Dai Dai's book (first draft.)

Dai Dai ran over to me with a book he made which he really wanted added to the Book shelf. "Do you want to put it up on the blog?" he asked.

"If we put it on the blog will it still be here?"

Basically I think he thought that if we sent it to the blog that we would be physically sending it there like beaming it there on Star Trek. 

"yes we would have it up there and we would still have the real paper version here."

Okay.

Two Rainbows

umm....a cake. Actually I have to ask again what this is. 

This was mommy and Dai dai in a shipping cart... and so I see that I have to re scan all these pictures. I didn't want to rip the pages out. But I see that's what I have to do. Perhaps tomorrow we will make a book with the purpose of putting it on the blog first... and then tape it all together in a giant balled up mess.

This is mommy;s cell phone

Mommy and Dai Dai again.

and Finally the number three. 

Badmitton Time Baba!

I wake up in the morning and Jonah is all readu with his racket and a cut off part of a sock that he put over his elbow like he has seen real badmitton players do at the Olympics... or did he get it from watching Tennis?
Anyway, we went outside and played.. sort of. He wasn't really able to hit the shuttlecock to me. This made me realize just how important games like this are. I mean you could say he's not ready to play yet, but just trying to hit the thing is all about targeting and coordination. So playing like this is some ways is better for is Kung Fu training than well... Kung Fu training. Plus he had fun.

Jam Jong

Today was a basics day. But yesterday was too and after basics it is time for forms. I was pretty unhappy with Noah's forms. "I'm tired!" He complained. But what he was lacking was ding lik. That power tat you only see in Kung Fu, but it totally matters for performing forms. Boxers don't care about it at all and they can still knock you out or even kill you. But when you do a form like that it looks like you don't even know Kung Fu. A lot of Karate is all about Ding lick. The Okinawan one anyway. Holding positions, putting power into the move to develop strength. So today we held some form moves because I realized it would benefit Jonah too, even if he just watched. He would be able to pick up the form easier.

And I realized too, that I sjould dedicated a full day to this practice, which is called Jam Jong. Think Yoga, in Kung Fu form Not the Yoga Fu. But pausing at each position in a form and holding it. We did 30 seconds.

I will put that for one of our internal days.

Writing this reminds me that I have forgotten to continue with the forms videos for Luk Lik. Filiming a Luk Lik version of Jam jong would be painfully tedious. But on the other hand, it would make learning the form, or at least following along, a hell of a lot easier.

I'm focusing on all this traditional training but tomorrow, 7pm at the gate we are doing a very non traditional performance for films at the gate. Non traditional because we won't be using drums, but will be using music. I will not abandon drums. But I am going to be using music and numbers in stead of forms a lot more in my future performances whenever I can. But just like forms... we will be doing these numbers, changing and improving them for years. The songs are very important too, not just any songs. They all have meaning, they weren't just picked at random. But because of this and my drumming numbers I adapted and my story telling... shoot I could do a 2 hour performance me and my kids... if I had to. And that means I'm ready for the College and Prep school circuit, and if anyone would ever let me... a set show that performs every night somewhere. I'm not saying I can sell out the Wang Center, I'm just saying I can do 2 hours. And the last time I had that ability I belonged to really full and well trained team. Knowing I can pull it off with me and my kids is quite freeing actually.

Drumming!

Today I had my kids do a drumming class. I realized this would make a good schedule break. Monday and Tuesday we do forms. Slow like Tai Chi, but they are just the form sthey know. Or in Dai Dai's case, forms he doesn't know but he will follow along. The idea is to keep Noah from forgetting and to expose the forms to Joanh. Plus the added benefits of slow Tai Chi like Kung Fu. I don't expect them to practice Gung.

Wednesday was going to be a "free" day and then Thursday and Friday would be hardcore basics days and fast Kung Fu.

Then I realized.. why not have a day where we actually focus on drumming for the whole class?

So I got out chopsticks and had them follow along on a pillow.

I'm realizing as I right this that the whole "Learn by yourself and just free style" will only get these kids so far.

Mainly because we did that today... and I didn't feel like they really got anything out of it. So I think, just like forms... I'm going to teach them a sequence to memorize.

Depictions of Chinese in "Hell On wheels"

First of all, I love this show. But when I was first watching I was like, "How the hell can you make a whole show about the railroad, and it is really pushing the boundary in terms of talking about race and all that... and yet you have no Chinese characters?

So finally some Chinese extras show up. And before you think this is  a post complaining about Asian stereotypes or whatever... I mean I'm sure there can be issues had with depiction of Native Americans, Nordic people, Irish, and Mormons...

