Posted by schmuhl on 3/03/2009.
My brother and I finished The Fundamentals of Pa Kua Chang, Vol. 1 and have begun to dig into the second volume. I really like the animal postures at the end of the first volume and I think we'll continue to work on them for a while, in addition to the 8-direction rooted stepping and palm strike drills. It seems that every once in a while you have an epiphany, physical or mental, that allows you to take your practice to the next level, and I feel like we've gotten that with our practice lately. I have also been approaching the line that divides forms practice from the I'm-going-to-make-you-hurt mentality. Let's be honest, nobody wants to get hurt, but we've reached another point where you need to consider seriously how holding back and not punishing your sparring partner is going to hurt your development in the art.
I've also picked up running again, the weather is decent and it feels pretty good. The first time out I stuck a 9-minute mile, but I'd like to get down into the high 7s before it gets to cold to run anymore this fall. I've also committed to losing 20 pounds and it's going to be rough. I don't think this stuff is impossible, just hard and I'm feeling optimistic.