Down in the Park
Jul. 1st, 2006 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darren_strangerI was going to sleep in this morning, but i woke up at 7.30 and couldn't get back to sleep, so i hopped up, had some coffee and internet to wake up properly, then went up to the park for another poomsae session.
I did a little T'ai Chi to get warmed up, in addition to the stretching before i'd left home and a jog up there, and was surprised how much five or six minutes of slow motion really did warm me up physically. I think it's holding those low stances while moving in slow time that makes it more physical than it looks, as well as maybe good oxygen supply from that deep breathing.
I'd decided to try and get more exercise out of the time by spending less of it pacing around and thinking in between patterns, so i concentrated on trying to avoid that and only wandering for a sip of water every few patterns, which was partially successful. I went through all my patterns (except the Palgwes) one by one to work on technique, then as a fitness exercise i combined them into groups to do continuously as one longer pattern, so as to get more of a workout than from 20 odd seconds of pattern, stop, rest, rinse and repeat. (This was also partially inspired by reading about the very long forms in some kung fu styles). I did the whole Taegeuk series as a continuous set, still returning to junbi but going straight into the next one. To make it interesting (and to add a bit of 'artistic' interpretation) i did each one in the respective direction of its relevant kwae (sp?), starting at 12 o'clock for one, 10.30 for two, through 1.30 for five etc around to the last at 6 (don't know if they should be changed or mirrored for the southern hemisphere, but i'll leave that to the Feng Shui enthusiasts). That was fairly tiring, showing how bad my level of fitness is, and the techniques got pretty sloppy as i went along, but with time that'll improve. Changing directions also made me have to think a bit, as the directional landmarks changed each time, which will probably be a good exercise for spatial awareness as well.
Then i did the same with the black belt patterns, not the directional bit but grouping them into threes according to similar starting positions, ie Koryo-Pyongwon-Chongkwon and Keumgang-Taebaek-Jitae (i forgot about Shipjin, which could have been included in that group, but i'll add that next time). The results were similarly shaky but again that'll improve with practise (insert macho rhetoric about pushing envelopes and leaving comfort zones as appropriate).
After that i rested a bit by going through the Palgwe series, which i don't do as full-on as i'm still quite rusty with them (and they're not really fast patterns either).
Then i went through the higher patterns for technique again (pretending i was at a grading or competition in terms of presentation) and strolled home. All up it was just over an hour, but i probably did as much work as i'd normally do in an hour and a half. Definitely the way to go.
It's kind of sad that this is probably one of the last times i'll get to do my patterns up there. It'll be handy to have a front yard big enough to practice in for the first time in years, but i'm going to miss Edinburgh Gardens so much as it's such a nice park, possibly the nicest i've come across in Melbourne. I'll even miss watching the T'ai Chi group doing their thing on Sundays, and wondering just what it is that the walking-in-circles guy is practicing (if i see him again i'll have to go ask).
Ah well, change is the only constant, and you have adapt to where life takes you.
Time for a nice hot shower, i think.
I did a little T'ai Chi to get warmed up, in addition to the stretching before i'd left home and a jog up there, and was surprised how much five or six minutes of slow motion really did warm me up physically. I think it's holding those low stances while moving in slow time that makes it more physical than it looks, as well as maybe good oxygen supply from that deep breathing.
I'd decided to try and get more exercise out of the time by spending less of it pacing around and thinking in between patterns, so i concentrated on trying to avoid that and only wandering for a sip of water every few patterns, which was partially successful. I went through all my patterns (except the Palgwes) one by one to work on technique, then as a fitness exercise i combined them into groups to do continuously as one longer pattern, so as to get more of a workout than from 20 odd seconds of pattern, stop, rest, rinse and repeat. (This was also partially inspired by reading about the very long forms in some kung fu styles). I did the whole Taegeuk series as a continuous set, still returning to junbi but going straight into the next one. To make it interesting (and to add a bit of 'artistic' interpretation) i did each one in the respective direction of its relevant kwae (sp?), starting at 12 o'clock for one, 10.30 for two, through 1.30 for five etc around to the last at 6 (don't know if they should be changed or mirrored for the southern hemisphere, but i'll leave that to the Feng Shui enthusiasts). That was fairly tiring, showing how bad my level of fitness is, and the techniques got pretty sloppy as i went along, but with time that'll improve. Changing directions also made me have to think a bit, as the directional landmarks changed each time, which will probably be a good exercise for spatial awareness as well.
Then i did the same with the black belt patterns, not the directional bit but grouping them into threes according to similar starting positions, ie Koryo-Pyongwon-Chongkwon and Keumgang-Taebaek-Jitae (i forgot about Shipjin, which could have been included in that group, but i'll add that next time). The results were similarly shaky but again that'll improve with practise (insert macho rhetoric about pushing envelopes and leaving comfort zones as appropriate).
After that i rested a bit by going through the Palgwe series, which i don't do as full-on as i'm still quite rusty with them (and they're not really fast patterns either).
Then i went through the higher patterns for technique again (pretending i was at a grading or competition in terms of presentation) and strolled home. All up it was just over an hour, but i probably did as much work as i'd normally do in an hour and a half. Definitely the way to go.
It's kind of sad that this is probably one of the last times i'll get to do my patterns up there. It'll be handy to have a front yard big enough to practice in for the first time in years, but i'm going to miss Edinburgh Gardens so much as it's such a nice park, possibly the nicest i've come across in Melbourne. I'll even miss watching the T'ai Chi group doing their thing on Sundays, and wondering just what it is that the walking-in-circles guy is practicing (if i see him again i'll have to go ask).
Ah well, change is the only constant, and you have adapt to where life takes you.
Time for a nice hot shower, i think.
