No need for costumes

Purim is a holiday where everyone (but mostly kids) are putting costumes and pretending to be something else. Similar to Halloween but without the scary factor. Being at the first I Ho Chuan class I felt like everyone were dressed up as warriors, each one with his own weapon. That was pretty cool. All of us practicing our weapons and trying to make sure we are not getting hit or hitting someone else.

I think the moral of dressing up in Purim is that you are doing it because you don't want people to see who you really are. And then when the bad guys were gone you didn't need to hide it any more.

We are pretending to be warriors. I can already see that in few months we won't have to hide anymore and our costume will become who we are - Kung Fu fighters.

Twin Tiger Hooks

Few years ago I watched the show The Deadliest Warrior (Shaolin Monk vs. Maori Warrior). In this show they place 2 warrior styles, compare them and simulate a battle using there different weapons to see who is the deadliest warrior. Although the Maori Warrior was very viouces and curel, the Shaolin Monk easily won the match. Out of 1,000 matches, the Shaolin Monk won 692 to 308. Pretty impressive. But what was really amazing is that 566 of these  wins were using the Twin Hooks.

This seems like the right weapon to get and practice.

Now, it is not the easiest weapon to handle. I think you can easily see imperfections and it is hard to use it at home (I almost broke few things already). However, I like it and I can't wait until I can get some sequences memorize and practiced.

I'm not really good with it but you will probably start seeing me with it in open training from now on. Now that the Dragon/Lion Dance practice is done, there should be enough space for me to practice without causing too much damage.

Start... Now!

The year of the snake has started. This is going to be a fun and challenging year. I think the hardest thing for me will be to keep track of what I'm doing. I need to find an easy way to be able to update my progress from anywhere (home, work, mobile). I know there are many apps and websites but none seem to be geared towards a program like ours.

My personal goals for this year are a compilation of few things that I have been wanting to do for many years and never got to. The I Ho Chuan will hopefully be my motivator and all of you will hold me accountable for it.
Goal 1: Earn a Microsoft Specialist certification
Goal 2: Adopt healthy diet
Goal 3: Scramble a mountain
Goal 4: Speak Hebrew at home

Anyway, good luck for all the snakes!!!

Smile, Turn and Walk Away

We are going to face many challenges this year. Whenever feeling intimidated by what is in-front of you or freezing in the face of an obstacle  why not smile, turn and walk away (keep going).

When Bodhidharma was travelling north, he met Shen Guang who was going to be Bodhidharma's successor  in future years. Shen Guang was a general who killed many people but then realizing that these people had families too, had changed his ways and became a Buddhist monk. When they first met, Bodhidharma was listening to Shen Guang speaking in front of a crowd and was nodding his head as in agreement. Then he shook his head as in disagreement. Shen Guang became angry at the look of someone disagreeing with him and he threw his bids towards Bodhidharma's face injuring Bodhidharma. Shen Guang expected a confrontation however Bodhidharma just smiled, turned and walked away. Shen Guang was so astounded, he began following Bodhidharma.

Next time something hits you, just smile, turn and walk away and you will soon have others following you and helping you in your path.

Henan

The internet is an endless source of knowledge. Sometimes we talk about the fact that Kung Fu originated from the province of Henan in northern China. I've been reading a little bit about it and found some interesting things.

First, Henan is considered to be in central China. The meaning of its name is "South of the River" as 3 quarter of the province lies south of the yellow river.

Henan is the second most populated province in China (over 94 millions). If it was a county it would have been the 12th country with the most people.