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Another good day in the mine...
Jun. 18th, 2015 11:42 pmThe arrival of yet more work this morning prompted a request to provide a schedule of when I figured I'd be able to return the various individual parts of this small mountain of goodness to the client.
Fortunately, I make it a habit to "cherry pick" as I go along, slicing off pieces of large assignments to provide a change of pace between units of work. In this way, for example, I was able to not only send back the stuff I had promised for today, but also to send back an item I'd promised for tomorrow, merely because by the time I'd cherry-picked my way through various parts of the assignment, all I had to do was one last short slog to finish the job.
Tai chi went very well this evening. The "application" to which we were introduced came directly out of the form and involved a defense against a kick. Sifu reiterated the disadvantages of being an aggressor (with demonstrations), and spoke at length about how tai chi—in distinction from most other martial arts—was all about the contact phase of an altercation (as opposed to getting prepared to enter an altercation); more touch than vision.
He proceeded to demonstrate this by "touching hands" with a senior student and asking the student to act aggressively, all while sifu kept his eyes shut. Sifu's skill level at "listening" in this manner is such that he can meet any such "move" with apparent ease.
He noted that kicks in particular are not a very good idea when fighting, demonstrating that he could shift his weight from foot to foot three or four times in the time it took for an aggressor to kick and recover his balance. Kicking not only takes time but places the kicker at a disadvantage in terms of balance, which effectively gives the defender quite a bit of time to think of ways to shut down the aggression.
While it is always interesting to be introduced to various methods of defense, it is always particularly satisfying to me to see direct correlations to movements in the form (or perhaps, better, The Form) that we are encouraged to practice, and then practice some more.
We broke up into pairs to practice what had been demonstrated, and I think the principal purpose of doing so is to illustrate the gap between what one sees and what one can do (which is to say "don't try this without one heck of a lot of practice").
Time to hit the rack again. Big day tomorrow.
Cheers...
Fortunately, I make it a habit to "cherry pick" as I go along, slicing off pieces of large assignments to provide a change of pace between units of work. In this way, for example, I was able to not only send back the stuff I had promised for today, but also to send back an item I'd promised for tomorrow, merely because by the time I'd cherry-picked my way through various parts of the assignment, all I had to do was one last short slog to finish the job.
Tai chi went very well this evening. The "application" to which we were introduced came directly out of the form and involved a defense against a kick. Sifu reiterated the disadvantages of being an aggressor (with demonstrations), and spoke at length about how tai chi—in distinction from most other martial arts—was all about the contact phase of an altercation (as opposed to getting prepared to enter an altercation); more touch than vision.
He proceeded to demonstrate this by "touching hands" with a senior student and asking the student to act aggressively, all while sifu kept his eyes shut. Sifu's skill level at "listening" in this manner is such that he can meet any such "move" with apparent ease.
He noted that kicks in particular are not a very good idea when fighting, demonstrating that he could shift his weight from foot to foot three or four times in the time it took for an aggressor to kick and recover his balance. Kicking not only takes time but places the kicker at a disadvantage in terms of balance, which effectively gives the defender quite a bit of time to think of ways to shut down the aggression.
While it is always interesting to be introduced to various methods of defense, it is always particularly satisfying to me to see direct correlations to movements in the form (or perhaps, better, The Form) that we are encouraged to practice, and then practice some more.
We broke up into pairs to practice what had been demonstrated, and I think the principal purpose of doing so is to illustrate the gap between what one sees and what one can do (which is to say "don't try this without one heck of a lot of practice").
Time to hit the rack again. Big day tomorrow.
Cheers...
