Tonight in kung fu class, I paid the price for my spotty attendance over the last two months. Here’s how the class went:
- Salute in.
- Horse set number 4 to warm-up.
- Long arm drills with daggers. (x2)
- Elephant Hand set with daggers. (x8)
- Animal set one. (x3)
- Animal set two — the one we’re working on.
All of that took about 30 minutes. My face was lobster red and I was covered in sweat, breathing with my mouth instead of my nose, and generally feeling exhausted. Pretty normal. I’m generally sweating up a storm by the end of the first warm-up set — you can always push yourself on those sets, and sweat is your reward.
But then, instead of moving into body conditioning, we switched to kicking drills. Oh, god, do I hate kicking drills. Especially… jumping kicking drills. *shudder* Boy, did I suck at those! In between sets, I had to kneel down and try to make the room stop spinning.
Which is when we switched to jumping spinning kicking drills.
Let’s just say I survived class with my body, but not my pride.
After our final salute out, I stayed for instructor’s class. I’ve made it to about ten of twelve classes so far, and I’m really enjoying them and learning a lot. Trouble is, on nights like tonight, my body and hands were shaking so bad that I could barely take notes. Seriously, my hands had the manual dexterity of plump sausages taped to the end of a ruler.
The lesson here? Get to class more often. I’m home now. I’ve showered and had a snack, and my hands are still shaking as I type this. Gotta love it. :)
I think that it’s good that you went to class. I think it’s easier to stop going if you don’t go once or twice. It’s a lot more difficult to go back. Plus, if you don’t practice, how are you going to know what to do with the parasol?
OMG, parasol fu! I should start working on that! What if ninjas attack during the ceremony? I need to be ready!
My hat off to you, Jenn. Night’s like the one you describe push our spirits and test our committment to the art. Your entry put me in mind of rules 4, 5 and 6 of the Rogue Warrior’s Ten Commandments:
4. I shall punish thy bodies
because the more though sweatest in training,
the less thou bleedest in combat.
5. Indeed, if thou hurteth in thy efforts
and thou suffer painful dings, then thou art Doing it Right.
6. Thou hast not to like it
thou hast just to do it.
Stay on the path.
__
Jamie
Those are great! I haven't seen those before. The mantra I usually recite is "Pain is weakness leaving the body." Doesn't work for all kinds of pain, but it works for in-class suffering, for sure.