But since I actually know something about Chinese people, I was wondering why when they showed up, the only guy with lines was this (perhaps mixed race?) Chinese person that appeared white and had a German last name and was speaking in Mandarin. In fact it was funny because the Railroad owner coming from the West Coast (a minor character) predicted that Mandarin would be California's second language by the end of the century.

Of course thanks to the Chinese Exclusion act... which maybe didn't yet happen in the series.. that did not happen.

So this time period is during the Qing Dynasty.. but it could be during the Tai Ping Rebellion or maybe even the Opium War and Boxer rebellion. So when they say "There land is" something horrible I forget the line "Where human meet is held up in the market." Depending on which war is taking place... well I guess it;s possible.

But why would they be speaking Mandarin? Nearly all the early workers were Taishanese Specifically or at least fro Sze Yup, the four counties or whatever their called. Taishan, Hoi Ping, Zhong san, don't remember what number four in four yup is but you know around that area. Did they speak more Mandarin back then? I mean I know that the older generation hardly speaks Mandarin at all... but I also heard that maybe there was a time before that when people did learn Mandarin in school. Was the country more together on this back then? I don't know I seriously doubt it, which means it is far more likely that the show didn't bother with real research for the Chinese characters, (the actors looked pretty Taishanese though.... they probably didn't even speak Chinese which could be why they had no lines... or maybe, again I should blame the show.)

But that depiction made me pretty much really call into question the depiction of the Mormons.

I'm hoping this show has more Chinese Characters as the railroad moves west... or is it just going to end when the last stake is hammered in and there will be no Chinese Characters? I mean even Bonanza had Hop Sing.

In any case, if the show doesn't end up having Chinese characters, someone should make a show LIKE this from the Chinese perspective. What I mean is, tell the story, have it be entertaining, and have a ton of Chinese Characters but don't make it all about that.... justice. Make it about drinking and fighting and revenge. I mean changing Hollywood is hard but now people can do these Netflix or Youtube shows.

I mean the shows main character is an ex Confederate General. That's different.

You can totally make a version with more Chinese. Some people might say that's what Kung Fu was. Sure. So let's make another one of those except make it grittier and maybe you don't need to have Kung Fu in it per se. Fighting yes. Kung Fu moves in the fighting, sure... but maybe with Cowboy Choreography and a lot of shooting. Ie. Instead of throwing you typical American punch.. .you throw a Kwa Kuen but the result is the same. Instead of a Cowboy boot kick... maybe you have a Kung Fu kick... but again it end up not making a difference in timing and fight sequence. Not Kung Fu for Kung Fu's sake. Just that some characters MIGHT know something but it's not the main part of the story, or like suddenly everyone has to be doing martial arts when they didn't.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson

So I was listening to this pod cast about Jennifer Yuh Nelson who was very much a part of and one could say behind the Kung Fu Panda movies. Given how I have blogged about these movies to an obsessive degree in the past, like on the ethics and morality in the first movie, or applying the philosophies to my life
or Lord Shen's Death....I totally cried watching Kung Fu Panda 3... so basically even before I knew Jennifur Yuh Nelson's name... I was a fan. Hearing about the throught process that goes into making the movies... basically confirmed my suspicion's... that a true Kung Fu movie fan made the movies. Apparently the original concept for the film was going to be a parody... basically a children;s version of Kung Pow. Which, to be honest, before i had seen the movie, is what I thought it was. It wasn't until I had seen Kung Fu Panda several times that I began to analyze and think that it was awesome and worthy of being a Legend, a mythology, a bible for my own practice.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson talked about watching hours and hours of Kung Fu movies, Not just the good ones, but the bad ones as well, because some of them were so bad that they were good.

The truth is that even the worst Kung Fu movie has at least one or two aha! moments where maybe by accident or maybe despite all the BS that goes along with the movie making business they were able to touch a message, a truth, a higher meaning.

So I had always thought that Kung Fu panda, maybe by accident, had created an ultimate Codex of Kung fu by taking all those aha moments and putting them into one movie with a plot that flows.


"They don't put all that thought into it." people told me.

But people are wrong because Jennifer Yuh Nelson totally did put all that thought into it and she talks about it. Not just in terms of abandoning formulaic Kung Fu stuff, but abandoning text book story telling book stuff to go instead.. with reality.

And in terms of emotion, it was her intention to make Grown men cry. and she was successful and points to a large Football player type guy telling her that he cried as a point where she felt she had truly succeeded.

