it's time for the quarterly summary for 2nd quarter (April to June) 2008--you'll need to reference the previous quarterly summary (reference: quarterly summary - Q1, 2008).
original goals
as given in the last quarterly summary, the objectives for this quarter were:
- continue attending class
- continue practicing during the week outside of class
- continue learning applications
- finish learning pao quan
- finish learning the bagua leg form
- finish yang & chen tai chi long forms
- finish kuen wu jian--and get better
- keep learning the nuances of theory to better understand its applications
with respect to the curriculum, this is what has been covered this past quarter:
- refinement & applications, 64 palms: palm changes 1-8, A & B
- bagua leg form (finished the form)
- pao quan (finished the form)
- Yang tai chi (finished the long form, began push hands)
- Chen tai chi (finished the long form)
- kuen wu jian (finished the yilu form)
- began jian shu basics
other things this quarter that were not in the curriculum:
- introduction to 5-element theory
- began application of ting, hwa, na, fa jing concepts to tai chi and bagua
- learned more regarding combat concepts (deeper into yin-yang theory, introduction to wife-husband analogy)
i'm somewhat satisfied with the progress on the goals for this quarter:
- continue attending class: there were no absences this quarter, and i managed to make every class (even including the UCLA class), with the exception of my graduation day
- continue practicing during the week outside of class: this was largely successful. there were a few weeks where i was too busy to devote as much practice time as i would have liked, and a few other weeks where i was dealing with injuries and had to scale back the amount of practice i had planned
- continue learning applications: this is pretty much a constant with my instructor
- finish learning pao quan: done, although when Sifu reviewed it he said there was a lot more work that needed to be done, particularly in terms of integrating my upper and lower body movements so that they generated more power
- finish learning the bagua leg form: done, although i definitely need to continue practicing this
- finish yang & chen tai chi long forms: done, but again, i need to continue practicing these
- finish kuen wu jian--and get better: done, but i'm still struggling to remember this form, and so i've been devoting a good portion of time to working on it
- keep learning the nuances of theory to better understand its applications: done, although the tricky part now is applying the theory in combat
my comments can be summarized as follows:
- qi-gong: this is a relatively recent issue. we've been doing qi-gong in class, and it's part of the curriculum. however, i'm not so confident in my development in this area--people keep telling me my qi is really low (as in too low), and i need to develop it. but nothing i do seems to be really helping. so i'm kind of scratching my head over this...it wouldn't be an issue, except that a lot of the internal kung fu i'm learning really ties into qi, making it somewhat important.
- chang quan: i told Sifu my issues w pao quan--and chang quan in general--is that i don't know any of the applications, and it's a style where it's difficult to clearly see the applications from the movements. this is affecting my performance of the form, since it's impeding my understanding of the martial art. i told him that at some point i'm going to need to schedule some instruction time with him (likely private consultations) to go through the applications in chang quan. of course, with all the preparations for the tournament, we may not have time this summer. but i'm hoping that it might be possible this fall (assuming i'm still here).
- application and theory: i'm at a point in my education where i'm going to need actual full-contact work to maintain progress...there comes a point where you can get all the theory and learn all the forms and practice all the applications, but you're not really going to improve your skills in using your martial art or your understanding of your martial art unless you actually go through the experience of engaging in free-flowing full-contact encounters against a hostile opponent. this, i think, is really the ultimate testing ground for a martial art (otherwise it really isn't a martial art), and a major way (albeit not the only way) of gaining additional insights that can lead to new avenues of learning. this is really just part of the learning cycle--you'll go up the learning curve, then enter a period where you level off in learning, and which then hopefully can lead or be directed to another progressive learning curve. for me, i'm seeing that with kung fu this seems to occur about once a year; last spring i was starting to stall, but then the summer lei tai training helped me to re-evaluate my knowledge and understanding in a way that enabled me to change my perspectives, which in turn helped me set the stage for more learning that subsequently started once again during the fall...the same thing happened this year.
- tournament: last year, i went through lei tai training but didn't go to the tournament, since i knew i wasn't ready to try and use my knowledge in a full-speed full-contact fight. the training itself was enough to give me the educational experience i needed. this year, however, i've decided to actually go to a tournament and participate, since 1) i think i have enough knowledge to form a basis of tools that can allow me to participate in a way that makes the tournament a constructive educational experience, and 2) my learning is at a point that this is the only way for me to get the educational experience i need. this year Sifu has decided that we should go to Tony Yang's tournament, which is scheduled for the weekend of August 29-30 in Las Vegas. that effectively makes it at the end of this quarter, giving me 3 months to prepare. Sifu promises the training will be intense--which is fine, since it hopefully means it will prepare me for the full-speed full-contact fighting at the tournament...and help me not get killed.
- the future: still uncertain. what can i say? no movement in terms of job offers. i've had some promising leads, but they need time to percolate. so i'm kind of stuck with no idea as to what is going to happen.
somewhat the same themes, but just some changes:
- continue attending class
- continue practicing during the week outside of class
- continue learning applications
- work on qi-gong
- refine pao quan, and maybe (if time permits) start learning applications for chang quan
- refine the bagua leg form
- refine yang & chen tai chi long forms
- continue learning push hands
- refine kuen wu jian yilu, and start learning erlu and the jian shu basics
- keep learning the nuances of theory to better understand its applications
- prepare for full-speed full-contact fighting at the Las Vegas tournament
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