Good thing I'm not trying for ranking in keywords to position myself as an expert on anything, as this would drown in a search :)
I've been wanting to get back into training for A Very Long Time (tm), so have been poking around for a kung fu school. There's some wing chun and other styles floating around the place, but in the end I admitted to myself that what I really wanted was Choy Lay Fut.
I found one with the help of Dogpile.
I'm in my second week training chi kung and tai chi on the weekends and one class on kung fu during the week.
It's awesome.
It's perfect.
It's everything I want in a kung fu school. The teachers teach the way I feel it should be taught. They explain everything with as much depth as they think you can handle. The students help each other out and motivate each other. I can push myself pretty hard but I don't think I would have gotten as far with some of the training if my partner during one set of exercises hadn't been encouraging me every time I slowed down. Yet there's time to occasionally just stand there and observe everyone else for a little while as I try to work out what in the hell it is I'm doing.
THERE ARE NO FREAKING COLOURFUL SASHES! No grading system. I cannot stress how thrilled I am about this.
And much theory whenever we want and whenever it seems relevant.
I am so happy.
This is my second week training. The first week was pretty cruisy. I started learning 18 Lohan, and the first kung fu lesson was also fairly cruisy. Second weekend, more 18 Lohan and I decided to join in the lion dance training. Did frog jumps and nearly died. Then helped with lifts and was also glad to find someone willing to throw me around to verify that I could in fact still fly properly. Knees caned afterwards. And for the rest of the week. So cue earlier tonight when I went to kung fu training, and of course we were doing a faster paced class involving lots of low stances. And when the low stances was over there was running horse and what I've named "hopscotch", walking through a block setup and then jumping over the top of it.
I managed to get a few moves into one of the basic forms before my knees turned to jelly and couldn't support what weight I have (yes I do exist in at least three dimensions) and I crawled off to the side most pathetically and stretched out.
I don't think I'll be able to walk tomorrow. Not without a lot of pain and amusement anyway.
I love looking forward to training, and training itself. Also looking forward to being coordinated and light again.