What do a sore hip, physiotherapy, sleeping Hammers (18 temple motions) and mastery all have in common? At first I would have thought not whole bunch . But boy am I wrong. Back story first, connection later.
My right hip has been troublesome as of late, so much so that I finally sought professional help, enter Todai Bauer. In talking to him, I finally realized that it was time for me to lose the "I am invincible" attitude and get trained, professional help. What I can definitively say is I should have done this years, no, decades ago. In 37 minutes, my physiotherapist (Karen) had identified several areas of concern that have caused me decades of pain. Wow. Plus I got to try shock wave therapy, this was pretty cool and helped pinpoint without a doubt EXACTLY where I was tight. More please!! If I had just done this 30 years ago, that would have been 3 decades, yes that's right, 3 decades without hip pain.
Now for the Sleeping Hammers portion of this episode. Lately in class we have been using the "phrases" of 18 temple motions. I kinda knew them prior to this but never really paid them any heed. They were just the names of the moves, no biggy, right? What an idiot I can be, so it seems. What brought this to the frontal part of my brain's parking garage was Todai Duncan's video. There, for the world to see, he put 2 hammers in a blanket to show they are sleeping. What the Heck?! Where did he come up with that, brilliant!! And that started my quest to look into the "phrases", specifically Sleeping Hammers. Boy has this road of discovery opened up a new and spectacular portion on my Kung Fu journey.
So I will try to lay this out coherently. Tight hip causing lack of mobility unless I want pain. Pain caused by the muscles being tight and not releasing causing excess pressure on the joint and the kibbles and bits inside the hip that allow for ease of motion. To alleviate the pain, PROPER stretching and go to the physiotherapy and listen to what the professionals tell me, then do it. Makes some sorta sense right? Now for the 18 temple Sleeping Hammers.
This move (for me) is about power and when to release that power. Hammers (fist) swing around coming down on the target, releasing their power (Chi). Boom, target destroyed, intent fulfilled. Kinda like any kick we do. Power builds up (technique) , travels through you and releases through your foot into the target. If there is no release, there is no power, if there is no power, there is no technique, and so on....kinda like my hip not releasing, hmmm, connected somehow??
Mastery demands and eye for detail to be successful. I am not seeing what was right in front of me. Funny thing is, in Wednesday's class we were doing lots and lots of Da Mu Hsing. One move in particular was pointed out to me. I wasn't releasing my hips causing my punch to not fully extend. Again with the release!! How have I gone 8 years in Kung Fu and never noticed this before. Arrggg. Mastery is relentless, but I love her none the less.
So in a round about circle of truth, I now have exit sign to a new path, and it's name is Release. Pack my bags, I'm going on a truth trip.
Sorry for the length of this blog, it was actually considerably longer to begin with, this is the condensed version. Hope it made a bit of sense.
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