Second Week in Wudang (+3 days) [ENG]

Summary

The second week I learnt the Taichi 13 form. As you may recall, I began the course on the first week, but the first days we didn’t really learn the form itself. What we learnt instead were the basic movements, that make up most of the taichi forms (thus the 13 as well), at least for what concerns the Sanfeng sect’s one (the sect of the school I’m at, more on this in the future). I also decided to start waking up at 5:30 in the morning to do some light strength exercises (6 to 7 AM), and on the first day I did so I had my “initiation rite”, about which I’m writing below.

You may have noticed the (+3 days) in the title. That’s because I arrived here on a Tuesday night almost three weeks ago, and since I started training on Friday that week (remember, the Wednesdays afternoon and the Thursdays all day are off), I considered the first week to be the one from Friday to Thursday, but this might be confusing to you readers. So I decided to make this week’s post go from Friday of the second week to the Sunday of the week after, thus bringing it back to the “normal” week cycle. I still write the blog posts on Thursdays, as it’s the only moment in the week I can find some time to do so, but at least now it’s easier to understand. Plus, last weekend I completed the Taichi 13 course, so it felt natural to do so. 

The weather was mostly sunny and hot the whole week. It really feels like it’s already summer. Towards the end of the week, just as I started getting tired of the same tasteless food every day, it started improving.. so I guess now it’s ok. Eating at school is becoming less of a pain with the passing days, and I really hope this continues (read: I need it to) for a good while.

Initiation rite

On Friday, I woke up at 5:30, ate breakfast and went downstairs to practice some kicks and do some running around with my roommate. Every morning quite a few people wake up early to either do some stretching, some exercises, or just walk around, particularly now that summer’s approaching and it’s so hot during the day. 

While practicing the kicks, chatting with my roommate, I by chance asked him how much it’d take to reach the top of the hill in front of the school, and he said maybe 15-20 minutes. After the training I run a little in the practice ground, while waiting for other two students to come (I had heard they’d go running around the school every morning).

As they arrived, I asked to join them in their jogging for the day, and they let me.

We left the school running at a somewhat good pace, and run around the hill in front of the school. They briefly said something like “we’ll try a new path today”, but I didn’t give it too much thought.

Then it begun. We went above the entrance of the train’s tunnel, up the hill AFTER the one in front of the school.

The hill behind this one.

We soon reached its top, and started crossing it laterally, but we found so many thorny plants that we were forced to head back. Through the spines again, then we did some push ups on a bunch of rocks (‘cause why not), and we came down the other side of the hill, further than the point we came up from. By then I was covered in sweat, and I simply thought they’d head back to the school. Nope, they decided to go up the hill in front of the school from the other side, crossing some cultivated land and without following any path whatsoever.

Then, at the top, they told me to enjoy the view..which I would have, if I weren’t all too busy panting heavily. Finally, we headed back to the school through the vegetation on that side of the hill. Back at the school we then run to do some pull ups.

In itself, we didn’t run much, maybe 4 kilometers, but all in all it took us some 40 minutes, and I had cuts on my hands and clothes because of the thorns.

But it felt great. I begun to understand what it means to be here to different people, that once you get used to the everyday training you feel like you need more.

After that morning, I decided to take it more slowly and just do some strength exercises on my own instead, but I know one day I’ll join them again.

Taichi, Kung fu and Qi Gong

It’s probably about time I briefly explain what the difference between these three practice is. Truth is, I didn’t have a clear idea, and even now I feel like I’m only beginning to scratch the surface.

But, from what I’ve understood so far at least, these three differ on several aspects.

Qi Gong is a practice to better feel the energy in your body (the Qi). Some forms they teach here in Wudang include the five animals (turtle, crane, snake, tiger, dragon), with movements that imitate the ones of those creatures, meant for health preservation (they say that each of these forms affects a different part of the body). Qi Gong is not aimed at fighting.

Taichi is a martial art.

I know there’s been a lot of discussion on this point lately, as some rich Chinese guy decided to offer a lot of money to some MMA fighter to fight against a Taichi master, in the hopes of proving that it is effective as a martial art. Surprise, it went brexit. The Taichi master was grounded soon after the fight started, and it sparked discussions on whether Taichi is a real martial art or not.

The truth is Taichi’s movements can all be used in real fight, so in this regard it is a martial art. It is practiced slowly because the aim of its practice is also (mainly) health preservation. Try with a squat, do one really slow and one really fast. Surprise, the one really slow is harder. Taichi is based on this principle: moving slowly you better train your muscles, including the small ones that you normally don’t really use that much. But not only. It’s also practiced this way to help the practitioner feel the 丹田 dantian, the body’s gravity center that is also said to be the source of Qi.
So, Taichi is a martial art in its concept, but it’s usually not practiced as one (at least not at my school). Although one could do the same movements quickly, and use it in real fights as well, it’s just not the best one for this. Why? Because you don’t care of moving in a way that is both healthy and pleasant to the eye, if all you want is to defeat the opponent. That’s why the idea of having a Taichi master fight against a MMA fighter is just not well thought out. MMA fighters are trained to ground and overcome their opponents as soon as possible, there isn’t much “health” nor “aesthetics” involved. Plus, as it always happens in these cases, it also heavily depends on who is fighting who.
What about a more normal situation? Since in real life nobody has to fight MMA-level fighters, if it came down to just street fights, which would be better? Both would be good, but I’d pick Taichi, because you can afford some esthetically pleasant movements against untrained opponents. It also comes down to what you want from a sport: if you want one that takes good care of your body, Taichi is far better.

Then there is Kung fu, which is a “normal” martial art, as it combines quick movements with strength. Some schools apparently don’t differentiate between Taichi and Kung fu, but mine does.

The Taichi 13

The only form I’ve learnt so far is the Taichi 13. I already knew another sect’s Taichi 13, but this Sanfeng one I’ve just learnt is much longer. I have to say, it’s an extremely pleasant form to practice. There are several movements that connect in a circle, symbolizing the Qi that is flowing through the body.

During the training one day the assistant teacher came to me, and she didn’t correct me. She just said “it’s Taichi!” (in Chinese, because I can’t understand much more anyway, at this point). That made me realize that up to that moment I had just been practicing the forms, without really focusing on what I had been doing. As another person told me later, Taichi is about feeling your energy flowing through your body. Since then, I tried focusing on my body while doing the forms, and I can actually feel it.

Right now, it still feels at times a little bit unnatural, but the other students here told me that this feeling will soon go away with the practice.

Stay tuned for week 3, where I actually start learning some Kung fu!