Performance

So we had our dragon dance/lion dance performance today and it went pretty good...except for the part where I lost my drum stick.
It's funny how you can practice so many times and then one sweaty palm, one wrong angle and poof...your stick is gone. It can be hard to keep your cool when something like that happens, but in the end you just have to grab your stick and keep going. You hope that no one noticed, but you know that's probably not the case. Accepting the fact that you made a mistake can be difficult, especially when that mistake affects the performance of others. But making mistakes is part of growing, as a drummer, as a martial artist and as a person.
Trying to learn from your mistakes is part of life too, but so is accepting the fact that sometimes crap happens and sometimes that crap happens in public. You have to keep holding your head high and keep going. Damage control. It's all a part of performing.
I'm pretty sure at some point in my drumming carrier, I'll lose another stick. As much as you try to keep ahold of them, you have to drum with a loose grip and so sometimes it happens. But practice helps and maybe I should take from this that I need more practice...maybe not at drumming (although I could always use practice at that too), but at performing. Performing is a skill that gets better with practice and maybe, with practice, my palms won't get quite so sweaty and I'll keep ahold of my sticks.
So it all comes back to practice...doesn't it always!?!

Great job everyone who was involved in the dance!

Ninja Baby!

So little Julia can sit up on her own now which is pretty cool, along with almost crawling. She's growing really fast! I like to think she'll be a little ninja when she grows up and will want to train like we do. But we'll have to see. Maybe she'll want to dance instead (or do both like a certain famous martial artist). A good sign though is that she laughs when we get her to fake kick people (I know it sounds terrible, but it's really cute....not that we're advocating child violence or anything).
I hope that she finds something that she's passionate about. Everyone needs something.
Maybe if we buy one of those little baby sized uniforms, she'll get so used to wearing one that she'll have to love Kung-Fu! Mwahahahahahaha! Baby manipulation!

Dragon dance

So we have a dragon and lion dance coming up in the beginning of September. I've been kind of nervous about it, wondering if we would be ready or not. But yesterday we had a great practice and I'm confident that the performance will go well. It's been difficult because we've had so many new people (myself included), but everyone has stepped up and it's looking great now. One of the major difficulties with the dragon dance is the number of people it involves. You need at least nine every practice. The difficulty is in trying to schedule practices around nine different schedules. But so far we've always had enough people (sometimes just!).

I always found lion dancing (and now dragon dancing) to be a great test of my commitment. Over the years I've rescheduled work, missed parties, put off vacations etc. so that I could make practices. The great motivator for me was not the dance itself (although that's cool too), but the camaraderie and team-building atmosphere that you only get when you practice for hours together. You build a special bond within your team and it's really special. I always felt a lot of pressure to show up to practices too because it wasn't just me that was effected, but the entire team and ultimately (because we represent the school at performances), the school. It's a great responsibility to be a member of a performance group, but you get a lot of benefit from it too (the team building I mentioned, performance experience, technical skill etc.).
When you are in a dance, you have to put the team (and the school) first and yourself (your schedule - although work can be difficult) second. That's what real commitment is, its being willing to sacrifice your own goals for the greater cause that you've signed up for.

I understand that it can be hard to do so when you have a family. I've been blessed in that my husband is also very much involved in the school too so it makes my involvement easier. But at the end of the day, I don't think family can be used as an excuse for lack of commitment.
I can say this because I've been heavily involved in other things (for this example, my church), that my husband has no interest in what-so-ever. I acted as youth councillor for a number of years, leading trips across the country, having youth-nights once a week and generally being very busy organizing and running events. I was able to remain committed because I thought it was important enough to justify time away from my family. I was helping young kids discover their faith. That to me was very important and I had committed to running their group. It is a balancing act, but at the end of the day you have to ask yourself what your priorities are. If something is going to make you a better person, or has the potential to benefit countless others, it will ultimately benefit your family. Showing true commitment and dedication to something you believe in can be a great example for your spouse, children and extended family. But the trick is that it has to be something that you believe in.

Getting those you care about involved in your causes is a great way to add balance. My Mom and Julia came and watched our practice yesterday and they really enjoyed it. It makes them feel a part of things too and they see why it's so important (although whether Julia understands this yet is doubtful, but she liked all of the colours and noise!). Bringing your family along on your journey helps you stay connected with them and you get to know each other in different ways.
I know this may sound like idealized gunk, but I think it's true.

I'm excited now because I'm starting to see the dragon dance group really pull together and become a great team. I know the I Ho Chuan guys already have a team thing going on and that the dragon dance team was also in chinese new year, but it's still neat to see a group of people coming together for a single purpose.
It's really inspiring to see.

Bruce Lee is awesome

So we recently watched a show about Bruce Lee and it was pretty interesting. What struck me most was his attitude towards fitness. He was of the mindset that you need to get in shape so that you can do your Kung-Fu effectively. This thought struck a chord for me because I've usually approached my training with the thought of doing Kung-Fu to get into shape. Kung Fu does get you into shape if you work hard, but the idea of doing additional things (like weight training, etc.) with the specific goal of getting stronger for my Kung-Fu is new to me. Usually I'd do things like that just to "get healthier" or because I know it's good for me. Now the thought of training for my Kung-Fu is kind of cool. It gives new purpose to my fitness training. I'm not doing situps just because of some abstract reason of wanting to get into shape, I'm doing situps so that I can take a punch to the gut. I'm doing pushups so that I have strong punches. I'm running so that I won't tire out in a sparring match.

Kung-Fu does a lot for us, but we need to do a lot for our Kung-Fu as well. It's a feedback loop. In the case of fitness....the more in shape I get, the better my Kung-Fu and the better my Kung-Fu, the better my fitness becomes.

I don't know if any of this made any sense, but I feel excited about my fitness training now. It has a defined purpose. I no longer do it just because it's good for me. Now I do it because it will make specific aspects of my Kung-Fu better.

Progressing wisely

So I recently participated in a sparring class...the first one in probably years. I always enjoyed sparring as a coloured belt and now that I'm a black belt, I still do, but a little less often. This last class though I pushed myself a little too hard. Now I've never been one to let injuries keep me down, but what Master Brinker says about patience and progressing wisely is true. You can't go too hard too fast. That was the mistake I made this week. I ended up paying the price for it this weekend with a ruined body. I learned that my body isn't quite ready for that kind of strain....yet.

Now my fear in regards to injury has always been that I'd end up stagnating. It can be easy to use injuries as an excuse to not break a sweat. So I've always been the other way, I usually push things too hard and too fast, which isn't the answer either.
So for now at least I'm going to try and have patience and progress wisely. Maybe I shouldn't be sparring full tilt yet. But instead maybe I should be focusing on other things like my tai chi.
But it's hard when you remember all of the things you used to do and how badly you want to be able to do them again at the same level.

Knowing me, as soon as I stop hurting...probably later this week...I'll be pushing it hard again.
I need to try and train smarter.