chaos and noise

I went to a Kung Fu class last night, for the first time in about ten years. It's strangely familiar. The warmups and drills are the same as when I left. The forms taught now are the same forms I saw a decade ago.

My hands remember, even if my brain is fuzzy. During circle training, I kept finding myself ending up with a hand or fist at someone's throat, after they tried throwing a different technique at me to see if I was paying attention. I don't think that I was consciously aware of how to counter them, but my hands managed to find their way.

My legs will take a bit longer. My feet know where to go, and I'm lighter on them than I used to be. There's no strength in my stance, though, and I really noticed the difference even compared to junior members who have been training recently. That will come with time - it's the most important element, and one I can practice at home.

Not many people recognised me, but those that did asked what I've been up to. It's a hard question to answer succinctly... I've had three completely different jobs, lived in three different houses, travelled, studied and got married in that time. Mostly, I think people wanted to know why I had come back after so long.

So, why am I back there now? I think it's because that there are things I want to learn and practice, and that particular club is the best place I know of to learn them. Other styles have taught me more about things like forms, but they haven't had the routine that I needed. If I need to learn how to sidestep properly, I don't want to be learning a new form every second class: I just want to train with a group that can motivate me to do the thousands of repetitions that it will take to make that movement instinctive.

There is no separation between training stances (impractical, low, stretching or conditioning ones) and fighting stances. Every exercise is a building block, and is directly useful for applying all the other techniques. I think that's what I want from my training, at the moment. I'm planning to train twice a week in future - one class next to the Queen Vic market, and one up at Melbourne Uni. I'll see how it goes from there.

Today, things are a little painful. Usually the Gym gives me a day's grace - it's the morning after the morning after, when my muscles seize up. No such respite today: I woke up at 7am feeling like I got hit by a truck. Here's hoping that more regular training will mean things get better from here.