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ironymaidenaccording to del.icio.us, i started researching martial arts classes in Seattle more than six months ago, and that was i don't know how long after C and me swore we would take a class together. it's a sign of how things go with physical fitness in my house - reading about it is much more engaging than doing, and there's always some reason we should put it off or drop it for a while and then the momentum is gone and we forget...
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mimerki mentioned elsejournal that it takes 21 days to form a habit.* i've embraced it as an arbitrary measure. the plan is to go three times a week until we hit 21 classes and hope that makes it stick. so maybe i'll read this in a couple months to see where i was at the beginning, or maybe it will be another well-intentioned failure.
we settled on kung fu. we've done three classes as of yesterday.
the atmosphere at the school is disciplined but friendly. lots of people introducing themselves and handshakes and class-related small talk and tips/commiseration beforehand and on breaks. (this is entirely unlike my yoga studio.) every class is all-level; mostly adults, then teens, then up to five kiddos in the (guessing) 8-11 range. gender split is about 60-40 male-female. white folks are a slight minority. there don't seem to be any cliques although the teens hang a little closer than others. there's more than one couple besides us (which we only know because they introduced themselves as such) and at least one parent-child pair. not the same people every day, around 25 a day. there's a nice feeling of camaraderie and i feel welcomed and included in the group.
sifu is a Chinese-American who grew up in Seattle and bounced back-and-forth between here and Hong Kong as a younger man. he did film work back-in-the-day. (there are pictures on the wall. he was quite the hottie. this has nothing to do with his teaching, but the dude was in a Jackie Chan movie, so i have secret inner fangirl squee.) anyway, the school is a labor of love that runs at cost. the rest of the week he owns a restaurant in Belltown. he seems to give everyone in the class individual attention, more than just the occasional adjustment. he's very patient, great with questions, seems to be egalitarian, is ready with praise but only when deserved. we were talking about forming a proper fist yesterday, and we could see the weight of callus on his palms as he walked us through a great demo about why we place our thumbs the way we do. i like him.
i was pretty scared about going. having C along helped, but not as much as one might think. the first class was almost entirely horse stance. this is the base of Tiger Crane Hung Kuen1, and it's lower and wider than i expected. i was able to hold it most of the time, but only because of being previously broken by yoga. i've realized that i'm probably going to firm up/change shape from doing this, but i don't think my thighs are going to get any smaller :/
n00bs go in the front of the class. i felt conflicted about this at first, because i wanted to be able to see and crib off other students; i can't see the rest of the class, and i am forward of the mirrored section of wall (not sure if the mirrors would be there at all if we didn't share space with Salsa classes on the off days). but now i'm thinking it's good. the only example i can see is sifu. and i have to do everything myself or not at all.
the second class was hard, especially discovering that i can't do all of thirty quick push-ups with half on knuckles. i'm used to having many-many chaturanga poses in the course of a yoga session, but not in succession. (and it's a different arm placement and therefore i have the wrong set of muscles developed for regular pushups.) C and i say we're going to do more conditioning outside of class. we'll see how that goes.
at the beginning of class i feel like i'm doing a dance combination at an audition. (i'm really bad at audition combinations.) movement has to be ground into me by repetition, until i go like a machine. too much brain engagement and i lose form. since this is the way it's been all of my life, i don't have an "i'll never get this" frustration when it comes to physical activity. i assume i may never get it, and do it over and over again until one day something clicks. Wednesday and Saturday at the beginning of class i felt like i had lost everything but horse and making a proper fist; by the end of class i had recalled everything and progressed a little bit. two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward.
power yoga experience has been a boon; strong legs, posture, balance, and breathing. it also means that i know how to stretch my thighs and hip flexors before class starts. i used to come home from yoga unable to lift my arms past my shoulders. it's a tribute to that work that i've had relatively little pain and stiffness. my other helpers are twirling (breaking moves into counts in my head; that block is done on the and of one, not two) and Noh (hey, i learned this high block with a fan in my hand, shit now i have to do it on the left).
i assumed that if i ever tried a martial art it would be Japanese. (how we settled on kung fu was a combo of interest, location, and class times.) i've done an intro karate class and Noh training, so i have a certain set of expectations about dress and the environment. kung fu involves soft, light clothing and shoes. (wait, we don't make a ritual out of the cleanliness of the floor?!? it totally gets mopped before class, but most come in wearing their shoes already.) the uniform is black. there is no belt system. (in this school. my understanding is that there is not a tradition of belt gradation in kung fu, but some schools have created a colored sash system because Americans expect it.) what we've seen of full forms practice (haven't started learning a form at this point, so just watching others) is done to drumming, which makes me nearly giddy. (i think every former band geek has a pavlovian response to cadences. or maybe it's just me.)
the school doesn't do competitions, but they do have a lion dance team. this is way more interesting to me. they do a lot of appearances during SeaFair season and for the various milestones in Chinatown (store openings, New Year, etc.) the way the room is set up, i tend to gaze at the black lion in his rack on the wall when i need a focus point.
i liked my first week. quite a bit. we got massages this morning to work out the tense bits, and i feel relaxed and excited rather than scared about going back to class Monday. it's a good place to be.
*so i looked it up. it came into popular use from a book with the ridiculous-to-me title Psycho-Cybernetics.
