Hi all! Hope everyone's training has been going well. The question of the moment is: What are you working on right now? How long are you planning to work on it?
Most folks who know me realize that I spent four or so years of my training on just Baguazhang before spending any significant amount of time on anything else (while reviewing the basic Shaolin syllabus). The next big change to my training happened back in October when Sifu taught us Cosmos Palm, which has become my morning training for some time now. It may very well become as much a part of my practice as Circle Walking was when I was emphasizing Baguazhang as my daily training. Granted, the amount of time I spend per day on Cosmos Palm is far, far less than the amount of time I was spending per day on Circle Walking.
There have been many kung fu specialization courses offered over the years. Even since I joined the school, there have been courses on Baguazhang, specific schools of Taijiquan, Xingyiquan, Wuzuquan, Tantui, and Five Animals, to say nothing of special skills such as Tiger Claw, Cosmos Palm, Cotton Palm, and the 36 Leg Techniques, to say nothing of the Fundamentals of Kung Fu courses held at the recent UK Summer Camps. Some folks have had the opportunity to attend many courses; back when I first started in Shaolin Wahnam back in 2011, I met folks who had four or five specialized sets under their belts.
Plenty of material on top of our basic Shaolin and Taijiquan syllabi. There is a lot to practice! Some follow-up conversations I've had in the years since have revealed to me that some folks have not trained particular things that they learnt since the course in which they learnt them. Some folks may not even be practicing material from the basic syllabus and never have.
So, what are you doing? Going deeply into one thing? Trying to juggle fifty different things and getting nowhere? Realized just now that you forgot something that you learnt three years ago? What do you want out of your practice? What's your current aim and objective?
Here are the main things I'm presently working on:
This'll keep me busy for a year or two. You?
Most folks who know me realize that I spent four or so years of my training on just Baguazhang before spending any significant amount of time on anything else (while reviewing the basic Shaolin syllabus). The next big change to my training happened back in October when Sifu taught us Cosmos Palm, which has become my morning training for some time now. It may very well become as much a part of my practice as Circle Walking was when I was emphasizing Baguazhang as my daily training. Granted, the amount of time I spend per day on Cosmos Palm is far, far less than the amount of time I was spending per day on Circle Walking.
There have been many kung fu specialization courses offered over the years. Even since I joined the school, there have been courses on Baguazhang, specific schools of Taijiquan, Xingyiquan, Wuzuquan, Tantui, and Five Animals, to say nothing of special skills such as Tiger Claw, Cosmos Palm, Cotton Palm, and the 36 Leg Techniques, to say nothing of the Fundamentals of Kung Fu courses held at the recent UK Summer Camps. Some folks have had the opportunity to attend many courses; back when I first started in Shaolin Wahnam back in 2011, I met folks who had four or five specialized sets under their belts.
Plenty of material on top of our basic Shaolin and Taijiquan syllabi. There is a lot to practice! Some follow-up conversations I've had in the years since have revealed to me that some folks have not trained particular things that they learnt since the course in which they learnt them. Some folks may not even be practicing material from the basic syllabus and never have.
So, what are you doing? Going deeply into one thing? Trying to juggle fifty different things and getting nowhere? Realized just now that you forgot something that you learnt three years ago? What do you want out of your practice? What's your current aim and objective?
Here are the main things I'm presently working on:
- Force training: daily practice of Cosmos Palm and One Finger Shooting Zen.
- Set practice: Cosmos Palm with occasional sprinkling in of Cross Road at Four Gates. I spent around two months learning the Winter Camp sets, so they're not as large a part of my training time as they used to be.
- Application: A sequence from the Cosmos Palm set, with appropriate variations and integration to my pre-existing skill set.
This'll keep me busy for a year or two. You?
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