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Many thanks are extended to all those instructors and students who put up with me when I attend these gatherings
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(So to speak)
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Date: 27/04/02
- 28/04/02 Covering: Contact Christinalyth@aol.com Reports to Follow Date: 07/04/02 Covering: Steve was in the area having travelled up from Bristol and asked if we could get together a couple of the guys to do some training. We promptly trawlled a bunch in and hey presto. A workshop formeth. Steve has been checking out the Sword form for a little while and as my man Matt was up for a session he took the lead. This is a bucket of fun is this form and I heartily reccomend it to everyone. Training went on apace and within 2 hours we had covered enough of the thing that we were comfortable with each of the elements of the form as they stood. As a few of us had the staffs with us we decided to put them to some use. I have to say now that it is not a chosen weapon of mine but as I have recently had a spot of bother with an elbow injury I had been using a 4' Jo to ease some of the stiffness. The two person drills are a little daunting to begin with, mostly because you tend to forget the sequence of strikes. Painfull is a fine enough word to use for the less accurate shots here. Finally the Small San-Sau. I have been trying to get this down for years. I know, I know it's simple enough to get through but every time i strart to work on it I get distracted and never finish. Well thanks a bunch Steve I fanally got it sorted. Great fun was had by all I hope in getting this bugger nailed down at last and since the training day I have been making a point of doing this at every possible opportunity. Many Thanks to Matt and Kris for their continuing support, to Neil for maintining my faith in the benefits of regular training, Tina for the cookies, thanks love, and of course a big thank you to Steve Cooling without whom this session would not have even been considered. Some Pics:
Date: 02/02/02
- 03/02/02 Covering: After much anticipation the workshop is finally here. This was part of a continuing series of workshops that Peter has been runing with the main purpose of teaching the Yang Lu-ch'an form to its highest level. Having already covered the first section Peter was now ready to delve into the next bit.
The importance
of these preliminaries was stressed by the fact that we spent
about an hour going through this exercise. Training
continued with details of the opening and closing methods as well
as the sending and recieving and martial applications for even
the tiniest little twitch on the form. I actually believed I had
found most of the possible places for inserting a striking technique
in 'Grasp the Sparrows Tail' but no, at least 4 other options
were shown as well as a plethora of alternative strikes for the
most obvious movements such as 'lu' or rollback. Things were getting a bit out of hand what with peoples heads threatening to explode due to too much information so we had a break to do some simple push-hands. Always a good move that one, You learn so much about the people you train with by doing this. We kept it simple, almost as a qigong really just to allow the brains to rest a while. Then we got started again. Finishing the day at 'Fist Under Elbow'. I love that move, one of the few that actually describe what you are doing. It can't be a close translation from the Chinese so I'll ask any readers to send in what they think the Chinese name for that move is as well as a translation of that name. Just for your homework. Hello Sunday. More of the same. covering what we know and more of the form up to 'Wrapping the Willow'. I had a bit of a time with the 'Tripping Monkey' but it was all fine after I took it's joint away. I had the hand movements completely wrong for that one, the feet were fine though. The afternoon was filled with delight. Martial application... TO THE MAX! I like this stuff. My forearms don't like it but what do they know eh? Very simple application applied like it matters. No more than 2 or 3 shots and the job's a good'n. Round this off with a swift blast at that old stalwart Wudang #1 and that's your lot mate. Well structured, nice folk, excellent training facility, all in all a good weekend was had by all... Nearly. 'Cos my mate Kris was as sick as a dog the whole time and missed out on all of it. Unlucky. The drive down from Liverpool to Folkestone, about 300 miles, was wet, busy, lots of roadworks and crashes (OK just the one but it was still a hold up) and basically very tiring. Kris was just about borderline to train anyway and I think the trip killed him off. Big time. The hotel was excellent and I'll recommend the Holiday Inn at Ashford, Garden Court to anybody. The training centre was ... magnificent. We were even greeted by a couple of rabbits doing push-hands outside. Marvelous. Everyone was friendly and I met up with a few old mates there. As well as Peter and Christina my good friend Steve Cooling was in attendance. Nice bloke that for a space alien (these vegans get everywhere nowadays!). Mick from Leicester (except it's Wales now), Ian and Barry all present and correct. Barry didn't last long unfortunately, some injury incurred during a bout of full contact yoga. Hope you are feeling better soon bud. So back to Kris. poor sod,I did feel sorry for him with his nose all bunged up and his chest all congested and coughing and throwing up that went on. And then to top all that he gets this f***ing big head. Nearly 20x the size of his body. We laugh about it now but when your head is that big there's no telling what can happen. The food on Saturday night was good. At the 'fig.' in the training centre you can get the finest organic vegan food in the alpha quadrant. Good stuff. Never tasted spinach and coconut soup before but it is bloody good stuff. Very green. Matt seemed to enjoy that but not too keen on the veggie chilli to follow. Never mind Matt, get to Swansea soon and see what a real hot curry does to you. Trip home was better than the trip down. But still knackering. We stopped at the new services outside Oxford on the M40. OK it sounds sad reporting on the quality of motorway services but this one is worth a look. Really it is. That's about it for this one, anything you want to know gimme a shout. the address is below. Some pickies. The Holiday Inn, Garden Court Ashford - Some Push-Hands Bunnies - The Grand Metropole |
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