Oh Canada!

I love my country and I feel very appreciative to live here. I was grateful to celebrate with the rest of the country on Canada day, and to take part in the Canada day celebrations with other members of Silent River Kung fu. It was a really great experience for me, despite how exhausted I had felt. At one point I was concerned that I would simply drop during one of the dragon dances and that would be an embarrassing end to the demo. But I held on. I willed myself to.

It was a bit difficult at times to remain in the moment, as I fretted a bit about how much I still had to get ready to go to BC. I just finished an unusual busy week with 2 doctor appointments, 1 car appointment, a dentist appointment, meeting, teaching my usual classes, subbing on Saturday morning, grandsons birthday party, babysitting grandkids, and spending time helping my daughter through some things. I managed to get some packing done in between all that, but I still had a list of stuff to do to be ready to leave at 6 the next morning. I did however manage to make the most of the day, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Canada day seemed to be an easy atmosphere to break out and get to know members of the team a bit more. While lined up with the dragon, waiting for the beat of the drum to signal our start, Miss Meier and I had the opportunity to get to know one another, as we chatted on a bit. I found her to be a wonderful young lady.  Mrs. Kohut and I also chatted a bit between demos, and I enjoyed that. They are an amazing family. There were others that I visited with as well, and it all made the day that much more enjoyable. Everyone was relaxed, friendly, cheery and supportive. I was comfortable being in their presence. We sure did have some good laughs over working the dragon in the wind.  No one felt angry or frustrated about it.

As the day went on, I got more comfortable with doing my demos. When I knew I was about to go out "on stage", I would pinch the pressure point in my hand.  When I was out there performing,  I didn't even notice the crowd, but instead stayed focussed on my form. Every time I went into a move, I made some kind of mental note; lean into the tiger pose, drop low in the horse stance, scrape and tear with the claws, feel the intent, lean back more to get a better rotation of my legs on the spin.  I managed to not get distracted by the idea of the crowd watching.

The one demo in Stony did take me off track for a few seconds. As I went into the first pose, I found myself leaning down hill. That was a strange sensation and I lost it.  I couldn't remember my next move, and I was afraid of falling down the hill. I knew that somehow I had to end up turned to the right, with the tiger claws tearing, so I just went into that move, and with being up on the ridge more stable, I was able to complete the rest of the form.

I notice a difference in myself and my Kung fu these days. There's progress in a direction I am happy to go.  Some months ago, Sifu Brinker corrected me on something in the black belt class. I was upset that I had done something wrong, and a part of me was upset that he had pointed it out. A good example of the state my mind was in at that time.  Not a good state at all.  My attitude sucked!  Last week as he corrected me more than once, I left the class feeling a lot of appreciation that I was worthy enough to receive his corrections, and I really wanted to take what I was learning and apply it and practice it. I get frustrated at times that I am not more knowledgeable with the things we are learning in the black belt class, and being away now for 2 months won't help.  But I will continue to work on my own while I am away, and keep searching for ways to improve.