Skidoosh!

I watched Kung Fu Panda again last night. I really love that movie, as it never fails to both entertain me and inspire me.

I have started physiotherapy for my ankle. However it may help, I find that a lot of the exercises I am supposed to be doing, I actually do in Kung Fu. Tai Chi requires me to use balance and control on both feet/ legs, and in the kids classes, by throwing kicks with my left leg, I can work on some strength and balance in the right ankle.

I am still frustrated with it however, but feel better about accepting where I am at. I have been able to adapt my training, and while I still need reminders to be careful, I am more at peace with the injury. Not completely, but more than I have been. I do long to go harder in class, and push myself, but that will come with time.

It is interesting to see how injuries change your approach. You never realize how much you take your body for granted until it forces you to step back.

I have been reading a little on overuse injuries, and sports injuries. And of course the way to prevent and treat them. Obviously a main treatment is rest. Most of the time, that is easier said than done. You need to have a sensible approach to your training, and you need to be aware of your body and what it is telling you. Stretching mindfully is important, as is training mindfully.

Without that awareness, it is easy to push yourself too far and find yourself dealing with an injury. Not all injuries are preventable (such as getting tangled in a lion cloth during a head stack dismount), but using awareness and mindfulness is vital in recovery. That is something I am still learning. I still want to push my limits, and I have a difficult time babying my injuries.

But it was cool the other night that I was able to throw a few really weak kicks, with about 5% contact to a shield. That rocked, and made me happy. It might not have been smart, but I made sure I used extra care.

Skidoosh!

Sneezy

We are sick. I haven’t had a cold in quite a while, and the last one I had early in the summer was barely noticeable. Now all three of us are under the weather, and it has been challenging for me to keep up with things.

I actually felt pretty good this past couple of days, but today I just feel yucky. No matter, this blog must be done. We were fitted for masks at work a little while ago for the H1N1 virus. But now I am reading that they might not even help. And it seems to me, that all the same precautions as the normal flu season are what they are recommending as well. (Who are "they" anyway?). I have no doubts that this is a serious problem, and I welcome the precautions. I just hope that our healthcare system can handle this pandemic.

At a loss

I have no idea what to blog about today. It is important to me that I do it whether or not I have anything to say. I just went through some of my pictures, and I found one from last weekend, that made me smile.

I took it at my friends house. She got married in her yard last Sunday, and it was beautiful. This flower was not part of the ceremony, it was simply in her garden. The colour and the fullness of it make my whole being smile. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

I am fascinated with the life cycle of flowers. How delicately they start out as buds, and then the full bloom (whether explosive like this one or not), and then the slow fade, as the cycle begins again.

It made me think about my cycles in Kung Fu. How my passion and drive seems to sometimes be in hibernation, and then it slowly builds until I am eating, sleeping and breathing Kung Fu. And then it tends to slow down for one reason or another, and the cycle builds again.

But what gets me through the slow parts, is simply going to my classes. I know that if I didn't, it probably wouldn't be too hard to completely fall off the wagon. Kung Fu is a part of my life, and it has always been something to help me through the harder parts.

There IS kindness out there...

My little car got a bit munched today, and that is the reason I am writing. Not about the car, but about the kind people who tried to make me feel a little better.

When the first person saw me, I was still in shock, and very shaken up. I wasn't hurt, but was pretty upset. Anyway, shortly after she first talked to me, she came back to give me a bottle of water and a kit kat. I was really touched by her kindness, and it meant a lot to me. On one hand, I felt a little pathetic for getting upset, but I also felt humbled by her actions. There are a lot of people nowadays that will simply walk on by, and see right through a person. Acts of kindness go a long way.

The guy at AMA was really nice too. He kept reassuring me that things would be okay, and they would take care of things, and that I was in good hands. Both of these people, plus the dude who came to help me, really put a smile into the mishap.

I feel that if there were more people like that in the world, it would be a much better place. I need to smile more, and to reach out to people, as it has a ripple effect.

My youngest made me smile too over this. We call my car the Egg, because it's white and the license plate is EHG. Anyway, I told her about the yellow paint on my car now, and she says, "Now the egg has a yolk!"

So, I guess my point to this ramble is that there is hope for peace, as long as we keep striving to make it better. That starts with ourselves, and performing these acts of kindness. My thanks to the wonderful people who helped me today.

And so it goes...

Tomorrow, we head back to school. It is hard to believe that summer is over already, and a new year is beginning.

I am not sure where the time went. We had our vacation this past week and a half, and maybe that is part of my unrest. I know I desperately needed the break, as I felt like I was burning out. And I am feeling some stress now with going back to work. We are short staffed, and so my work load is double. Whatever.

The kids are excited about going back to school though. And the routine will be welcome. We did keep our Kung Fu routine going throughout the summer, which for us, is a nice consistent thing.

The smaller classes made teaching a little more challenging, but it was great. It definitely kept me on my toes, and keeps me adaptable. I had a class outside at Rotary Park on the 19th of August, and it was just great. We had fun, and it made me realize how I missed our outside classes from last summer. The kids ran laps around the pond and we had a couple three legged races. And then we ended the class with watermelon. Yum.

I have said it many times before, but I really enjoy teaching the kids. I had a near miss yesterday though. I had a very near collision with one of the Lil’ Leopards, which resulted in spraining my big toe on my bad foot. But I still have a great left foot, so really, what more do I need?

This week is our yearly renovations at the school, and I always look forward to beginning anew there. It feels fresh, and I feel it pulls us together as a community. I am looking forward to the new start, both with school and the kwoon.

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

Do not pursue the past.

Do not lose yourself in the future.

The past no longer is.

The future has not yet come.

Looking deeply at life as it is.

In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.

We must be diligent today.

To wait until tomorrow is too late.

Death comes unexpectedly.

How can we bargain with it?

The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day,

'one who knows the better way to live alone.'


Bhaddekaratta Sutta

Family

I took my kids to see the demo we put on at Rotary Park yesterday. It was a really different experience for me to be on the sidelines and watching. I really miss participating, as I have done that for a long time.

It gave me a whole different perspective on things though. I know my appreciation for the hard work, dedication and courage of the students to get out there and perform in front of a large group of people was up front and center. It was also nice to be able to sit with my kids, and enjoy the demo, which was really great. The team did the school proud, and I am especially proud to be a part of it.

I didn’t go to the demo on Canada Day, because mentally I wasn’t up to facing not being involved. However, my perspective was skewed, and at least now I am maybe starting to accept my injury, and work within my limits. I do still have a lot of work there though.

I have a chronic injury from 3 years ago, that I have learned to live with and work around. My ribs kept me from a lot of training, and I still cannot do a black belt pushup without pain. But it is something I have accepted. Why is it so hard for me to do that with my ankle? I desperately want to train hard again, and I have really struggled with the concept of progressing wisely with it. I have made a lot of bad decisions with my ankle, and have only prolonged my recovery.

But watching the demo yesterday gave me some inspiration. I will be able to do that again, but I have to be smart about it. I am going to need reminders from my Kung Fu family however, since I can be really idiotic when it comes to my injuries.

The cane form has actually been really good for me in this regard. It isn’t taxing on my ankle at all, and has allowed me to really focus on an aspect of my training without hampering my recovery. It feels good to have been able to push hard with the cane, and feels even better to know I can perfect it without doing damage to myself.

To all of you who participated in the demo on August 1st. You guys were awesome, and made me proud to share those moments with you. (I am going to live vicariously through you for a while if you don’t mind.)