Pens, balls, and other sensitive parts

I’ve had a lot of insomnia recently and, when I did sleep, strange, disturbing dreams that have left me feeling unrested. I just mention this as the leadup to saying that I’m tired; spaced-out tired. I had an invitation to go to a pretty high-profile design industry event last night, but I just didn’t feel up to schmoozing and smalltalk; I reckoned that going to train as usual would tire me out physically, and perhaps let me sleep a bit better.

So, I went to class with Master Zhou. Because of the state I was in, my reactions were incredibly slow, so that when he demonstrated one attack, I didn’t ride it well and got thrown on my backside. I actually landed on the top of my coccyx, which hurt like crazy at the time, and is throbbing now as I write. Anyway, it certainly woke me up.

I mentioned to him that I plan to study the Judge’s Pen form with Master Sun Zhijun, and he laughed uproariously, which suprised me. It was only later that I realised I’d used the wrong tone. Mandarin-speakers will guess what I’d actually said… He also mentioned that the pen/needle comes from the Emei bagua tradition, not from the Beijing or Shanghai lineages, and that it’s been imported into the Cheng/Yin lines. Anybody able to comment on that?

Briefly, it was another great lesson. I learned a few new moves – though whether I will remember them is another issue – and applications, including a very nasty spin and backwards kick…bagua fighting really does go for the soft and painful parts, doesn’t it!

In The Matrix Reloaded, the character Seraph tells Neo that to know someone, you have to fight them. At the time, I thought that sounded like pseudo-philosophical bs, but now I begin to wonder. The parts of each class where Master Zhou demonstrates the applications of the moves we’ve just learned, and I try to defend myself are actually quite revealing. So are the parts where I try to apply them against him… I’m learning that I really don’t have the instinct, or mindset, to attack someone if I don’t have to. I always hesitate, or try to pull my blow, or deflect it so that it doesn’t land heavily. (OTOH, I have had a couple of experiences in the past when I had to use a move for real and didn’t hesitate at all, so maybe the necessity is the issue here). I’m noticing that when I’m defending, I’m instinctively using taiji principles and movements, softness, stickiness, deflection. Intellectually, of course, I know that I can’t compete with Master Zhou on strength or speed, but I’m not rationalizing that way when I’m under pressure. Interesting… When we’re practising repetitions of moves, I tire rapidly; if I want to progress, I need to do a lot on strength and stamina. And when I do successfully perform a move, he’ll always do a couple of rapid attacks back , just to make sure I don’t get too smug…

I asked Master Zhou to show me the rest of the form, what I still have remaining… and, oops, there’s a lot. I think I might be able to finish it before I go to Beijing, but we’re going to have to pick up the pace a bit. Apparently, there’s no-one in Beijing who could teach me this form; it’s Shanghai-based. So, lots of work to come…

After the class, I went to practice solo, as usual. I had a lot on my mind, so I decided to focus on taiji, and did seven or eight reps of the CMC-37 set over the next hour and a half, taking it slow…