"You should interview her!" Grace said... "Because you ARE Kung Fu...the worst she could say is no."

In any case.. the pod cast was very inspiring. I think I will start drawing again and work on my books and what I am doing...and it would be awesome if I could get an interview of course or if one of the stories in my book became a cartoon. That would be incredible. But it got me thinking, I used to draw all the time... why have I stopped, and why have I not started  putting pictures to some of my stories? If for nne else... for myself at the very least?

Starting over.. slow.

Today we had our Saturday morning class. which actually went remarkably well. The reason why I say this is because my sons and students did a straight up adult class without any hand holding and that sort of thing. We just focused primarily on basics. For my students that have been away from practicing for a while this was a good thing, because many, including Noah, have forgotten much of the forms they knew. This made me feel like I was sort of starting over with them. Like I am going to have to teach Noah all the forms once again. It was aggravating actually.

But the basics were done. Done well? well the point is they were done without complaint, as long as in between sets of 80, they were able to run a lap around the house.

For the first round of forms, Dai Dai actually jumped in and challenged for most favorite son by being able to complete more of his form that he never really learned, than Noah was able to complete of any one form. This had Noah in tears of rage of course.

But eventually he "won" even though it wasn't really a contest, by completing two full forms.

And then when we went over one of the forms, chasing fist, slowly, like Tai Chi, I realized that we should be doing more of that. Going over the forms together, slowly like that. It's probably more important to go over the forms like Tai Chi than to do Mein Lei Jum... which he would have to learn anyway. Whereas reviewing the other forms might be enough to job his memory.

I have a new curriculum of jumping for Lion Dance too because I plan of starting them on that as well... and the brothers like it. Even though it is annoying that I have to start over with the forms.. in a way it is exciting too. It also gives Dai Dai some time to catch up.

Discipline

I have always been skeptical about selling "discipline." Mainly because I noticed that a lot of the undisciplined kids in a Kung Fu class are often better fighters. Also in terms of problem solving thinking all in one way can be a bad thing. However, after I went outside to water the plants and Noah had a bruise and cut under his eye from Jonah (you see Noah is bigger and better at Kung Fu... so Jonah threw blocks at him... Noah could not even say when or how he got hit. There is more to fighting than strength or skill.)

Well in any case.. I was getting tired of this nonsense. So I came down hard on "discipline" the only way I really know how... which is to have a traditional Kung Fu Class. we didn't do 20 minutes of meditation... but we did do a ton of basics. Well, we did what we used to do for the adults classes. I realized that they were willinng to go through with it as long as there were ample breaks. The breaks were running a lap around the house (instead of walking in a circle) That way they got a change in scenery. They didn't do that great a job at the basics... but I realized that even crappy half moves warm the body up to do the full motion. In other words eventually it makes them better. Also it was more about the ritual of bowing and following directions and all that. How am I going to fit this into the schedule once school starts? Well I am going to be teaching Lion Dance at Nativity Prep and the boys will have to do that. So that's a given. At least it has been proven to me that they can do a full on adults class. And then the other days? I guess we will do it outside the house just like now. In theory I can even do it after dark if I turn the outside light on. It's just good practice lining up and all that. I think our household should focus on that and take a step back from the militancy on the other activities... like violin and chess. Instead these should be the things that are done in recreation for rest. We'll see how that goes though.

Feeling the Heat

You know I think when I was younger, I would still practice in this full force... but now I'm like why? I mean I might meditate. But that's it. When it gets a little cooler in the afternoon I'll start doing my Mein Lei Jum Tai Chi thing... and I feel like, I won't really practice... instead I'll just do some of this... and I forget that some people JUST practice Tai Chi. So that should be okay to me to just do that too. Nothing wrong  with it.

Somehow since the kids came back I had trouble readjusting to practicing with them. Okay the basics and forms stuff, although I was doing moves with them, the energy that was taking place there with Noah complaining...at the end of that I don't feel like I practiced, because I don't have that feeling of endorphins and release and relaxation.  I'll have to start doing stuff in the morning by myself again. And it will have to be just a little bit of something before the kids wake up.

And at some point I have to start running through what we will perform too.

