This morning's practice:

- Ding Shi Ba Gua (walking the 8 mother palms. I used to do this walking one way, making a change walking the same palm the other way, then changing to the next palm on the next change. Now I flow from one palm to the other in the same direction until I end up at Fire/Dragon/Millstone Palm then do a Single Palm Change to get going the other direction and repaeat the proce

ss. This way seems to help me focus not only on the palms and the energies of them, but also the circle walking involved.)

- Jiang Palm Changes (I only know the first 6 of 8 so far. This time I ramped up from 1 to 6 alternating sides then went back town to one on the other side. Sometimes I'll repeat the first a couple times on both sides then the same with all the rest. Bagua is all about change so why keep the routine stagnant?)

- Walking Tea Cups (I don't know if anyone else is doing this. Looking on the internet I can't find proof that anyone else is doing the Tea Cup exercises while walking the circle. I think it's a great exercise to try to coordinate the hand movements with the stepping around the circle and tying the waist and hip movements into it to generate power. Adds a whole new dimension and way more fun than doing the Tea Cups while standing still.)

- Focus on the 6th palm change. (This is the last one I have learned, and while it's relatively easy...it's deceptively difficult. So, I did this one back and forth on both sides til I was happy with where my form and technique was.)

- Random Palm Changes (Just doing whatever number palm change comes to mind.)

All in all a great practice. Not as intense as some have been, but that's OK. It had an energy and flow all it's own. That's the fun thing about exercising to music. If you coordinate your movements, flow and pace to the music you'll end up with a different energy to the practice because the music is different.

I am sadness

Tonight at Tae Kwon Do class Mr. Bailey told us that his mother has cancer, that they don't know what her situation may become, that their lease is up soon, and that they will be closing down the school at the end of May. This is sad on so many levels. I am sad for Laurel Bailey, Mr. Bailey, his children, and the rest of their family. I'm sad for Tyler and all the other students of Bailey's ATA who will either relocate to Oakmont, Murrysville, or more likely drop out of Tae Kwon Do altogether. Their classes are more expensive and less personal, and for most people, including us, they will have to travel further to get there and the hours aren't as user friendly.

This even more makes me want to do something good for the school. I'd really like to get a good photo of each of the students and instructors individually, and then a big group photo to give to Mr Bailey, Laurel, and any and all students and parents that may want them.

I just wonder how Tyler will react to the news. He is doing so good in class and doesn't do well with change. I hope this isn't a setback for him,and I hope he still wants to stick with Tae Kwon Do even though it is becoming more of a burden to us financially.

TKD

So, the biggest news lately is that Tyler has started Tae Kwon Do. He was a little unsure at first, but has really opened up lately. He is doing his first tournament this saturday in the newly created novice division. He has only been to 6 lessons! His instructor is very excited for him, and has already talked about Tyler to his master. I'm excited that Tyler finally has something to do that doesn't involve watching TV or playing nintendo. The difference in him just since he started is amazing. He is much more outgoing, and learning to speak up and say things like "yes ma'am" and "yes sir". I think he's going to do great in the tournament. We just need to practice his form and little more this week.

As for me, I'm still chugging along at my Tai Chi. Last week I was in Houston for Omni Training, and still found a way to practice every morning even though there wasn't room in my hotel room to practice. There was a small park adjacent to the hotel that I went to. It doesn't sound like much, but for me to have that much commitment to doing the form every day is actually a big deal.

The weather here is really looking up. This week is going to be sunny and in the 70's. Basically San Diego weather without the beach. I'm hoping this is the beginning of a long, hot summer(with less rain than last year). Would be nice to go for non-muddy bike rides once in awhile.

Crossing the "finish" line

Well, on Monday I finally did it. I went through the entire Guang Ping Yang form in it's entirety. What a great experience it was to say I accomplished something I had been dreaming of for 10 years! It's said that a form must be practiced 1,000 times before it becomes yours. That is, that's when it becomes natural and you no longer have to think about the movements, they just happen. Then you can really begin the real work of perfecting them. I'm hoping, either this weekend or next, to videotape myself doing the form so that I can use it as a point of reference where I was at the beginning compared to later. Also, I can use it to look for flaws in my technique and posture and maybe get feedback from fellow Guang Ping'ers. I'm so happy to have discovered Tai Chi and especially Guang Ping. Guang Ping is still relatively small and obscure compared to Yang so it feels almost like a family. I also like that it's a style stripped of all the fluff with definite martial intents.