1research says this is from the style family attributed to Wong Fei Hung - the dude from an astonishing number of films including Drunken Master, Once Upon a Time in China, and Iron Monkey. more fangirl squee.
mimerki mentioned elsejournal that it takes 21 days to form a habit.* i've embraced it as an arbitrary measure. the plan is to go three times a week until we hit 21 classes and hope that makes it stick. so maybe i'll read this in a couple months to see where i was at the beginning, or maybe it will be another well-intentioned failure.we settled on kung fu. we've done three classes as of yesterday.
the atmosphere at the school is disciplined but friendly. lots of people introducing themselves and handshakes and class-related small talk and tips/commiseration beforehand and on breaks. (this is entirely unlike my yoga studio.) every class is all-level; mostly adults, then teens, then up to five kiddos in the (guessing) 8-11 range. gender split is about 60-40 male-female. white folks are a slight minority. there don't seem to be any cliques although the teens hang a little closer than others. there's more than one couple besides us (which we only know because they introduced themselves as such) and at least one parent-child pair. not the same people every day, around 25 a day. there's a nice feeling of camaraderie and i feel welcomed and included in the group.
sifu is a Chinese-American who grew up in Seattle and bounced back-and-forth between here and Hong Kong as a younger man. he did film work back-in-the-day. (there are pictures on the wall. he was quite the hottie. this has nothing to do with his teaching, but the dude was in a Jackie Chan movie, so i have secret inner fangirl squee.) anyway, the school is a labor of love that runs at cost. the rest of the week he owns a restaurant in Belltown. he seems to give everyone in the class individual attention, more than just the occasional adjustment. he's very patient, great with questions, seems to be egalitarian, is ready with praise but only when deserved. we were talking about forming a proper fist yesterday, and we could see the weight of callus on his palms as he walked us through a great demo about why we place our thumbs the way we do. i like him.
i was pretty scared about going. having C along helped, but not as much as one might think. the first class was almost entirely horse stance. this is the base of Tiger Crane Hung Kuen1, and it's lower and wider than i expected. i was able to hold it most of the time, but only because of being previously broken by yoga. i've realized that i'm probably going to firm up/change shape from doing this, but i don't think my thighs are going to get any smaller :/
n00bs go in the front of the class. i felt conflicted about this at first, because i wanted to be able to see and crib off other students; i can't see the rest of the class, and i am forward of the mirrored section of wall (not sure if the mirrors would be there at all if we didn't share space with Salsa classes on the off days). but now i'm thinking it's good. the only example i can see is sifu. and i have to do everything myself or not at all.
the second class was hard, especially discovering that i can't do all of thirty quick push-ups with half on knuckles. i'm used to having many-many chaturanga poses in the course of a yoga session, but not in succession. (and it's a different arm placement and therefore i have the wrong set of muscles developed for regular pushups.) C and i say we're going to do more conditioning outside of class. we'll see how that goes.
at the beginning of class i feel like i'm doing a dance combination at an audition. (i'm really bad at audition combinations.) movement has to be ground into me by repetition, until i go like a machine. too much brain engagement and i lose form. since this is the way it's been all of my life, i don't have an "i'll never get this" frustration when it comes to physical activity. i assume i may never get it, and do it over and over again until one day something clicks. Wednesday and Saturday at the beginning of class i felt like i had lost everything but horse and making a proper fist; by the end of class i had recalled everything and progressed a little bit. two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward.
power yoga experience has been a boon; strong legs, posture, balance, and breathing. it also means that i know how to stretch my thighs and hip flexors before class starts. i used to come home from yoga unable to lift my arms past my shoulders. it's a tribute to that work that i've had relatively little pain and stiffness. my other helpers are twirling (breaking moves into counts in my head; that block is done on the and of one, not two) and Noh (hey, i learned this high block with a fan in my hand, shit now i have to do it on the left).
i assumed that if i ever tried a martial art it would be Japanese. (how we settled on kung fu was a combo of interest, location, and class times.) i've done an intro karate class and Noh training, so i have a certain set of expectations about dress and the environment. kung fu involves soft, light clothing and shoes. (wait, we don't make a ritual out of the cleanliness of the floor?!? it totally gets mopped before class, but most come in wearing their shoes already.) the uniform is black. there is no belt system. (in this school. my understanding is that there is not a tradition of belt gradation in kung fu, but some schools have created a colored sash system because Americans expect it.) what we've seen of full forms practice (haven't started learning a form at this point, so just watching others) is done to drumming, which makes me nearly giddy. (i think every former band geek has a pavlovian response to cadences. or maybe it's just me.)
the school doesn't do competitions, but they do have a lion dance team. this is way more interesting to me. they do a lot of appearances during SeaFair season and for the various milestones in Chinatown (store openings, New Year, etc.) the way the room is set up, i tend to gaze at the black lion in his rack on the wall when i need a focus point.
i liked my first week. quite a bit. we got massages this morning to work out the tense bits, and i feel relaxed and excited rather than scared about going back to class Monday. it's a good place to be.
*so i looked it up. it came into popular use from a book with the ridiculous-to-me title Psycho-Cybernetics.
1research says this is from the style family attributed to Wong Fei Hung - the dude from an astonishing number of films including Drunken Master, Once Upon a Time in China, and Iron Monkey. more fangirl squee.
