Last night was the last bagua lesson of 2006. For whatever reason, there were a lot of people missing, especially at the start of the class, so Madam Ge took the opportunity to give us more individual feedback. This was both good and bad for me: good because it’s useful (naturally); bad, because I really have a lot of faults in the way I do bagua 
Madam Ge was constantly correcting me, far more than anybody else…
I know where this comes from: a persistent and deep-rooted problem in my lower back. The muscles tend to knot up, and it really throws out my posture. It developed over many years of working in I.T., sitting in a bad posture at my desk. I tried to correct it back in 2003, with some success, by using qigong techniques that I learned from Nam Wah Pai. Since then, and especially during my MBA, I stopped working on it, and the problem has re-established itself. So, one resolution for 2007 is to get back into the habit of regularly practising qigong. Another is to make sure that I practise circle walking on a far more regular basis!
Madam Ge is going to Beijing today for a couple of weeks’ holiday; among other things, she says that she’s going to meet her Chen Taijiquan teacher. Sigh, I miss Beijing; Madam Ge studied at the Wushu school next to the Houhai lakes, and she says she used to live in the hutong near the Drum and Bell Towers. Which makes me nostalgic: a year ago I saw in the New Year at Huxley’s in Yandai Xijie, just around the corner from the Drum Tower. Just before midnight, I went to the towers to hear the drums and gongs beat in the new year. Unforgettable…
Last night’s class was interesting for another reason, as well: it confirmed what I was already suspecting, that the martial arts world in South-east Asia is very interconnected. You might think that that would be obvious, but it wasn’t to me. When I went to Beijing to study at Tsinghua University, I picked up my studies at the Milun school as well, and I really expected to find a network of martial arts students in Beijing – people who studied different styles and different schools but still knew one another and shared their enthusiasm. It just didn’t seem to be there, though.
Somewhat to my surprise, I’ve found it instead here in Singapore. In discussions after bagua class, I’ve discovered that not only did three of us attend the bagua workshop with Alex Kozma back in September, but a new arrival to the class has known Alex for twenty years and used to spar with him in London. Given that I’ve recently discovered, and been talking about, the Piper System, it came as a surprise that another of my bagua classmates knows a Piper Guardian up in Malaysia.
Furthermore, I recently became aware of the Singaporean martial arts forum sgwutan – thanks to a link from mushin that led a lot of visitors here. Another aim for 2007 is to participate there; it seems to be a very informed and supportive community.
Looking back at 2006, my interest in martial arts is one area where I’ve made a lot of progress during the year. I’ve met some really good teachers, and made some good friends amongst my fellow-students and fellow-enthusiasts. I hope 2007 will be even better – not just for me, but for all of us. Happy New Year.
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