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Thursday, August 19, 2004

Fruit!

A bit of a mixed armful today!

Have you seen, on BBC channel Three (digital/sat in the UK) Mind, Body & Kick Ass Moves. A bit "MTV" for my liking, but nice to see. The presenter, Chris Crudelli, is expert enough to gain the respect of all the masters he introduces, normal enough to be totally whupped by them, yet sensible enough to demo/teach real-world applications that people in the bus stop can use. Which inspires me to crack on with the Chen style practice.

Which brings me to. Now, I'm sure my dearly belov'd would say it's cos I expect too much, but I am uncovering difficulties with this form. My flexibility being one of them. One particular other thing is balance in the cloud hands technique, wherein the foot is stepped behind the other on each step. I just feel so unstable. Must SINK the weight! And practice.

The final berry brought back is simple. How beneficial a holiday can be. I didn't read much (I found a nice enough DK Tai Chi book in a secondhand store - recommended for beginners doing Chen Man Ching's Yang style form) so my usual holiday suitcase'o'books came back unscathed, but I did spend a good while just doing the forms on some beautiful Cornish beaches.

Recipe: Stand on any patch of clear sand. Children and dogs are not a problem. Perform the form once or twice to clear the mind and free the joints, again to focus and strengthen. One more time to discover something about the form or the performer's errors. Rest and repeat ad lib.

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