I have taken to painting the lion head with Dai Dai. It is painted not in the traditional Chinese way. I don't know what people will make of it, or when I should use it. It has a giant world tree in the back with a hand and an eye. If you read  my other blog with mostly fiction you can see a bunch of myths that basically blend the Chinese, Norse and Hebrew  and Christian Myths together into one thing that makes more sense with the current scientifically proven timeline and worldview... and is sort of Sci Fi in nature. Anyway, that's where the tree comes from, and I am going to have the 9 fire bird suns that Ho Yi shot down.. except I'm using an older name Shen I and mixing it with other stuff. In other words I am making heads that have a basis in mythology that I am also making up. All this has ties to Chinese culture.... but Klingon culture also has similarities to Asian cultures... doesn't mean it's the same thing. It would make sense to bring this head out for the Lantern Festival since the Moon lady features prominently in my stories.... maybe next year.

Basics and Forms

It's been a while since I made the kids do Kung Fu, like the traditional basics and forms.. but today I figured we would run through everything quickly before we started a water fight. But Honestly, my low standards... I was mad because I knew that they could do better, especially Noah. Jonah could do better to but he started just not participating, which wasn't okay to me. So I ended up taking a lot of time doing really simple stuff with them, when it could have just been a run through. In retrospect maybe it was a little much. I should focus on the big picture. Like maybe today they didn't take it serious... but what about after a week of it?

But I think part of it is also I was getting mad about lack of discipline. I mena these kids were acting like real punks every since they got back from Jersey. And for most things I just let everything fly. But for this I put my foot down. It's not like we were doing two hour horse stance or even 100 each basic. It was 10 of each basic... but you had to do it well.

I guess this will be an every day thing from now on, and Dai Dai is going to have to step it up. I had been only going over what we are going to perform, for the Lantern festival.. which I had still planned to do. This traditional stuff was just going to be warm up. But it's the end of the day... maybe we'll perform it for Mommy in a minute or so.

Onset

A lot of people get sick when it is too cold. But you know what? This is the second time that I've gotten sick just because I was out in the sun. I think I may have not drunk enough water. And Maybe it was because I was just sitting in wet sweat. But man am I weak in the heat. It's not like I was running around or anything either. And I'm not one to say "I'm dying!" I don't rush to get under AC. But I',m sneezing like crazy now after that Cape Verdean Festival in Onset. It makes me wonder if I should decide NOT to go to August Moon. But no.. I have to go. Plus, it's not like I will be working a tent or even performing so it's not the same.

I should have packed a swim suit to that Onset beach. Then I could have jumped in. I should have packed the ridiculous amount of water I usually do when I have the kids. I think I was deceived by how cool it was in the morning when I woke up at 6am.

Well going to the festival was an adventure to say the least. Pretty fun times. Should I blog about it though? I'm not sure. Maybe I'll save these stories for later or for fiction.

Excited about Saturday's Onset Cape Verdean Festival.

I'm going to be going to this tomorrow and part of it is I'm going to start writing articles about the Cape Verdean Community. This might seem sort of weird to some, since I'm not Cape Verdean, but the draw is to do something Like I have been doing with the Chinatown Blog.. except I will be a complete outsider. I am excited to do this because having blogged about Chinatown...I did notice a lot of benefits to being somewhat of an insider... but in many ways there were more draw backs to having those ties to the community. They were vulnerabilities and subconscious censorship as well as blindness to to things that only an outsider could see.

I'm pretty excited about this, like I'm travelling or at least stepping outside of my comfort zone. Part of it was talking to so many people in Chinatown who started off as outsiders but then quickly became a part of the community.

And getting mildly banished had something to do with it as well. It was a good and exhilarating thing, to be cast out, because it allowed me to look at everything as an outsider and travel elsewhere to do the same work and to learn from other people who are doing amazing things as well.

Then Sunday I will hang out in Chinatown for the August Moon Festival I won't have my kids and I won't even have my team. Which means I will have no responsibilities or strings or anything. I aim to have some fun being a tourist in my own community.

Kung Fu on a Yoga mat

This is not the first time that I have toyed with shortening the space of the traditional forms I do. That is to say, doing the forms in a smaller space. I did this practicing inside... and also when teaching large classes. I adapted a form so that I always face the class. The reason why I did this instead of basics was because the form was more dynamic and fun. I also simplified some of the jump kicks so you still got the feeling of jumping up into the air and yelling "Hai!" while doing Kung Fu.... but I made it so any kid could do it pretty much on the first try. I mean not well necessarily but they could do it without hurting themselves or kicking their neighbor.

But I rarely brought a "yoga" mat with the intention of staying on it the whole time. The mat is actually a pvc "straw" mat for the beach. Someone was throwing it out. I had played with the idea of the mat as a magic carpet and wanted to create something for I book "Pirate Yoga Fu" which sort of got absorbed into Lions and Dragons and Drums... and then cut.

