muye and meditation

[darren_stranger]

On Saturday i went to a seminar with Mr Kang in at the netball centre.  While i've had poomsae seminars up to the eyeballs lately, i went along just to train with Mr Kang again, which i haven't done since Korea.  As i do often when passing through from Flinders Street, i stopped outside the Kyokushin dojo in Banana Alley to watch them training for a bit.  Usually, i'm on my way to a competition when i pass that way, and many a time i've watched them doing drills and thought that i'd rather be doing that than going to a competition, so it was nice this time to actually be heading off for some basic training of my own.

As anticipated, the training session was mostly basics, doing drills in horse riding stance or walking, kicks from standing or lying down, then working through patterns step by step.  I didn't come away with any new information on the poomsae, but i didn't really go for that reason.  It was just a good, old-fashioned training session.  The only pity was it that only went for two hours.

I might make note of a few simple drills and warm-up exercises that i found interesting and might use in the future:

Warm-up:  Standing with arms extended, palms facing up, turn one palm over to face the floor, turning the head to look at that hand.

Another:  Standing with one foot forward, hold the leading hand up with the palm facing upwards, then bring the hand underneath your arm, back around in a big circle and back to the front like a slow knife hand strike. Keep the palm facing upwards as if holding a plate of something.

Kicking drill:  Standing in front stance, kick with the back leg (can be front, side, roundhouse, even leg-ups) then put the foot down next to the other and step back to front stance with the other foot back. Make a hand technique as the second foot lands, eg sonnal arae haechyo makki.

Walking drill:  Standing with feet together, step to the left in whatever stance you're practising, using an appropriate hand technique, then take a second step, turn to the left again with two more steps, an so on until you come back to the start (should be the same spot), then step to the right and make a similar square.  That can be done with any stance (well, maybe not crane or attention) and is an interesting exercise to see if the size of your stances is consistent.

Two fist punching:  As well as the usual hand techniques in horse riding stance, one iteresting one was punching with both fists at once, counting 'one' (pull back), 'two' (punch) etc.  You can even kihap on both parts.  Blocking and striking drills can also be done as a two-count, or with everybody saying 'one.. two', emphasising the relaxed part on 'one'.  This can be done in horse stance, walking in an appropriate stance or even walking though a pattern.  


Sunday was the second meditation class in at Box Hill.   I was there fairly early, and chatted for a bit to Lillian, the volunteer i was talking to last week, and Tony, another guy in the class.   I'll try each week to meet a couple more of my classmates and remember names as best i can. 

This session we focussed on counting breaths.  Nothing complicated, just one to ten, counting either in or out breaths as we preferred, going back to one if we missed a count.  I've used this method before, though in the class it was easier to keep focussed and not let the mind wander as much as as it usually does.  The moments where i was able to really be involved with a particular breath gave me a good sense of what i should be doing at home.

Next week, weather permitting, we might go outside to the park form some walking meditation.


To help remember some of the t'ai chi warm up exercises we do at the start of class, i'm going to note them here as i recall them, and hopefully add a couple more each week:

I don't know if these are the right names, but i'll put them in as best i recollect them, and correct or add to them as i remember. There's a few that i do already that i won't include, but new ones i'll put here as i remember them.

Raising the hands: Starting with feet shoulder width apart, knees bent, raise both hands slowly above the head as you straighten the knees, then gently lower them to your side again.

Opening the chest: Similar action, but spreading the hands out to the sides, letting the head tilt back, then bringing them in then down.

Waving hands like clouds:  As in the t'ai chi form, but with the feet stationary in horse riding stance, and turning the body a little to the back at each side.  Look at the upper palm through the whole rotation.


Gather water (?) then separate the clouds: Bend down at the knees, sweep the hands past the ankles, then lift them up above your head as you stand up straight.

Painting a rainbow, standing in a narrow horse riding stance, sway the upper body slowly from left to right, waving the hands in the air over your head.

Lifting a ball:  Standing in horseriding stance, bend down from the waist (bending knees as well), sweeping the right hand along near the ground in front, as if holding a ball.  Lift the hand across to the left and stretch it up high, palm facing inwards, then back down to the right.  Change to left hand, sweeping to the right.

Gazing at the moon (or 'picking a moon from the lake' as the second teacher called it):  Similar execercise but using two hands to hold the ball.  Stretch both hands upwards at each side, palms facing each other (though one hand will be a little higher than the other).

Pushing in horse riding stance: Pretty much what it sounds like, pushing with the palm across the body at a 45 degree angle, turning over the hand and gently bringing it back to the hip. The push is quite vigourous, as is the punch in the punching version that follows it.

Rowing the boat:  Standing with feet at shoulder width, bob down and brush your hands by your akles, backwards in a rowing motion, then rise up, raising the hands up and back, arching your back and looking upwards.

Flying Wild Goose: Similar action, but going from bobbing down to rising, lifting the arms straight out to the sides, palms down, until they reach back to back above your head, as you stand on tip-toes, then back down again, in a flying motion.

Gathering up the waves: With the left foot in front (somewhere between short and front stance), bend forward at the waist and brush the hands past the front ankle, gathering them inwards, crossing over and upwards, then spread the arms like wings, leaning the body back, before sweeping them forward again.

Flying dove spreads its wings:  Still with the left foot forward (for some reason we don't do these on the right side as well) draw the hands and body back, then sweep them forward as your weight shifts forward, in a sort of horizontal flying motion.

Pushing: Similar to the last two, but simply drawing the body back then pushing forward, just like the push at the end of 'grasping the swallows tail', but slightly faster and with a little more force on the push.

There's another one with one foot forward, this one using both sides: lunging into a deep front stance, push the opposite hand forward (palm up) and the leading hand back (palm down), both in 'lotus' gesture, hold and stretch.

Bouncing a ball:  Raise the left hand shoulder high as if bouncing a basketball, while lifting the right knee and rising to the ball of the left foot, then repeat changing sides.  Done faster than most of the others, with a biuncing action.

Settling the chi: Raising both hands (palm up and out to the side, from memory) after bobbing down with a scooping action, then lowering them down in front of the chest, palm down, like the start of the Yang Cheng Fu form.

Last up, we rub hands togeher until they're warm, then massage the face, eyes, mouth, ears, rubbing hands again to massage neck, shoulders, arms, whacking arms from top and bottom, then massaging kidneys, leaning forward, before bending backwards and expelling breath with a big 'ahhh'. 

There are a few warm-ups of the kind considered 'questionable' these days - forward bends, head circles, knee circling, windmills, which i won't be replicating at home. I'm not even sure what if any i will use of the ones above, as some seem a little rough on the lower back, plus i've already got about 30 minutes of such exercises i do each morning.