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.

Brandi Gets Humbled (Again)

Kung Fu (and I'm sure other martial arts) has a funny way of teaching humility.

A couple of weeks ago I left my Friday class feeling pretty awesome. I'd been complimented on something by my instructor, I'd picked up something new pretty quickly, and I had noticed an improvement on my flying techniques which I've been working on lately. I was starting to feel a little bit proud of myself and that I was on the right track as far as my training was concerned.

I've been going over my goals with Master Brinker and there was one in particular that I'd been struggling with in my attempts to refine it. Master Brinker helped me figure out that if I wanted to improve my sparring I needed to improve my footwork and centering. It took me a while to wrap my head around this because I always thought I had a good sense of center. So now something that I had considered a strength turns out to be weaker than I would like and is affecting other aspects of my training.

Then we were working on our side kicks in class last week both in the 2nd degree brown and the black belt classes. I realized that my foot position is not perfect! I know that it was at one time but in practicing lately I must have let it slip a little. So now I have to work on my foot position as well as on my eye for detail because I really should have noticed. I knew something was feeling off about that kick as of late but for some reason couldn't see what it was.

And lastly on a hike on Saturday I sprained my foot and so now I've been off work for 3 days and hobbling around the house bored out of my mind. The only productive thing I've done is my push-ups. It's a very humbling thing not being able to walk without help. I'm usually a very independent person so having to ask for help all the time is not my cup of tea.

There you have it. Never assume that you've got it all figured out even a little bit. That's the biggest challenge about kung fu, and the biggest joy! I'm not saying confidence is a bad thing but there's always room for improvement, nothing is ever perfect, and no matter how long you've been in it you never stop learning. It's pretty exciting if you can see the bright side.

Life is Living

I consider myself a fairly high energy person. There are times when I feel tired and worn out but I think it's more of a mental state than anything else.

The things that make me feel drained are the drudgery of the daily grind. Get up go to work, come home, go to sleep, do it again. We spend so much of our precious time at work, paying bills, doing what's expected of us in this society that we have very little time for the things that really matter. Why should we have to choose between spending time with family, or doing kung fu or any activity that we love? It's hard to get pumped to do something and accomplish meaningful things when we have a pile of boring errands and work troubles weighing on our minds.

I see so many people around me in similar states. I'm so lucky to have kung fu to keep me grounded. Otherwise I'd likely be just like the so many people in so many houses in front of the TV every night. When I walk by and glance inside I just want to bang on the window and shout at them "What are we doing? Wake up! Get out there and do something. Live your life!". I don't though. I'd be called crazy if I went around doing that and who am I to judge them anyway?

I'm not sure what the solution is. Should we all go back to the days of pre-industrial revolution before the invention of regular working hours and consumerism? Maybe it would work but at this point it's a bit unrealistic. All I can do and all I can encourage others to do is to get involved. Be a part of a community, get excited about something, enjoy the simple things in life, move your body, connect with people. Care. Do something!

Life is not shopping, life is not watching the tube, life is not keeping up with the Joneses.

Life is Living!