Year of the Dog

Saturday marked the end of the I Ho Chuan teams year of the Rooster with our Chinese New Years Banquet. After it was over I felt a sense of relief and calmness sweep over me because it was finally complete. However on Sunday, it started again as i began the year of the dog. This will be my 6th year on the team and my 5th straight.

As in anything in life, there are always up and down years and last year I know was a down year. I cant specifically say why, I just didn't feel the same energy as I had the year before. I think it was mostly a mental issue but that's the nice thing about starting a new year is you can clear your mind and focus once again on the journey you have ahead of you.

This year i am going to try to come up with my own hand form and a new form for the bench which should make for a challenging year. The other thing I will be focusing on more this year is keeping up with the blogs (reading them, commenting on them and writing my own) which I believe will help make this a successful year.

Thursday will mark the first official class and we will have some new members as well as some returning members from years past. I cant wait to see what weapons will be coming out this year.

Kwan Do

We are getting close to the end of this years I Ho Chuan team and I feel like I took a step back this year. I have not been engaged as much and some of my requirements have been affected by this (or were the cause of it most likely). Right from the start, I felt like my weapon choice was not right as the heavy Kwan Do was hard to control and didn't move like i wanted to so I had to use the lighter one. I believe that has stuck in my head and made me frustrated with my weapon. Its only been since we started gearing up for our Chinese new Years banquet, that I am starting to feel okay with it. I think it may have been stubbornness on my part, but I decided to stick with it and try my best as changing would have been to easy.

Next year, i am going to approach the weapon with more excitement and embrace the challenges it will present as it is my choice and no one else made it for me. I am a firm believer that 90% of what we do is mental and only 10% is physical and this will help me going into next year.