sfdeep

is there a masseuse in the house? anyone? anyone?

i had my kung fu tournament over the weekend. i ended up being in four events and it went well. i got one first place, two second places, and a third place.

the first place was in push-hands. push-hands is based on tai-chi, where two people face each other, with their arms in front of them touching the opponent. the goal is to push your opponent off-balance, but you can't move your feet and you can't grab or strike the other person. but you can push them and you can trap their arms with open hands and pull them over. the idea of push-hands is to remain relaxed and conscious of your center of gravity. when you stay relaxed, you become more sensitive to your opponent and you can feel the tension in their body and use that against him or her.

one second place was in a staff form called chow sot staff set. the other second place was in two minute continuous sparring. in the sparring they paired us up according to our rank and not according to our weight, so everybody i had to fight was about 40 pounds heavier than me. larger people aren't very fast, but when they hit you, it ain't no joke. the third place was in another form su moi fa [sic] (editor's note: i'm not sure if i'm spelling this right, a little rusty on my cantonese) which is the last set i've learned and my favorite so far.

i had a good time at the tournament, but now my back is killing me, and the next day my muscles were so sore it hurt when i laughed. the only thing i don't like about getting older is how the body solidifies and is more responsive to inertia and gravity. i'm going to get some energy work done by one of my classmates later this week and see if it helps. it's a technique called fourth-dimensional healing, i'm curious to see what it's like.