tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356288162025-01-29T15:09:30.584-08:00a journey into east asian martial arts, and the lessons on the wayUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger350125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-29664074423528482642011-11-18T22:26:00.001-08:002011-11-18T22:50:58.423-08:00

concepts: applications lessons: hsing-yi chang quan (long fist) miao dao shuai jiao kyudo oh yeah, i know, i haven't posted in awhile. sue me. things have been busy. and there have been some career things that i've been having to deal with that's kept me preoccupied.  but i'll try to get everything caught up with this post--it will be a little curt to get everything to fit here. i

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-74727834706676990062011-10-22T09:23:00.000-07:002011-10-22T09:23:46.896-07:00

concepts: basics alignment placement lessons: breathing hsing-yi ok, so i made some errors in the last post that i should correct. we went through the breathing exercises again, and i realized that i'd made some mistakes. i was grading midterms last week, and so was a little pressed for time and had to miss both the kyudo class and the Sunday kung fu class. breathing so here is what i

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-7358935313930083882011-10-14T20:30:00.000-07:002011-10-19T22:27:24.366-07:00

concepts: breathing: ratio, capacity, calm, sound snap quadrant balancing lessons: qi-gong hsing-yi kyudo i completely forgot to include a section on breathing from the last post. Sifu spent some time at the beginning of that Saturday teaching us breathing from qi-gong. i'm going to add it here, although it actually belongs with last week's post. qi-gong Sifu was apparently teaching some

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-15454799362334730892011-10-07T20:50:00.000-07:002011-10-07T20:50:56.084-07:00

concepts: structure kua dantian sword surface diffuse/central focus decreasing radius ting, hwa, na, fa jing dragon, tiger, snake gates far, middle, near gates lessons: miao dao we had a Sunday class last weekend. there are more people coming to the Sunday sessions, although most of them are beginners learning baji (i'm guessing they can't make the Saturday sessions). for the first part of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-76217332197951838412011-10-07T20:16:00.000-07:002011-10-07T20:16:25.072-07:00

concepts: spiralling front wheel drive/rear wheel drive void structure lessons: hsing-yi kyudo this last Saturday was a straightforward day, continuing with applications of Shanxi. this past class spent was spent on applications out of Shanxi sparrow. hsing-yi Shanxi sparrow is one of the forms that is very subtle. from the perspective of a marginally experienced observer, it has an initial

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-67859125775348010192011-09-30T19:40:00.000-07:002011-09-30T19:44:19.848-07:00

concepts: 5-element theory lessons: hsing-yi kyudo ok, i'm going to have to issue a mea culpa. i haven't posted an entry for a number of weeks, even though i have been attending class. part of it is me being busy and too tired to post anything thoughtful. part of it was an unexpected Saturday run-in with a flat tire, broken apartment, plumbing, and a computer system crash. part of it,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-50364407030524522162011-09-10T08:50:00.000-07:002011-09-30T19:43:14.405-07:00

concepts: line 2 distance  speed lessons: miao dao it was a small Sunday today. i asked Sifu if we could spend more time reviewing the miao dao form, since i missed the last Sunday class, making it essentially a month since we'd worked on the miao dao. he said that it was a good idea, since we also had one of the new students trying the Sunday class out. we reviewed the lines, and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-89450521407243031622011-09-10T08:39:00.000-07:002011-09-30T19:42:50.779-07:00

concepts: hawk chicken alignment lessons: hsing-yi kyudo last Saturday was a much-needed review day. i think a lot of people are coming back from various vacations, trips, or absences, and so the timing worked out well. hsing-yi Sifu has us review the Shanxi 12 animals, and that helped everyone get back to speed. it turned out that there were apparently some differences in how people

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-17340907534198254102011-09-03T08:47:00.000-07:002011-09-03T08:48:16.545-07:00

concepts: applications point, line, curve lessons: hsing-yi miao dao kyudo yes, i know, it's been a few weeks since i've posted anything. things sort of went to hell recently in terms of workload, and i've been so preoccupied with work that i haven't had time to write anything, nor time to even reflect on what we've been learning. if it's any consolation, the gap is somewhat mitigated by the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-53832961903189377942011-08-05T19:56:00.000-07:002011-08-05T19:56:34.709-07:00

concepts:body & blade movementssmall movementstip locationborrowing energybouncing energybody movement & centerlessons:miao daowe went a lot farther on the miao dao in the last Sunday class. we spent the initial half going through the basics, but then Sifu said he wanted us to start working through the applications in the form, saying that we'd understand the basics a lot better if we saw

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-47000397554191613142011-08-03T07:16:00.000-07:002011-08-03T10:38:34.362-07:00

concepts:ting jing, hwa jinggate control, gate entryproactive v. reactiveset-upvertical v. horizontallian fa, gong fa, da fafighting v. applications v. formsprinciples v. techniquesmaintenancelessons:hsing-yikyudothis post refers to Saturday, July 30. i missed class on August 6, and so this brings things up to date. we're heading into the dog days of summer, so it's been getting warmer

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-71469907986058216732011-07-22T22:44:00.000-07:002011-07-22T22:54:50.593-07:00

concepts:reviewreviewreviewprinciples v. techniqueslessons:hsing-yikyudothis will be another short post, since i can pretty much summarize what the focus of last Saturday was: review. lots of review.which was good. i really needed it.Sifu took some time to get everyone together for some discussion. we primarily dealt with 3 major topics:the Las Vegas tournament is coming up on August 12-14. we

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-56427636743287623192011-07-14T20:22:00.000-07:002011-07-14T20:29:31.162-07:00

concepts:basicslessons:hsing-yikyudomiao daoi'm back...sort of. at least, in body. perhaps not in much else. i was gone for 3 weeks on vacation, but took an extra week off to get over the jet lag. so this past Saturday and Sunday were my first days back. needless to say, i was a bit out of sorts. i'm not going into too much detail, since i think things were so rough that there's not much point