You would open a portal through magical Kung Fu moves and be able to step through it to other Universes or something like that. I was going to use a stick or sword too.

But today I did this just for myself. I felt like I was headed to the beach because I didn't bother to put on a shirt (I would just have to waist water washing it.)

I Yoga Fued and meditated and also just chilled out. I didn't eat breakfast so I wouldn't have to digest.. and it was nice doing moves, pushups, stretches and then just gazing at the clouds. Like a real vacation. A cheap one too.

Then I figured I would do the forms on the mat in a more or less stationary position as a warm up. I mean you do exert your self and you get in cardio too, but you won't pull something like you might if you run and jump doing the real form. The truth is, the real forms are kind of brutal on your body.

After all that I decided to do Walking forms. I had done running forms in the past, where I free style and use the form techniques but I try to use the whole field. This time I did it walking. It's just too hot. So it kind of had the concepts of Bak Gwa, like that medium speed walking type fighting... but it wasn't the same as Bak Gwa at all. Each technique brought you almost to it's own system of movement. All this was a warm up to do the actual form... performance style. But then when it came time to doing the actual form. I was tired. I mean I could have done it, but past experience told me that I also could have pulled something. Not like "i'm injured for a week" type of a pull, but why even strain? Instead why not build up to that. Yeah I've been doing Kung Fu for years... but it's been a while since I did so much Kung Fu. I mean I was out there for hours. Yeah a lot of it was just chilling but still. It was more to pass the time than to get it done.

But I realized that eventually I think I want to teach this way. Stationary or indoor Kung Fu... I mean I remember so many issues from people being in each others space. Having a Yoga mat is like having assigned seating. But to do just Horse Stance meditation for two hours. Well people can still do that. But other people can follow along doing form moves too.

Learning the form... that would be more like a lesson. One on one. with someone. Doesn't have to be me. Theoretically Noah could teach quite a few forms now.

And then for getting use to moving more... the fields.. or the woods, or even the side walk. Just go for a Kung Fu Run..

and then yes of course performing the forms should be part of it too as well as play sparring. All of which can be done outside.

The point is, I don't really need a brick and mortar school. I do need students or members to have a bigger team or group if I want to go that route. But in terms of training, a brick and mortar room, even if it is free, is not necessarily better. In some ways it can hole you back.

"Defiance", "Django", and "Stranger Things"

I've been binge watching TV on Amazon and Netflix. And I just realized that all three of these are throwbacks. Django is a total throwback to the 70's, Stranger Things the 80's and Defiance has a very 90's feel.

I started watching Defiance and realized  that although it is meant to be like a Western Sci Fi... there are total elemnets of it that feel like Chinatown. Mostly that's because it deals with Alien Immigration where the immigrants are actual Aliens with strange rituals. I'm not saying Chinese people do what is done in the show, but that i feel like that's how Chinese and many other immigrants were perceived. But also the Earth born aliens... I don't know there is a total Jook Sing like thing about them. Anyway I'm hooked on the show. But it isn't the best thing ever. It's just decent. Graham Greene, who was in Twilight and also Dances with wolves is in it. And that was enough for me to continue watching.

The throwback to the 90's is mainly in the music they play, usually a cover, and they make these songs that when I heard them on the radio just seemed like stupid background.. now seem like ancient cultural heritage.... which technically it would be given the time and circumstances of the setting of the show... in a post apocalyptic future earth. It really has me thinking about telling some Chinatown stories in a Sci Fi fashion.

Then Grace really wanted to watch Stranger Things. Which is more than set in the 80's. It looks like it was made in the 80'sand it has all these big time 80's actors... except now when editing, instead of doing it by hand with actual film and tape the cuts are cheaper and easier to do so there are more of them and they are faster. I wanted to say they made an 80's horror film with modern technology except CGI and other trends towards different special effects.. but CGI actually does play a role too, but you barely notice it. I hardly watched horror films growing up, but this one is good. I feel like there are references to Akira, ET and probably a bunch of other teen horror movies I never saw. I mean the music and Title come on and you feel like you have just returned to the 80's

The benefit to doing this type of thing, revisiting old ways of movie making, is you can really do better than the originals if you spend some time on it. Which brings me to Django.


Starting off, right from the theme I loved Django. It is your real classic Cowboy movie. Except with more blood and although everyone is talking about the Slavery aspect of the story... it's really not like that. It just happens to have a black protagonist who of course starts out as a slave. But it doesn't FEEL like a "slave" movie. The truth is that all of these older westerns somehow managed to edit slavery out.