Now that I've completed the form I've set other goals for myself. Starting this weekend I'm taking one unique movement (of which I counted 37 in the form) and focusing on it for an entire week. This means standing still in the postures of the movement, doing the movement with my eyes closed, repetitions of the movements, learning it's martial applications, and relating the movement to the I Ching. Also, in the middle of April I'm officially starting a 100 day Chin to Toe Challenge with myself. I'm hoping to accomplish this goal by my birthday in July. Now if I could just get rid of this cold!

In other news, we had a great weekend in Washington DC visiting with Dan and Stefanie and seeing the sights. It was great to see them and the girls again. I had wondered if it might be awkward since it had been so long since the last time we saw them, but it was like old times right from the start. Highlights from the trip for me were: doing a soduku puzzle with Savannah the first night(and her giving me a thank you note the next day for helping her), feeding a squirrel out of my hand, and seeing the Declaration of Independence. I only wish it hadn't been so cold and windy out. I also think we need to go back for another weekend because even though we saw alot, there was even more that we didn't see.

Thoughts about life

How do you measure accomplishments? How do you know if you have lived a "good" life?

To me it's if you were mostly happy and mostly healthy. If you loved and were loved in return. If you got out and experienced all that life has to offer (good and bad).

I can see the finish line!

So, 10 years ago I bought a Tai Chi book and DVD. They were Bill Douglas's "Idiot's Guide to Tai Chi" and his "Tai Chi Anthology" DVD. I practiced/played from time to time but never seemed to be able to get beyond lesson 3. There was always an excuse to not continue. There's not enough time, there's not enough room, I'm sick, it's too hard/complicated,etc. Well, last year we moved from Austin, Texas back to Pennsylvania and I managed to survive my first winter up in the frozen tundra of the north. I'm not an outside person in the winter though. It's too easy for me to get sick. So last winter I sat around the house, afraid to go outside and play, doing a little bit of something, and a whole lot of nothing. I felt bored and had to work twice as hard when spring came to get back into shape. When Spring, Summer, and Fall come along I'm good. I've got mountain biking to occupy my need to have something at any given moment to obsess about. When this winter came around I didn't want to do a whole lot of nothing again. So, I committed to sticking with it and learning the entire 64 movements of the Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi form from Bill Douglas's book and DVD. There's been some hiccups along the way, but for the most part I've practiced every day for going on 6 months to learn the form. 6 months ago I didn't know the difference betwen Guang Ping and Yang, or Chen, Sun, or Wu for that matter. I didn't know the importance of stance training, or that you can do more standing still than you can going mindlessly through the form over and over. I feel like I've come so far in such a relatively short amount of time. I have 2 more weeks, 2 more lessons before I can say I've learned all of the movements. I'm excited, and feel like to this point in my life completing this form is one of my life's greatest achievements. I'm excited because this is really just the start of my journey down the rabbit hole of the Tai Chi world. An art that took 6 months to "learn" will take a lifetime to "perfect". There are so many different layer and levels of understanding. I feel I've met a life long friend in Tai Chi. So, thank you Bill Douglas for producing the wonderful DVD and book that has guided me down this path along this journey!


P.S. I'd also like to thank Sifu Kuo Lien-Yang for bringing Guang Ping to America, Simmone Kuo for the wonderful books illustrating the finer details of the form, Petra Martinet for the inspiring video on YouTube that really brings the form to life, and everyone else who practices and plays the Guang Ping form. Without you keeping the art alive and well it wouldn't have been here patiently waiting for me to get off my butt and learn the form 10 years later!

Perceptions and Realities

So, I don't know how my Tai Chi looks from another person's perspective, but when I'm practicing it "feels" great. I feel like it's all starting to really click. I feel like I can see the finish line(which is really more of a starting line), but that's another story. There's so many layers and depth to learning the "art" of Tai Chi that I could spend a lifetime and never be "perfect".