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-21953544156697259242011-06-14T09:38:00.000-07:002011-06-15T00:25:25.598-07:00

concepts:triangleborrowingpercussion pointlessons:miao daoi should note that i'm going on vacation for several weeks, and so i'm going to miss class for a little time. as a result, there won't be new posts for awhile. i'll be back in early July, so things will resume then. this post will be the last for now.miao daowe resumed the miao dao lessons. oddly enough, Viet wasn't here. but we had

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-60245532387108290452011-06-14T08:06:00.000-07:002011-06-14T08:40:28.526-07:00

concepts:timingsendinghandgriplessons:hsing-yikyudoso i missed last weekend, meaning i had to do a little make-up work this Saturday. it wasn't too hard, but it did mean a little extra work to make sure i caught up to everyone else.hsing-yithe morning was actually wet, with light rain, forcing us to meet in the picnic pavilion. it also shrank the practice space down, so things were a little

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-74323410617129589392011-06-09T15:51:00.001-07:002011-06-09T23:16:24.112-07:00

concepts:basicslong-rangelessons:miao daoso Viet is back in town from the east coast, but only for the summer before he starts med school. he's asked the Sunday classes be spent on miao diao, with the goal of learning the basics and the form before he leaves at the end of July. i should note that Andre showed up after a very long absence, and so it was fortuitous for Viet (Andre seems to focus

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-73274384518290210782011-06-09T13:46:00.000-07:002011-06-09T15:48:04.398-07:00

concepts:timingparametric calibrationlessons:hsing-yikyudough. so i should note that my attendance in both kung fu and kyudo has been a little spotty as of late. not entirely by choice, since i've had a conference paper i needed to prepare and present, and that took a number of weekends. as a result, i've missed couple of weekends.i should also state this is going to continue. i'm going on

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-49822011216984530242011-05-13T15:39:00.001-07:002011-05-21T14:34:09.792-07:00

concepts:reboundsoft/hardflickinglessons:hsing-yikyudothis is going to be a pretty straightforward write-up. i'd meant to post it earlier but Blogspot appears to have had some trouble in the past few days and access has been non-existent for much of it.today, Sifu announced a series of upcoming events for everyone to note. his May is going to be busy, with something happening every weekend.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-19104350364135478512011-05-06T16:59:00.000-07:002011-05-06T18:17:21.398-07:00

concepts:fingermetal/water v. fire/woodcenterbridge/spannerstructurelessons:hsing-yiSunday was a little sparse. it was just me and Phunsak, along with new student, Jonathan (this is a different Jonathan, now making a total of 4 Jonathans who have or are taking lessons with Sifu: me, Jonathan Shen, Jonathan Wong, and the new Jonathan, Jonathan Sevard). Phunsak had missed the Saturday class with

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-54542946877198821102011-05-05T19:21:00.000-07:002011-05-06T16:59:05.587-07:00

concepts:striking with the hipvertical v. horizontalyin v. yangrenmei v. dumeigashukulessons:hsing-yibaguakyudothis past Saturday went in a fair amount of depth, and so we didn't go into breadth. i have a relatively large amount of material, so i'll try to condense things as best i can. incidentally, Simon showed up today after a long absence (apparently his schedule opened up so that he was

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-56420271671137310202011-04-29T16:39:00.000-07:002011-04-29T16:42:29.280-07:00

this is a cross-posting from my other blog.i'm writing about the Chinese idiom "eat bitterness" (in traditional Chinese characters: 吃苦). it's a pretty common phrase in TCMA, so i figured it was appropriate to also post it here. you can read it at:http://jonathaninthedistance.blogspot.com/2011/04/eating-bitterness.htmlcheers.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-82360483803310902222011-04-29T15:50:00.000-07:002011-04-29T16:19:14.512-07:00

concepts:loosesnapkiu xing (sp?)jin xing (sp?)spinelessons:hsing-yikyudoso i'm starting to get caught up, although i still suspect there's quite a bit of things that i've missed. it's hard to say. details that i think are important may not be thought the same by other people, and so whatever they relay to me may not be what i would have focused on. but i'll work with what i have.hsing-yii'm

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-27693130871625018282011-04-22T09:04:00.000-07:002011-04-22T10:33:51.941-07:00

concepts:hand, forearm, elbowxiao jieh, jong jieh, gong jiehhipsshanxi-hebei-henanlessons:hsing-yiwell, things are still shaky. i got sick (or i was still sick?), and it left me unable to attend Saturday classes, meaning it took out kung fu and kyudo. even though i still wasn't feeling much better by Sunday, i sucked it up enough to make it for about 2 hours before going hope to rest. as a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-86923356471936256552011-04-14T14:02:00.000-07:002011-04-14T20:58:33.154-07:00

concepts:beareagleshanxi-hebeiextensionlessons:hsing-yikyudowell, i'll preface this by saying that i'm pretty much lost. i've had another extended break period that was somewhat involuntary. i got sick, recovered just in time to do the LA marathon, then go sick again, recovered once more, and then got sick again. it may be the same illness that just won't go away, or it may be that i've just

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35628816.post-31087600069440245882011-02-18T21:38:00.000-08:002011-02-18T22:21:30.055-08:00

concepts:explosive powermoving with the centerexpanding from the groundlessons:hsing-yikyudoi'm going to merge the posts from 2 separate Saturdays into this (actually 1 Sunday and last Saturday, since we skipped 1 Saturday due to the San Diego tournament). for hsing-yi, there's not much to say, other than that we're following the progression through the 12 animals, keeping to 1 new animal

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0