day before when I went really hard. I decided to take it relatively easy so I did some tai chi, forms, and a lot of stretching. I think it was a good idea although I am feeling the pressure a bit. Yesterday I realized that I am 25% done and I can't believe how fast time is going. I have a lot that I want to work on and I haven't improved nearly as much as I was hoping to. I'm going to have to focus more specifically on the things that really need work. I'd say the thing that has improved the most is my tai chi form, which is good because I plan on doing 250 reps of it so it better be good by the time I finish that!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I am filled with energy and strength of purpose.

Day 7

Today my sister and I bought our plane tickets for our China trip. I'm sooo excited! We're leaving in October and coming back in February. There's so much I want to see and do while I'm there, I hope we have time to do it all. Just in the area of the kung fu school there's tons of neat stuff! I can hardly wait.

I did my workouts. They were good. I was dreaming about the trip most of the time so it's a bit of a blur.

Day 6

I'm not sure why but I woke up this morning feeling great! Full of excitement for the day and love and gratitude for everyone and everything in my life. I didn't have to work until 1 so I got to spend my morning drinking tea, relaxing, and doing tai chi. I also rode my bike to work and back through the river valley. All in all I must have worked out for at least 3 hours today and here I am still full of energy.

If I could figure out why I feel so good then I could try to create the right situation to feel this good most of the time. Is it the amount of sleep I got last night? The herbal cleanse I'm doing? The fact that I've completely cut sugar out of my diet for this cleanse? The warm sunny weather? The exercise I've been getting? The pure joy that comes from being in the great outdoors? I suspect it's some kind of combination of the above. It's certainly given me something to ponder though.

I really hope that doing this routine is somehow changing me as a person and helping me to not only prioritize but also learn more about myself and what it takes to motivate me and move me forwards. I think that I have a tendency to stay in one spot if it's comfortable rather than go further. I imagine many people out there are like that and if I can figure out how to change it in me, maybe I can help others to do the same.

Day 5

So today I want to say a big thank you to Steve my boyfriend.

I woke up with a really stiff and sore hamstring on the right leg so I trained lightly for an hour before work doing lots of stretching and trying to loosen it up. It helped a little but didn't completely fix the problem.

After work I was super-duper tired and really not looking forward to doing anything that didn't involve sleeping. Steve really stepped up to the plate and did a bunch of push-ups with me and trained with me for my whole last hour of the day. He pushed me to try harder when I really wanted to slack off and helped me stretch out my leg at the end. He made the whole process a lot more fun and I'm sure more effective than it could have been.

So thanks Steve for your help today. It made a world of difference.

Day 4- starting to gain some wisdom

I had a super busy day today so finding time to train was a challenge. I managed to squeeze it all in in small chunks though.

I'm finding that it's easier for me to push myself and be excited about training when I've worked out recently (like the day before or earlier that day). I used to think that if I trained hard one day I should take it relatively easy the next. Now my opinion on that is starting to change. I still think rest is important but maybe I was using the whole concept of rest as an excuse not to do as much.



So far so good though and I hope to learn more about myself each day this month. I wonder if I'll be able to maintain this intensity after the 30 days is over....

I included this picture because I thought it must be getting boring to read so many posts with just text. Also tortoises are wise right?

Day 3

So today went pretty well. I did some tai chi and then went to class and learned a lot. We went over some stuff that both answered questions and also created new ones. That's the best kind of class.

I also started a herbal cleanse today so I was pretty tired and felt a little bit dizzy in class. I feel better now though that I've had some water and some food. If anyone's interested in doing a hardcore, kick-ass cleanse you can try the wild rose cleanse. Read about it at:

www.wrc.net

That's all for now. I'm going to bed.

Day 2 belated

Okay so I've just looked over my goal and I see that I've written down that I'll blog every single day....oops! I learned to make sure I know exactly what the goal is before beginning.
This is my post for yesterday and I'll post for today later tonight.

I was pretty tired and sore from the workout I did wednesday so it was a challenge to get started but once I did it was fun. I did forms, kicks, stretching, and tai chi. I also worked on my horse stance. Ever since I sprained my ankle the horse stance has been really difficult. My right foot wants to splay outwards and forcing it into the proper position is....uncomfortable. But since I now have 2 hours of potential time every day to work on it, I'm sure it'll improve.

So I powered through and did it and fell into bed exhausted. Feels good.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I turned 27. Today is also the first day of my 30 day training intensive. Every single day for the next 30 days I will train for at least 2 hours. That can include anything that will benefit my kung fu such as training in kung fu (obviously), stretching/yoga, tai chi, and general fitness training. I will also post often during the process so that you, my lucky readers, can join in with me.

What I hope to achieve is to improve my fitness and skills but also to develop a habit of training regularly. Though I practice often, I've never gone for a month without missing some days. It takes 30 days to break a habit and to form a new one.

Another thing that I want to do is prove to myself that I can do it. I don't just mean that I can physically do it but that I have the mental toughness and dedication to stick to the plan.

I decided to start today because I want to start out this year of my life with a bang and make it the best, most successful, character building year yet.