I am truly humbled when I look at other people and see the results of the YEARS of training they've put in. Case in point was yesterday at Dan Training. We did several techniques (note to self: MUST LEARN KOREAN!!!) and I felt like I was just starting out with as well as some of these people were doing their techniques. It gives me something new to work on.
Another thing was forms. We practiced the Nahainchi forms yesterday. I only know Nahainchi Cho Dan, but even that felt like I was just a newbie when I saw how others were doing the form. I realize that I have to tweak my forms to catch up to the way my school does them, but this was a huge WOW to me. They did Nahainchi Ee Dan and I had to sit out because I don't have that particular skill...YET. I loved watching the way they did it, plus I picked up some pointers. Then they moved into Nahainchi Sam Dan and again, it was an eye opener! The Masters then did Sip Soo and Jin Do. I had learned Sip Soo at my old school, but I wouldn't have felt comfortable even ATTEMPTING it in the presence of Master M and Master A! They made it look *easy*!!
We worked on Ho Sin Sul and worked on ways to break out of an attack. Again, this was an eye opening experience. I have never before consciously thought about the ways to break out of an attack, but I was thinking about it yesterday. I like learning new things and I feel like I definitely learned something new.
I wrote down what I remembered from the training and will think about it as I attend my regular classes. When I came home from training, I told my husband that I felt like my fire was re-ignited. I am finding every day a new challenge. I love the fact that I learn, that there are new things to learn.
I found this when I was looking at You Tube this afternoon. I'm always looking for good examples of forms. If I'm not mistaken, this is Jin Do, which I was supposed to have learned to earn my Ee Dan. I never properly learned it and definitely couldn't do it through to the end! I will learn it when I learn it. Right now, I'm learning the hows and whys of what I'm doing in class.
Balance is always important in martial arts. One of the main reasons is that you don't want to be kicking someone and fall flat on your bum or on your face because you can't maintain your balance or control your kick. Many of your higher forms require incredible control and balance. There is a part of Jin Do that requires a Ap Cha Nut Gi (jumping front snap kick). I had attempted this on one of the occasions I had to practice with Mr. Brown before I left my old school...and I fell flat on my rear!! You talk about undignified!! I didn't have my foot planted properly, so I fell. Part of that was for inexperience, part of it was due to lack of balance.
I have a new tool in my training arsenal that I HOPE will help me in the long run. It's a Wii Fit. I read BBM's blog and decided to go out and look for one the night I read it. It sat in the house for a week before I set it up, but now that it's been set up, I am using it. I have been working on the balance games. I had the silly thing set up backwards first of all, but my husband finally decided to correct it and now all is well. It's not as bad as it was the day before yesterday! I did find out that Master G was correct in telling me that I need to use my hips! I really, REALLY found out how much when I did the 'slalom skiing'.
I haven't tried much of the yoga yet. I have done a trunk twist with my virtual trainer and I've got issues with the Wii as far as what it says my weight is, but I'll suck it up and deal with it. I have other things on my mind, like correcting my balance. So far, I'm "unbalanced". I DID, however, find that I can do a couple of serious aerobic exercises for about 15 minutes and I'm winded. This is something I will definitely work on. I AM going to get into better shape.
Tomorrow I'm packing the kids up (as long as it's not raining!!) and heading out to the local high school. We're going to put the track to good use. I want to start walking a mile...and I'll time it. Once I have a time for my walk, then I can start working on cutting that time down. At some point I need to start running. There's nothing that says I have to LIKE running...but I'll be running. If I get to the point where I can run a quarter of a mile in 2-3 minutes, it'll say something for me. My goal is to run a quarter mile by the end of...how about a month ending in "y"? That's one of four months. I won't say exactly WHICH month it is, but I'm going to work on it. I definitely feel like I'm facing the correct path. I'm not fully engaged on that path, but I'm facing it.
