“Any significant long-term change requires long-term practice, whether that change has to do with playing the violin or learning to be a more open, loving person. We all know people who say that they have been permanently changed by experiences of a moment or a day or a weekend. But when you check it out you’ll generally discover that those who ended up permanently changed had spent considerable time preparing for their life-changing experience or had continued diligently practicing the new behavior afterward.”
- Michael Murphy and George Leonard
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement,
and success have no meaning.”
- Benjamin Franklin
“The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center. So does a person.”
- Norman Vincent Peale
“I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.”
- Confucius
“A will finds a way.”
- Orison Swett Marden
“If you focus on results, you will never change.
If you focus on change, you will get results.”
- Jack Dixon
“Gongfu is an ancient Chinese term describing work/devotion/effort that has been successfully applied over a substantial period of time, resulting in a degree of mastery in a specific field. Although the term is synonymous in the West with martial arts (though it is most over rendered Kung Fu), it is equally applicable to calligraphy, painting, music, or other areas of endeavor.”
- Andy James
“An element of abstention, of restraint, must enter into all finer joys.”
- Vida D. Scudder
Will Power: Quotes, Sayings, Aphorisms
“A callused palm and dirty fingernails precede a Green Thumb.
Wishes are like seeds - few ever develop into something.
Willpower is the art of replacing one habit for another.”
- Michael Garofalo, Pulling Onions
My teacher also says quality comes with quantity (of real training, being inside the movement, not just swinging the arms....).
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your blog, a second source to remember the basics.
Question I get from my students (I teach because my teacher asked me to do it, in order to progress): why do I practice the cheng-fu 88 (as described by Fu Zong-wen) and not the 24 or 42? I usually evade with wirlhwinding palms... What do you think? I pratice one short 24 form for a while (not the Beijing one...) but since I moved to 88, I feel more energized, the work on meridians feels better. In Chen fan taiji that I also pratice, form is much shorter but the dynamics is really different, it does not seem aimed at just being healthy, it is really martial.
If you don't mind sharing your view.
Thanks for your blog anyway.
You ask a good question. The answer, however, would be quite lengthy and complex.
ReplyDeleteLonger forms provide sufficient time for the "relaxation response" (Glasser) to come into effect.
Longer exercise times improve aerobic functioning and increase energy levels. The more "martial" forms are more aerobically challenging.
Longer forms challenge the mind more, and expertise provides deep satisfaction.
Beneficial "meditation" takes more time to accomplish.
Short forms (e.g., I am now studying the Chen Taijiquan 18 Form of Chen Zhenglei) are useful for providing an introduction to a style and for beginners to learn without being discouraged. One needs to learn the longer forms to derive maximum mind-body-spirit benefits.
Cheers,
Mike