But the movie is very Tarantino in that not only do you see Western references but it feels like references to Anime referencing westerns that were referencing Samurai movies. Tarantino said he thought it was better than Roots. compared to Levar Burton's Roots? I think he might be right. And even compared to the newer one. Now Roots has a bunch of stuff that Django doesn't because it's focus is a dramatization of a historical time, to tell a history.

That's not what Django is. In fact Django is so white I don't really know why people were focusing so much on it being something that White people might not want to watch. That shows being very uncomfortable with your own history.

Django has a very NORSE aspect to it. And it is FUNNY too.

When Django really comes into his own, then you start hearing the hip hop style music as he kills a bunch of people. They way I heard about it on Howard Stern or whatever you hear about it being about Killing a bunch of White People. But it's a Western. He is killing bad guys. Who happen to be white, and because he has to. He isn't indiscriminant. There was more blood then the old time westerns.. but more shooting? Well maybe a higher body count. But if you like Clint Eastwood and Nevada Smith and all that type of stuff... trust me you will like Django. WIll I show it to my kids? Jonah will be scared. But honestly? I may very well show it to them.

Yoga Fu video

This is the video I spoke of making in my other written post.

Yoga Fu

So the kids are away and I am going to be doing some basic Kung Fu at the Jamaica Pond Softball Diamond. I was planning on just doing the meditation and stretches that I started off with when I started White Crane Kung Fu at age 14. Of course before then I had done Wushu and even Ballet, so I had other stuff in my head, I didn't start from nothing.

So then I realized it was foolish to be married to these particular stretches especially if others might want to join in. I mean those stretches are pretty difficult for a lot of people (I do them for my children's classes though because I am hired to be Chinesee and I'm not sure how salute to sun would go over.)

But I realized this was an opportunity to develop my Yoga Fu.

I know there is already a martial art based on the Yogic moves. It's called Kalari.

I also know a lot of the moves in Kung Fu already have similarities to Yoga.
And I had explored this before in my writing. In fact in my upcoming book, Lions and Dragons and Drums, I was even going to have a section with diagrams etc that merged Yogic moves with Lion Dance. But I went with just describing it.

I fooled around in front of the Go Pro doing some Kung Fu with ethe Salute to sun as a base. Basically I just wanted to show how you can do that. A) do all the Kung Fu on a Yoga mat. So that means you can do it at home. and B) use the salute to sun as a meditative stretching rest in between the Kung Fu moves.

I feel like it's more efficient. To stretch on your rest, than to stretch... then do basics.

And I realized that watching videos of people teaching techniques.. I rarely follow along exactly. So I just did some stuff that is difficult to follow along with but introduces a concept. Then I said that you do the Saliute to Sun, followed by a set of basics. The 4 basics I am talking about are chuen (A streight punch that is classic Kung Fu/Karate except that we turn our waist. If we didn't turn our waist, I don't think I would be so married to these moves. Because then any move is good. But since we turn our waist, there is a very relaxing, stretchy aspect to the motion, plus you can use it as cardio.

And then another salute to sun, and then POWs. This is like an uppercut excpt it isn't. In fact it looks like a disco move... except again we turn our waist. Again there is a loosening relaxing stretchy aspect to this move and it also opens up your lungs. You get the drift now. Another Salute to sun and then cups.

Cups are just downward windmill like motions. I wanted to say to sets of 100, but to start... 30 should be fine, until you get into the routine.

One more salute to Sun, and then Been Ngau. This is a backfist hook... or it is just swinging your arms out horizontally as you turn your waist. It is a lot like the drum move that Daniel San uses to defeat Chozen in Karate Kid II. Except even more emphasis on turning the waist.

Anyway, later on I fooled around more and discovered if I didn't do these moves... there are a lot of other options to work on too. A lot of other ways to approach Yoga Fu.

What is missing from this is the sparring idea. (Which honestly.. you can get from play fighting. It seems weird for adults to play fight. But it is totally natural for children. We take fighting too seriously. It either has to be a sport where there is competition... or it has to be life and death. Kids play fight all the time and so we associate play fighting (with sticks or hands or whatever) with child's play. We are insecure in our ability to KILL it seems. But real fighters fool around doing stupid bonehead type games all the time. Drinking is often involved. And sometimes it is true it escalates.

