Best wishes for 2020


Welcome back, everyone.

Christmas is by now a pleasant memory, some of us have already settled into the habit of writing the date correctly-

2020 is here and we are ready to work...




One of the disadvantages of training alone is that there is nobody but you to keep your mind focused on the job.

I have found that I have a lot on my mind this year. Nothing special- we all do at some time.

And- it does affect our training.

The funny thing about it is, however, that you need to leave all thoughts and cares outside the dojo when you are training, right? Well- this is why I love martial arts. Once you learn to properly focus on your training, you learn to give yourself a break from all those work problems, family issues and whatever is waiting to eat you outside the dojo.

Giving your mind that break actually helps you better to reach a solution for whatever problem it is with which you may be dealing at any given time.

Thing is- life is always going to have problems. That does not mean that you should live your whole life dwelling on them. Well- if you are a professional fighter your training may very well be the source of your worries and then it means that you need to give yourself a break from that...

Well- I hope you are all fully rested and ready to tackle this year!

By the way-

Some of you may know that this coming Chinese New Year shall be the Year of the Rat (some say "Metal Rat", but I don't get why...).

That happens to be the year in which this special little lady was born.


Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, drink and indoor

She is going to be by my side as I make the best of this year for the two of us.

Whatever goals you have- I hope you have a good journey.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tai Chi Movement #3- Wave Hands like Clouds

Image
I have just started searching for examples of this movement on the internet and realised that among all the people doing Tai Chi out there I might just be the only one who would apply Cloud Hands the way I do. I have found different variations of the movement itself as well. This makes my writing about my version and its application a bit unfair as you will be missing out on some really elaborate applications. Now- how I always did this movement is starting from a posture like the Lute Playing posture like the picture below- or the Spread Wings posture like this: From either one of these ready postures I then rotate my front foot and let my body follow while my leading hand makes contact with an imaginary thrust and I then complete the rotation by passing the attack while I guide its force past me with minimal effort and my free hand follows the blocking hand to wind up for an outward strike. When the rotation and step is complete I shift weight
Read more

Blindfold training

Image
Now here's something I have not yet written about. :D I have been interested in the Zen side of Japanese martial arts since the age of 16. It was about at this age when I began with Qigong as well. As a young karateka back then I did not have the confidence, strength or aggression of my classmates and looking back- I think it was a good thing. Because of that classes scared me. Now- had it not been to exposure to the mental training techniques provided to me by Zen- I would not have seen this hostile dojo environment as the ideal testing grounds for the things I have read. This is one major factor to which I attribute my development as a martial artist. One very important training tool that has always served me well and that continues to do so to this dat is Zen Meditation. This, in itself, has provided me with a number of benefits about which I can write in detail. One of those- was the development of intuition and sensory acuity. It is actually wonderfu
Read more

The Reverse Crescent Kick in Taijiquan

Image
Hi, blog readers. As suggested by Travelling Lakan in our Martial Arts Forums group on G+ I write this weekend's post about the reverse crescent kick as we find it in Taijiquan. I admit that I have not seen a spinning version of this kick in Tai Chi forms, but using the principles of Taiji technique I have constructed a spinning kick for us to use in this discussion. I was not able to get examples from the internet of this particular kick off the internet, so I made videos under the strict supervision of Master Patrys. She supervises all of my Saturday workouts and makes sure that I do not slack off when training. :D I have not seen this kick in Shotokan before. To give you an idea of what a reverse crescent kick is I can use Ryu from the Street Fighter game series as an example. Ryu has a special attack called the "Tatsu Maki Senpuu Kyaku". I have yet to ask my Japanese friends for an accurate translation, but we gamers got to know it as the "Hurrica
Read more