wu life 213
new blog space
i have decided to move my wu life journals to this blog space. i think this will be better then sending generic emails to everyone every week. my journals can be enjoyed at..
www.wudangweekly.blogspot.com
not only will this allow you all to access 'wu life' on your own time, but you can also access back logged blogs and leave comments as well. good fun. in addition, it will have a space for pictures too. in all i hope this will consolidate my computer time so i can spend more time practicing and less time behind my lap top.
birthday shenanigans
big party.. big, big party. well, pretty big, by wudang standards at least. we all gathered for a nice meal at the local hot pot spot. we were three tables deep.. two meat-tables and one vegi-table. get it? vegi-table? ..sorry,.. bad joke.
we had enough yellow wine for the whole restaurant.. but sadly, most of it ended up in my cup. after the amazing meal, we all shot over to the local massage house for foot soaks and rub downs.. but by this time i was so wasted that i spent most of the time purging my body of the alcohol i just consumed.. i.e. throwing up.
in the end, we all made it home safely. nothing was broken and no one was hurt,.. but before the end of the night, in my drunken stupor, i expressed my sincere love to all my brothers before passing out face first and fully clothed in my bed. ahhh, i won't be partying like that again for a while.
tai yi competition
last summer, before i came back home for the fall, i spent about three weeks learning a short form called 'tai yi wu shin chuan'. as opposed to tai chi where yin and yang movements are in harmony, tai yi separates the two.. the form is a beautiful combination of soft yin movements and hard yang explosiveness.. it's really beautiful.
anyway, several students from our school, myself included, will be competing in a tai yi competition soon.. and chances are, we will be the only non-chinese competing. this will be the first traditional, internal kung fu competition china has ever hosted - and it is strictly for tai yi only. the cool thing is, tai yi is a very rare form specific to wudang and not too many people know it.. this means that we will be primarily competing against monks and apprentice monks that have been practicing this form for years! wish me luck!
spear form
a prerequisite to the tai yi competition is knowing a traditional weapon form as well. being so big, i cannot find a weapon my size here, so i had to special order an extra long spear. the spear is considered the 'king of weapons' and i definitely feel pretty regal practicing it. the coolest thing is how all the chinese people get out of my way when i walk down the street with an extra long spear in hand - very kingly. good fun.
taoist name
last night, master yuan presented me with an official taoist name.. zi rong.
the surname 'zi' means that i am a 16th generation desciple of the zhang san feng lineage of wudang mountain (google it). the name 'rong' however, has much more meaning..: ease, tolerance, forgiveness, patience, to hold, to save, to contain, to have capacity for, etc.., it's pretty heavy. a taoist name is supposed to reflect the character of the disciple, and i was flattered to be given such an honorable name. i immediately dropped to my knees and gave my master three bows.
wudang weekly
that's it for this round. hopefully this new blog space will make it easier for you all to enjoy my journals.. all my aloha..
-zi rong
