Week 2

The second week of the first semester here at the Retreat Center has just ended. After the first week of training my body was sore and my mind was tired adjusting to the hectic schedule. Now I’m not as sore and I’m finding ways to better manage my time in our schedule to make time for rest. I didn’t sleep very well the first week. I was kept awake by thoughts of the journey ahead. I have been looking forward to this for so long. Now that I’m walking the path I am settling in and sleeping very well after hard training. I really like it here; nature, the people, the students and our Shifu, Dr. Yang. Its nice to be dedicated to a project with a group of like minded people who all share in the same dream. Our schedule for the past two weeks has been pretty much the same.

6:00-7:00am: Meditation
7:00-8:00am: Qigong
8:00-9:00am: Breakfast
9:00-11:00am: Tai Ji Quan (Form, Jing, Applications)
11:00-12:00pm: Chinese lesson
12:00-2:30pm: Lunch and Rest
2:30-3:30pm: Qigong Lecture
3:30-7:00pm: Conditioning/Reaction
-Run up and down the mountain
-Rope climbing
-Tossing and catching cinder blocks
-Staff conditioning (Strength/Endurance/Speed)
-Dan Tian Training with Staff and partners
-Centering (partner Exercise)
-Stances (6 Minutes Horse Stance on Bricks)
-Jumping
-Tai Ji Ball
-White Crane 4 Corner Reaction
7:00-10:00pm: Dinner and Rest/Study
10:00pm+: Sleep

We have a busy schedule of training, conditioning and studying. As far as the exercises go there are things that unfortunately I will not be able to do for a couple of months. Because of my ACL reconstruction during the summer my doctor and physical therapist have advised me not to do certain types of training. So instead of running up and down the mountain I walk instead. I do all my stance training on the ground because if I were to stand on bricks and fall, which everyone inevitably does, I risk re-tearing my ACL. The same goes for jumping. I cant yet jump until I get my doctors approval so all exercises involving jumping have to wait. I feel limited at times because of all these restrictions and sometimes I get frustrated and mad at myself for allowing my injuring to happen. I feel it could have been prevented if my mind had been more focused. But I look at the positive and take it as a valuable lesson learned.