wu life 224

WU LIFE 224


SUMMER OF SAM

what an amazing three weeks.. epic, excellent, majestic, glorious, superb, splendid, wonderful, grand,.. and any other adjective used to describe that which is great.

last i left you guys was back in wuhan. there i got to spend some time with brother sam while he was on tour and i also go to catch up with christine who was generous enough to help translate a very important document for me.. (more on that later). being the frugal traveler that i am, most of my time was spent either indoors or along the back streets of wuhan with the locals. wuhan is known as the hot pot of china, and for good reason,.. it was hot, humid, and rather disgusting. the highlight of my stay would definitely have to be the air conditioned room, the numerous trips to the wuhan wallmart, and all the time shared with good company. party.

after a week in the hot pot, i had a treacherous trip back to wudang via passenger train. man was that horrible. but, as soon as i arrived, i was greeted with smiles and hugs which made for a pleasant transition back to wu life. that first week back was rather packed. despite the non-stop rain that week, brother sam, brother kris, and myself trained our butts off and shared every waking moment in each other's company. such a good time. epic conversations, super good food, lots of massages, mad slap (good music), and a whole host of other wonderful exchanges. ahh, my reflections,.. my martial family is all i have here in china.. and i am blessed to have found a connection with such gifted individuals.

for the third week, the sun finally decided to show face, and it did with full force. the heat was ridiculous, which only added to the intensity of our training.. we three disciples.. me, sam, and kris, left each class drenched in sweat with salt rings around our pants and shoes. sadly, the only thing we had to beat the heat was watermelon, and we attacked it with a passion. so if we weren't training, we were eating melons. when we weren't eating watermelon, we were out eating noodles,.. if it wasn't noodles, it was dumplings,.. if it wasn't dumplings, it was an intimate meal with our master, and when we weren't eating with him, we were out doing any number of things to enjoy the moment.. extensive conversation, or a massage, or music, or jokes and laughs. we spent so much time together, it was as if we had 2000 years of catching up to do. such fun.

the other good thing about this round shared with sam was getting to know his better half, mandie. though she was not physically present, she was certainly present in heart and mind.. i have never seen sam so in love. i feel like i should call him 'colgate' or 'dr. teeth' just because he had this ever present smile on his grill. sam was super smile this whole month, and understandably so,.. mandie is super sweet. it's so cute to see sam - the hood hardened, tattooed thug / rockstar / martial guru - turn into a mush mouth teddy bear. i look forward to being a groomsman.


TAI SANG SAN FEN ZHONG, TAI SHA SHI NIEN GONG

while in wuhan, the other thing christine helped me with was translating that column that was printed about me in the paper last month. man, was i miss quoted.. i guess that's what happens when you can't speak the language very well.. homie just had to fill in the gaps i guess. anyway.. christine also shared a classic quote that i think fit my space quite accurately..

'tai sang san fen zhong, tai sha shi nien gong.'

this is an old saying for traditional chinese opera - roughly translated... 'before your three minutes on the stage, you need ten years of practice off the stage.' that came as a slap in the face for me.. basically, i should be more concerned with practice right now.. i can worry about my little three minutes of fame later. sound advice.


THAT'S ALL FOR NOW

well, there is so much more to share but i will wrap it up here for now. i will continue the weekly blogs on schedule after this.. thank you for those of you that shared your well wishes while i was occupied. i love you all.

oh.. and please enjoy the new pics in my web album.. http://picasaweb.google.com/chinagiant

be tall
-zi rong

wu life 223

WU LIFE 223


IT'S WATERMELON SEASON

the first batch of watermelons are available for the season. right now they are still a little expensive and a bit bland.. but within the next few weeks the champions are going to start rolling through. for those that have been following my generic wu life journals since last year, you would know that i am a big fan of watermelon. i can easily take two whole melons to the face,.. sure, i'd be in the bathroom all day, but i love me some watermelon. i look forward to my fruit fasts now that the season is here.


BAGUA BEAT DOWN

"you don't learn bagua to see how good your martial skill is,..
you learn bagua to see how BAD your martial skill is.."
- Sifu Bruce Chu

i had the indescribable pleasure of sharing words with my first martial master, bruce chu, this week and he broke my brain (as he usually does) with one simple phrase. the little gem of wisdom was one that he passed down from his bagua master, but it couldn't have described my current state of training better.

bagua is ripping me apart. my ankles are sore and swollen, my knees are creaky and achy, my hips are stiff and ridged, my shoulders are strained and flaccid, even my throat is sore from holding my head upright. my spine hurts especially from all the torquing and twisting,.. i can feel each individual vertebrae, it's crazy... and all this just from circle walking! i'm not even learning the form yet! between bagua and hard qigong, i wake up in so much pain each and every morning - but it is a good pain. i am slowly reprogramming 27 years of bad posture and lazy body mechanics.. slow is the process of healing.


INTERNAL COORDINATION

yuan shifu just has an incredible way of explaining things..

''anyone can develop external coordination. with a little practice, it is easy to copy movements and make a punch or kick look beautiful,.. what is really difficult is learning internal coordination. this is difficult because you can't copy someones internal mechanics. perhaps you could mimic breath, but it is impossible to mimic their intention and spirit. this is why tai chi and qigong are such good systems for personal development.. sure, kung fu may make you strong and physically fit, but tai chi and qigong give you the space to look inside and develop the internal harmonies within yourself.''


TAKING A BREAK

there will not be any wu life's for the next couple weeks. next week i'll be going off to the city of wuhan for a while, and the following week i'll be up in the mountains to meditate and fast with my kung fu brother sam from shanghai. no worries though.. i will be sure to take several pictures for everyone to enjoy and i'm sure to have a bunch of stories to share as well.

on a side note, by the time most of you read this, master feng in oakland will have probably already undergone his surgery. please keep your healing thoughts in mind for him and his loved ones.

all my love,
-wei zi rong