whoa.

[curgoth]

I went to kung fu tonight. The weather was cool, and there was a nice breeze. The air was clean enough that I was able to breathe fully for the first time this summer.

After the warm up stances, we did some "dynamic breathing". While doing so, I managed to feel my "chi"; that's supposedly what one feels when one gets that tingling sensation in one's palms.

Whether or not there is actually any mystical force moving through me when I do those exercises, they are effective. Every time I get far enough into them to feel my chi, for the rest of the night, I'm super charged. My mind knows that I'm very tired, but my body feels like I've just had a 20 hour nap. I won't be able to sleep for a while tonight. I feel more aware of my surroundings, like I'm gliding on a perfectly still pool of water, and everything that moves around me disturbs the water.

When I'm too old to handle the hard external arts I train in now, I want to study something soft and internal, like tai chi or aikido. I gather that serious practitioners of internal arts feel like this all the time.

Spooky, no?

On a geeky note, I've finally installed a proper LJ client for linux. It makes me happy.

Comments

[night--watch.livejournal.com]

I can get that after doing yoga for a while. While perhaps not so exhausting, it certainly is work. But it's work that, if you actually do it, it makes you less tired, more energized. I've started doing the Warrior poses before I do any physical activity. They look like weird stretches, but are much neater.

I was thinking about taking up Tai Chi. The martial arts in general don't really appeal, because of the emphasis put on competition and combat. I'm just not a "martial" kind of guy.

Except maybe Marshall MacCluen. Take that, western media!

[curgoth]

The amount of competition varies wildly between schools. the place I train now has zero competetion. They do demos, but there's no competitive aspect to them, just showing off. :)

My previous school had a bit more comeptition, but again, you weren't pushed into it; if you wanted to go compete, there was support for it, but most people dind't.

But, I think what you're getting at is the aggression, and there is plenty of that.

[night--watch.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have aggression. In spades. I just lack the physical co-ordination do impose any of it on the world about me.

I'm awfully handy with words, though ;)