old timers in the park

[neijia_boxer]

I went to this park in Betheda MD to see it robert smiths students were still training there. They still got together early to practice bagua and hsingyi.

when i got there early like 8 am it was just this really old guy who was a long time student of robert Smith and myself. I actually had a good time. We did a few lines of Pi, Beng, tsuan, pao, and heng, and then started to do a few Hou tien lines about 1-4. I liked the way he flowed smooth and uninterrupted, it was good practice. Then more people started coming. thats were problems started- they interrupted the practice because they were like questioning the movements, or showing variations, and talking to damn much. this ruined the flow. We were eventually able to get through a total of 14 houtien but that took forever.

Not sure if i will go back again since the old guy was awesome but the other people were distractions to our training.

[mixjourneyman]

Sounds nice.
The old guy sounds like he had the goods.

[bailewen]

Definitely a wonderful morning.

Got a little chuckle at this though:

. . . when i got there early like 8 am . . .

It's 5:45 as I write this. I'm just fininshing breakfast. 8 am is around the time I will be finishing my morning practice and heading back inside. lol. I guess city folk have different ideas about what constitutes "early".

OTOH, if people don't start coming by and bothering you untill 9'sh then 8 is pretty good. In the parks in China those passers by who like to give you "corrections" and "help" start showing up pretty much as soon as it is light out.

Early morning in the park with the old-timers is definitlely the way to go though.

[Ian]

I guess city folk have different ideas about what constitutes "early".

Sounds nice. Where are you living now?

[neijia_boxer]

unfortunately the old guy probably wasnt the leader of the pack. Not sure who was the more senior student of the bunch, but i thought he was. It is just rude to interrupt a good workout with talking, people having to show the version they learned, and other egoic non-sense.

I felt the version George Wood once taught in the park in no.va was good and the two person training for the Houtien was helpful. You definitely got to walk away feeling a sense of workout and a good sense of functionality of the houtien.

[GrahamB]

That's the problem with IMA. Everybody wants to talk about it all the time

Everybody wants to shine, but nobody wants to polish!

[bailewen]

I guess city folk have different ideas about what constitutes "early".

Sounds nice. Where are you living now?

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&clien ... a=N&tab=wl


p.s.

The link doesnt' seem to take you right there but both of the addresses on the left are in the neigborhood. I live in Badger on "the Hogback". Woodlake is about a 15 minute drive. I'm sitting on the top of a ridge that runs north-south. We (my family) own about 30 acres of the western slope of the ridge.

[Muad'dib]

I live in tokyo and get up at 5 am and practice. It's not city folk

[bailewen]

American city folk?

[Jake]

I live in Las Vegas and am up EVERY morning at 4:30 to practice (solo and with friends) at 5/5:30 till around 8:00 am.

Then I have to go and sling paint all day.

We all lament how we wish we could just train and spar and have fun all day long.... Especialy when the flow is flowing!!!

Then reality hits and I have to pick up the brush.

Luckily, I have a job where I can STILL train all day.

I wish my friends where with me through-out the day though.

No one I work with has any interest what-so-evah.

Re-enforces my theory that some of us just "get it"... while most of them just don't.

Old timers in the park true/ly is the shit. I know some old guys that have it all.

[taiwandeutscher]

Yeah, in Taiwan, it's 7 to 10 in the park nowadays, they get accustomed to western ways, and I still sweat a lot yesterday, hoping for the cooler autum and winter til the heat returns May next year.

But at home it's sunrise, summer 5 am, winter 5.30 am til 8 or so, breakfast around 9.

[AllanF]

In Shenyang it's 5am in the summer 6-6:30am in the winter. But sometimes i go mid morning in the winter as i like to have a little sun to warm me up. (Winter night time temps are around -20C daytime -7C)