But I will say that Tigers, or Chimpanzees or real killers in nature that kill to eat every day without the benefit of projectile weapons or traps play fight all the time. Yes they do the ritualized fighting and posturing as well, but they also play and that is how they stay sharp. Old animals probably don't play much... but I'm just pointing out that the fighting skills came from play, so no need to overthink your sparring with rules and complex methods. Just do it often with out thinking.

The strategy comes later when you are by yourself and unable to play and so you run through your weaknesses.... with Yoga Fu.


The Yoga Fu also misses moving, since you are on a mat.

Yeah forms cover that. But forms are hard to learn.. especially over you tube. I am showing some forms.. and if you can learn them, then you are worthy. Mostly they are for friends that already know the form but have forgotten.

But the true way to get good is to break apart the techniques and just move with them. Use the whole field, Go backwards and forwards in circles. Go slow and fast. Go into the woods on the trails. And frankly, the four moves mentioned above are enough. Add in a variation here and there, something cool you saw on You tube or in Kung Fu Panda.. and you have you self a fine workout and muscle memory that is able to produce strikes.

Of course I've seen people who are self taught, or even traditionally trained who are missing something. Missing a lot actually, even if they themselves are talented.  But the answer isn't in the moves themselves so much. More in the mentality behind the practice and training. But hey not everyone will get it anyway and whether you get it or not will not effect your ability to compete in the modern environment. Or even the ancient wild environment either. Projectile weapons and traps have long been a more effective way of killing prey... whether your prey is for food or a competitive tribe or species.

Before the missile and IED was the Bow and arrow and the various hunting traps. And before the bow and arrow there was the throwing spear and the fish hook or at least the net I think was a very early invention. If not, then driving animals off a cliff, or the old crushing an enemy below with a boulder.

So taking that into account.. than martial arts is really for something else.

Revere Beach

Today me and the children took a trip to Revere beach. I forgot to bring the Go Pro, but then life is not All about videos. Even if I was making big bucks from videos it wouldn't all be about videos. Besides a lot of what I saw that was funny I wouldn't have been able to capture. Like a Seagull taking off with someone's package or Peppridge Farm Gold Fish Snacks... teh family chasing after the seagulls with shovels and the ensuing drama.

I also watched as a woman taught someone else's son how to float. It was kind of touching. The Father and son were black and I suppose it was rather obvious that neither knew how to swim, and the white woman could not take it any more and decided to show the boy at least how to float.

Part of me felt guilty that my kids are not great swimmers either. But this boy was much older. And I was thinking about that boy that drowned. Now if he knew how to swim he still could have drowned if there was an under tow or something like that. But still swimming is one of the life saving skills more important than Kung Fu.

I was equating what I was watching here to Kung Fu or humans sharing information. I mean swimming is a big deal. It was a big deal for our ancestors and it is a big deal today.

But it is interesting that Kung Fu is more mystified and there is the whole bowing to Sifu thing, when what this woman just showed the boy could easily save his life, it was not too hard to learn, and was passed on just like that. Imagine if Kung Fu was passed on like that?

Perhaps some basic fighting is... or tricks and applications... There is plenty of stuff online and in books and a lot of people tend to treat that as diluted or wrong. But is it?

The kids made Sand Castles and cities and we even played Go in the sand, rocks against shells.

I lay on the beach and realized that the way most people lie on the beach is backward to common sense. They lie on top of a towel (For what?) and try to get burned or tan or whatever. But I realized, you are going to get sandy anyway so why not lie on the sand and put the towel over you to protect you from the sun? That way you don't need to bring all the other equipment along.

Anyway it was pretty fun and relaxing on the beach. I even closed my eyes because I could hear both children playing with each other. Fighting, squawking at Seagulls or what have you. And of course when I didn't hear two I checked and they were right there.

We took the T there and ate a packed lunch (too early) so we bought Pizza afterward too. The Pizza wasn't great. I would have like to get Kelly's Roast Beef or whatever the name of the place is... but the walk was too far down. We'll definitely do it again before summer is over, that is, the kids and I by T. It's just too easy not to do it.

Saluting sun and stone tools.

I brought the kids outside today.. not so much to work out. I had been doing that but what with Tenacity and various things I stopped. It was just to get them not to wreck the house. At first Noah built his boat outside and I was doing Yoga on a Yoga mat like a full on hippie.

Actually the reason why I am getting into my sun salutation is again from reading that "Once Upon a time in the future" where the guys, whether it is Arjun or whoever, does the meditating while the sun rises. Now you could say, Why don't I just do Kung Fu meditation?

