Sunday 29 May 2016

Gah! I'm exhausted...Melbourne is awesome.


Last week I got back from a trip to Melbourne to visit Sifu Darren Elvey.
 What an understanding of VT he has.

Its funny...my ego can barely stand going to Darren's classes in Melbourne. This isn't a negative reflection of him...quite the opposite in fact.
I go there to get my compass reset.
Darren is a Dr Fu in my opinion. I go there to find out 'what's wrong?!', only to be told the VT version of eat better, drink water and get exercise...which is, relax what you're doing, simplify what you're doing and train the fundamentals until they can't be undone...which means you're forever training those simple ideas.

I'd gotten so caught up in controlling the centre line and having my elbow come back to the centre that...like a fool...I'd collapsed my entire structure. My shoulders would be caving towards my chest and I'd be tired in no-time.
Now, I'm about a metre wide at the shoulder...so I have concerns about letting my opponent get in, but i guess the secret is Lat Sau Jik Chung for the most part, and Facing for the rest.

I don't move a lot because people can't move me. Being big and heavy allows me to have a wonderful relationship with gravity...but that often leads me into standing my ground when it isn't reasonable and being slower to respond to changes in direction.

While I've spent a year or so concentrating on my bong sao, my next two points of concentration will be adjusting my tan sao and keeping my shoulders square and relaxed without allowing them to collapse.
As an extension of this I'll also be concentrating on facing, keeping close to my opponent and eating their space. My first name means Always Hungry, so it seems appropriate.

I get frustrated as i still find myself falling into the situation of, 'if i learn a new way to do x then my skill level will increase and y will be the result!'...fucking moron.
I need to keep it simple.
Move forward.
Become efficient.
Square up.
Keep close.
And every new thing i discover means reapplying these ideas and finding them taking on new meaning.
(now i don't mean a new technique, i mean discovering an aspect of WC which is new to me...).
Sure a magic pill, or Neo's "I know kung fu" ability would be outstanding...but we don't got it so i'll keep on with the slow boat.
WC is a long road and i'm not prepared to head in another direction.

On top of this I was lucky enough to spend time with the class, eat with a couple of them and get great feedback from all of them.
And in Chinatown in Melbourne there is my favorite little bbq restaurant which does the BEST roast pork with crackle. THAT is why gravity and i work so well together! baaaahahaha!