There’s no real reason for the title, other than the fact I’m listening to the song by RHCP as I write. I love the guitar in it, and it’s a great sing-along track. I’m feeling a bit pooped today, which I guess is a bit of Monday Syndrome, but also because of the rather long training session we had yesterday.
The majority of our club attended a two hour seminar which ran immediately before our usual evening session, I was very glad that I’d taken both my water bottles by the time it was over! The seminar itself was based around a special set of forms which only Tang Soo Do and Soo Bahk Do practise. They’re known as the Chil Sung (Seven Star) Hyung, and were developed by the founder with explicit reference to the Muye Dobo Tonji, the oldest known book recording native Korean martial arts. For anyone who’s trained in Karate or Tang Soo Do the forms are a real departure from the basics and Pyung Ahn/Pinan types we’d normally work at. There is a lot of emphasis placed on tension and relaxation and breathing control, and on top of that they tend not to follow the same sort of patterns as the traditional forms. We worked hard and managed to cram in quite a bit of the first three forms to at least give us a grounding and a bit of a better understanding.
After classes were over and I’d rewarded myself with a devilishly hot Chicken Madras, I crashed on the sofa. It wasn’t until I woke up this morning that I realised what it was that made me flake out as much as I did, and now I can see it’s the concentration combined with the physical work. I always concentrate on what I’m doing in lessons, so I suppose what I’m trying to talk about is more trying to learn something new. When I first started training everything was new. There was so much to take on board as I tried to cram in the movements from the Hyung, the Ho Sin Sool and the various Dae Ryun, as well as new terminology and language. Those early lessons used to leave me next-to-comatose, and the feeling I got last night reminded me of it very strongly. It’s the same thing as when I was learning Japanese, it just melts my brain. It’s a great feeling though, and a great way to get a good nights sleep – once your brain finally turns off that is, and stops trying to recall every last detail of the day.
On Saturday morning we took Murphy to his first Dog Agility class. I felt a bit sorry for him and his chances when we got there and I saw that most of the other dogs looked far more ‘agile’ than him – a mix of bouncier spaniels, collies and labradors – but that all disappeared once we got going. He had real trouble concentrating at first, but I think that was because he simply wasn’t used to having to concentrate and NOT go and play with/sniff the other dogs. He’s a really sociable little thing really, it must’ve been like torture to him. An hour later and we’d all learned something new though, and Murph had been over some low jumps, up and over an A-Frame and even through a shortened tunnel. The bulgy-eyed ginger squeak-monster did me proud and was absolutely knackered for the rest of the day. We take on weaves and the dog walk next week!
And finally, it’s the Autumnal equinox today. Enjoy the finely balanced light and darkness and get ready for much more of the latter over the coming months.