Maybe it's because the Sun Salutation is simple, or easier or new... but that's what I do. I also know that Yoga doesn't draw as much attention. And I feel more comfortable doing some sort of standing meditation when I am outside.

Anyway I didn't get through it anyway because the children started beating each other. So we ended up going to the park.

And there, instead of practicing, we looked for stones and glass to knap into arrow and spear heads.

We've been watching "The First Peoples" and "Becoming Human" and we've been kind of obsessed with stone age tools made by neanderthals, Homo Erectus, and Homo Sapiens.

We're sort of just playing. But I think these glass bottom "tools" might ending up being something cool to like give to someone as a reward. I mean belts are kind of lame, especially if you didn't make them yourself. Well anyway for now it's just something we do. I haven't figured how to but these sharp stones and glass onto a stick yet. I mean we could watch a DIY video.. and have in fact but it's sort of been a spontaneous thing.


I moved to the side and did some working out. Mostly calisthenics and a bit of basics and free styling.

The boys were sword fighting with sticks... and technically doing better than I was. At least they were sparring with another human being of equal (more or less) skill. Of course to get to the next level, that takes drilling and practice and all the Kung Fu exercises. But everyone always criticizes just drilling it seems. That it's not realistic. But the most realistic is what my boys were doing... just playing like little wolf or lion cubs... except they were using weapons. I just let them do what they did.

Soon it was time for breakfast and we headed back inside. Was this training? We were all somewhat lazy...or perhaps I should say relaxed. But it was something.

Mahabarat

Sometimes you get the feeling that the Universe, or maybe just one of your ancestors... and for me I always go to my mother, is trying to tell you something.

Itw as a while ago that I turned on Arjun.. a UTV cartoon which Disney did have something to do with after all, and watched it on my own. I then told Noah about it and we watched it together.

My favorite scene was when he kills the fish while looking at it's shadow. It was so cool that I started googling Arjun and learned about the Mahabarat.

It turns out for that particular scene... the cartoon was way cooler than the original story.

I won't say it's my favorite cartoon. I actually thought it was weird because at the end.. Arjun fights like Bruce Lee. And the Indian characters are drawn... well anime was a big influence you can just tell. Especially when you look at old artwork depicting the Mahabarat. Some Indians look more like East Asians.. but it was weird to hvae everyone looking like that.

Anyway, Noah loves the movie and we are watching it again.

Then... it turns out that I had bought a book from the library, "Once Upon a Time in the Future"  by A.K. Kulshreshth. I had brought it to Florida to read. I wanted to bring a book I could lose and not care about. I didn't even finish it... or even read it really.

I only started reading it now. Turns out that is all about the Mahabarat. I only knew what the hell I was reading because I had already seen Arjun.. and I had already looked at a lot of the mythology on Wikipedia.

Reading that book now.. I realize it is a lot like what I was trying to do with Kung Fu and Love. And mean... if you put those two books together there are a lot of similarities. While I'm sure he had a better support team... I mean an editor and he worked with an illustrator.. I mean I've never heard of the book. I want to suspect it is one of those fringe type novels. The author live sin Singapore. I mean yes he is at a higher level than me..... also this book thing also seems to be something he is doing for fun. He is really an engineer... but still I had never read anything like Kung Fu and Love, until I read this book. It was a bit inspiring.

So that's not the only thing. At Outside the Box we only got to watch two performances. One was classical Indian Dance. The teacher performed by herself. Much like me. It was just her and music. It made mne realize using pre recorded music could really carry you far when you are dealing with large speakers and your drummer would otherwise be a 6 year old.

Plus she showed me through this classical dance that... well skill is very important. It was interesting because a lot of the dance was in the face. Amazingly so. I'd never seen something like that, and I ended up having a conversation with her students. I wanted to collaborate with her, but I lost the paper with her contact. But in a way, the stuff I'm working  for the Lantern Festival is already partially inspired by her dance. Why? THe choreography was both traditional.. but she said it was a new dance.

Also, while watching her, I thought, "If she was not so good, the moves she was doing through out the whole dance... would look ridiculous." What I mean is that she wasn't doing back flip after back flip. Every move she did, theoretically everyone could do. That is to say they could do some copy of it, although not well. But it takes years of practice and true artistic flare to make that move into something that people will watch and be drawn into another world and stare fascinatingly at. Basically the type of Kung Fu I do is pretty similar because it is not like we do fancy move after fancy move. There are only a few acrobatic moves if any per form.

But what I am going to do for the lantern festival is actually something completely different.

I choreographed new moves. But more on that later. Maybe in another blog.. the Chinatown one.