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A little bit of a stretch
Mar. 29th, 2004 11:06 pmI (re)learned a few lessons today, about what my limits are and what they ought to be.
The daylight hours saw me stretching my brain for most of the day. My VIEPS coursework has started, and the Thermochronology/Geochronology course is proving to be more than just a way of learning new and longer scientific terms. For the first time since first year maths (erm... 1998...) I sat down with a whole page of equations that needed arcane things done to them.
At first, my brain tried to shut down and crawl out my left ear, shrieking "What evil do you subject me to!" Then I remembered that this is closer to chemistry, which I enjoyed, and geology, which I also enjoy... and the work suddenly became much less traumatic to attempt. Four more days, to learn about diffusion rates and apatite fission-tracks, and other such things - and then all the worksheets are due in, and I can rush back to the Literature Review.
Later in the evening, I remembered just why I love training so much. I finally made it to the Internal Liu He/Bagua/Xing Yi class in Richmond, and promptly discovered just how little strength is in my legs. I had mistakenly been thinking that my stances were doing enough for leg training, but this turns out not to be the case at all... The class ran for about two and a half hours (we finished late, in our enthusiasm :-) ) and was considerably tougher than 4-5 hours solid on a dancefloor - and relentless, too. Each exercise slid seamlessly into the next, became progressively harder, and went for longer. I may have legs the width of my torso by the end of the year, if I keep going...
It wasn't all pain, though. The class had no "standard" forms in it, but instead contained virtually everything else that I wanted to train - Qi Gong that I haven't practised since we were in Shaolin; Push Hands exercises; circle-walking, and a bit of stretching. I jogged to the tramstop, somehow having regained some energy, determined to make this a regular part of my Mondays. Probably the single best class I've done in about five months.
Inspired by seeing the Wheel of Life show, I tried an experiment at the end of the class - while still warmed up. Apparently I can actually stand on one leg, with the other leg vertical over my head - I just need to work on my balance, as I need a wall to lean on at the moment. It's a bizarre feeling, realising that you can do the splits while standing up...
The daylight hours saw me stretching my brain for most of the day. My VIEPS coursework has started, and the Thermochronology/Geochronology course is proving to be more than just a way of learning new and longer scientific terms. For the first time since first year maths (erm... 1998...) I sat down with a whole page of equations that needed arcane things done to them.
At first, my brain tried to shut down and crawl out my left ear, shrieking "What evil do you subject me to!" Then I remembered that this is closer to chemistry, which I enjoyed, and geology, which I also enjoy... and the work suddenly became much less traumatic to attempt. Four more days, to learn about diffusion rates and apatite fission-tracks, and other such things - and then all the worksheets are due in, and I can rush back to the Literature Review.
Later in the evening, I remembered just why I love training so much. I finally made it to the Internal Liu He/Bagua/Xing Yi class in Richmond, and promptly discovered just how little strength is in my legs. I had mistakenly been thinking that my stances were doing enough for leg training, but this turns out not to be the case at all... The class ran for about two and a half hours (we finished late, in our enthusiasm :-) ) and was considerably tougher than 4-5 hours solid on a dancefloor - and relentless, too. Each exercise slid seamlessly into the next, became progressively harder, and went for longer. I may have legs the width of my torso by the end of the year, if I keep going...
It wasn't all pain, though. The class had no "standard" forms in it, but instead contained virtually everything else that I wanted to train - Qi Gong that I haven't practised since we were in Shaolin; Push Hands exercises; circle-walking, and a bit of stretching. I jogged to the tramstop, somehow having regained some energy, determined to make this a regular part of my Mondays. Probably the single best class I've done in about five months.
Inspired by seeing the Wheel of Life show, I tried an experiment at the end of the class - while still warmed up. Apparently I can actually stand on one leg, with the other leg vertical over my head - I just need to work on my balance, as I need a wall to lean on at the moment. It's a bizarre feeling, realising that you can do the splits while standing up...
