Ouch!

So I finally got up the courage to embark on Lesson 2. Once I got into it, it didn't seem so hard even though Chen style is much faster and more dramatic than Yang style tai chi sword. I'm still getting used to it. Lesson 1 was the warmup phase and Lesson 2 is where you start to get into the meat of the routine and get jiggy with it.

In getting jiggy with it though, I got my first real sports injury. My sword-bearing right shoulder has been sore for almost 3 weeks. At first, I thought maybe I'd just slept wrong. That happens. Or that maybe I hadn't done enough power yoga lately. But no, when I really started to feel real pain, I figured, well I can try to work this out through yoga, but it would probably be faster to have a deep tissue massage. So last week, I had a pretty intense sports massage so I could continue being a nice person. The fact I can't ignore is that the Pearl is a little heavier than the Lion and I can really feel that extra sword weight more with the new moves. 

It helped a lot and I've really made some progress in doing a couple of sessions since then. I'm traveling for business and in one hotel, I think I kind of freaked out a nice older couple who were sitting maybe 100 yards off on a large patio. I think it was clear that I was working out -- I had my pink striped sports bra top/shirt thing and yoga pants on and my ipod out.

Still I am thinking in this type of situation of just going up to people and telling them what I am about to do and ask if it's ok with them if I practice there. Just so they don't have to wonder and figure it out on their own. Perhaps I can be a sort of ambassador for tai chi sword until it becomes more common.

The 2nd session was more chill. I was on the beach in the early am. I made sure I was quite some distance between the hotel and the people walking along the beach. Fortunately, it was a very wide beach. However, at one point I spun around and there were two little girls both in pink holding hands watching me intently. Maybe about 10 and 7 years old. I smiled and waved. I think they'd been there awhile.

I have slowed down to build strength and have also tried to move more gently into these more demanding, fast-paced, big moves. That seems to be helping. It's important to relax and be patient with yourself in learning anything new. I more or less have the broad strokes of Lesson 2 and have started integrating Lesson 1 and 2. My hop-and-thrust is still rather awkward/uncertain and let me tell you, it is hard to keep your balance standing on one leg in sand. When I get back, I am looking forward to refining the transitions and finer points of poses like flying oblique and beat the grass/search for snake. I've also resolved to spend more time stretching my arms and back/shoulders in addition to warming up my legs and torso as I had been trained to do before and after practice.

P.S. I was in the elevator going down to the patio with my new collapsible sword. The Pearl was down with her little cap on. A 30-something in the elevator with me looked at the Pearl and asked -- "is that a curling iron?" I laughed to the tune of the Muzak and said no. It's actually a sword. Then I uncollapsed it for her. She said: "Cool!"

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[mr big dicks hot chicks]

Fortunately, it was a very wide beach. However, at one point I spun around and there were two little girls both in pink holding hands watching me intently. Maybe about 10 and 7 years old. I smiled and waved. I think they'd been there awhile.