...'Muscle Memory' and 'Chi'

[Medi]

...Please excuse this entry...I am feeling content this evening...and want to share an observation I have about 'Life'.   

I learned about 'muscle memory' when I was at the Conservatory.  It is how our BODIES know what to do, when our MIND is busy or distracted.  I was majoring in cello and piano performance, and did a LOT of practicing.     One afternoon, I entered the auditorium, and headed for the back, carrying my cello, I wanted to go to the small practice rooms, that were in the back...and at the top of THREE flights of stairs.     I saw that the formal Steinway Piano was sitting at center stage, and remembered that a Senior Piano Performance major was doing his Senior Recital that evening...and that the piano was PROBABLY FRESHLY TUNED!!!  Well, you all know me...I walked onto the stage, set down my cello, and sat at the piano.   

I warmed up with scales, and a short exercise...and then launched into the Brahms Rhapsody, Op 79, #2... ...I only made a few, small mistakes...and sat back...VERY PLEASED with myself...   I then grabbed my cello, and climbed up the stairs, unpacked it, and sat in the chair for a while.  I held out my hands, and looked at them, and talked to them...I asked them..."How did you do that?  I was just THINKING about the music...but you two were DOING IT!"  They DID NOT RESPOND!!!!  (Probably good that they didn't...I have seen a lot of very horrible movies about 'hands'.)   

So, our bodies have 'muscle memory'...they do things that they have learned.   

[Medi]

...I was also very active in 'Martial Arts', and enrolled in a Chinese Dojo, that taught a form of 'Gung Fu' called 'Shou Shu'.  I really enjoyed it, but would always put on heavy gloves when we were called to spar...not because I didn't want to hurt my opponent... ...but because I didn't want to hurt my hands.   

It was fun rising through the belts... ...When you got better, the Instructor would test you.  He would watch as you punched, and kicked, and did the Katas at that level.  If you passed, you would kneel, and he would kneel in front of you, and hand you the next level of belt.  You would then remove your belt, and strap on the new one, and hand the old one over.  We would then both stand, and bow to each other...and you would get into a new level of instruction, and learn more complex katas.   

I did pretty well...but got stuck getting from green belt to brown belt.  I was kneeling after the first time I tested...and the Instructor just helped me up, and said..."Work on your kicks."      I did, and was tested three more times the next two months...and was just helped to stand up, and given different advice.  I got very discouraged after the last failure, and told the Instructor that maybe I needed to just do something else to stay fit. 

He took me to the side, and spoke to me.  He said, "Your body isn't moving too badly, but you are not focusing your 'Chi'.  I had heard the term, and asked..."How do you do that?"     He said, "Your Chi is why you are alive...it is your life force...if you had no Chi...you would just be a corpse."  I just blinked my eyes.  He got more intense, and said, "I have watched you, your Chi, when you kick...is all throughout your body."  He then grabbed my right foot, and pointed at the sole of my foot, below my toes, and said..."When you kick...ALL of your Chi has to be RIGHT THERE!"

I went back home, and pondered what he had said to me.  I stood before a mirror, and kept raising my legs up...very slowly...and doing a forward kick...and trying to feel my Chi.  I felt nothing different for weeks...and then...something changed.     My entire body got involved in the simple kick...my head, shoulders, arms, trunk...would all focus on the kick...I could feel the balance of my body shifting...   The Instructor, during my weekly private lesson, started to nod with approval, and gave me more instruction.

After 6 weeks, they tested me, again, and I got my BROWN BELT!!!     I then was allowed to help instruct white and orange belt classes.  Once, we had three huge young men from the College Football Team...they were all well over 6' tall, and each weighed about 250 lbs.  They thought they were hot stuff...they were just the usual clumsy white belts...I had been one, once.     They were kicking the heavy hanging bag, crowing about how they made it swing.  The Instructor nodded, and called out to me...."P-------, kick the bag."  I nodded, walked up to it, gathered and focused my Chi...and kicked the bag...it almost hit the ceiling...

I stepped away...and the Instructor said..."She doesn't have a boyfriend...ask her out."  One started laughing, and said..."I already have a nice girlfriend...and she isn't DANGEROUS."     So, I did encourage my Daughter, to study Martial Arts.