My first student.


It has finally happened.

My first student has gone through his first lesson with me today. I am so sorry about not having taken photos, but hang on- I will soon post pics of how we practice.

This young man is also currently studying Haedong Kumdo, Krav Maga and Tang Soo Do. He decided to take up Chinese Martial Arts as well just to make sure that 6 out of his 7 days of the week are covered.

Now- anyone else in the Nelspruit area who wants to see how my classes are can join us at the Trim Park (That means the Nelspruit Private Nature Reserve near Sonpark Centre.) on Saturdays from 14h00-16h00.  

Today's class was about the horse stance and all the other stances that can flow forth out of it. We started at 14h00 with a warm-up that included qigong and stretching. Then we moved on to two kinds of basic punches- as many as it took to get at least 10 good ones of each. Then we went on to the kicks.

I don't know who can remember the on-the-bike-off-the-bike exercise that have posted about last year (I have searched for it in my blog and it seems to have disappeared all of a sudden.) .
This warm-up helps with those roundhouse and reverse roundhouse kicks. It was part of our warm-up routine and helped us to get the feeling of these kicks when they are performed correctly.

Class ended at 16h00 with stretching, qigong and meditation.

:D That is one milestone for this year. Just had to post it.

Next post shall be about... well you know me. :D

Train well and have fun.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

Learning a Martial Art- some basic guidelines

Image
I think we have by now come across a couple of people who are studying some martial art or the other on their own. Back when I tried doing it at the age of 10 I used a book and later more books followed. Well- even after I did join an actual dojo more books followed even then... People are quick to say that you can't learn a martial art from a book. That is understandable. I for one know that you can't work as a lawyer if you have only gotten your law degree. In fact- few people feel as incompetent as a bright graduate starting out as a candidate at a law firm. The main reason why martial arts can't be learnt by reading alone is that experience plays a large part in developing the skills that any martial art has to offer. Knowledge is not enough. Nonetheless- self study is possible. We may argue about to which extent, but the history of Chinese and Japanese martial arts feature instances where people studied a scroll or a f...
Read more