Advanced wushu class
Tonight I went to my first advanced wushu class at O-Mei. There were 7 other students, probably ranging from teens to mid-twenties. Friendly group of people! I was probably the worst person there, but everyone was supportive of each other so I didn’t feel self-conscious at all. The coach, Sifu Ding Wei, gave me some good pointers. I didn’t get as much direct instruction as from Li Xue, who taught me in previous classes, but Sifu Ding’s presence combined with that of the other advanced students made me push harder than usual. I worked on straight sword sections, and probably performed better than I ever have before despite being out of practice. It was pretty effortless too, at least energy-wise. I was whipping the sword around so fast one of my tassels broke off. I think being around supergood people was the biggest factor, but perhaps my daily qigong and decent sleep for the past few days (6-7 hours a night) also helped. At the end of the class, we all lined up and Sifu went down the line giving each person advice based on what he observed during the class. Very awesome; I have never seen a wushu teacher do that.
On the way home I was thinking about how everyone else in the class was better than I am, and realized it’s the same at work: many of the people I work with are far smarter than I am and better at what they do. I feel most fortunate to be in the company of great athletes and great minds.
Xiao Hui wrote:
Jia you (加油)! It’s good to hear you’re keeping up with wushu. I completely agree that being surrounded by people whom you think are better than you is great motivation, so long as you’re not a pessimistic person. (I speak from experience because some days, being around brilliant minds all day motivates me to work harder whereas on other days it tends to discourage me. It’s all about how you decide to think about the situation). Sometimes I wonder how I managed to get into the NIH =D.
Posted on 03-Nov-06 at 10:36 am | Permalink
Richard Hang wrote:
my first advanced class with Jiang Bang Jun was similar. I did my straightsword form for him to correct and i was so affected by the wushu-awesomeness around me that i gave it all i had and one of my sword tassels flew off. it’s okay tho, i hated the darn tassels. now i have an excuse to get cool BLACK ones! haha!
Posted on 09-Jun-07 at 7:39 pm | Permalink