I’ve been talking freely about my interest in weapon forms. In the last post, I maundered on and on about well, a lot of things, but it was meant to be in tribute to how I have finally gotten to the point in my weapon forms study where I’m serious about refining them and redefining… Continue Reading
Several posts ago, I was talking about my goals in martial arts. Here’s the last post I wrote in that series. That post was about how martial arts have changed me for the better, which is not what I want to talk about here. I mean, it is part of the deeper meaning, but it’s… Continue Reading
I want to talk more about martial arts because it’s such an important part of my life. Putting living beings aside, I would say it’s the most important. It has changed my life in so many ways, it’s hard to count them. I honestly don’t think I would be alive today without Taiji. That’s not hyperbole. I… Continue Reading
In yesterday’s post, I was talking about how much martial arts mean to me. I most certainly would not be here without Taiji. I believe this to be true with 100% of my heart. When I was in the hospital, every medical person I talked to could not believe that I had woken up from… Continue Reading
I am fighting the haze of depression and wondering if it was worth it to come back to life. For the first two or three years after my rebirth, I was just filled with wonder at being alive. That is not a state of being one can sustain, though. The body will return to the… Continue Reading
I’ve been writing posts about my medical crisis, my re-birthday, and my goals for the upcoming year. I have written one goal per post (as is my wont to talk endlessly about the smallest minutiae), and we’ll see if I continue that in this post. Yesterday, I talked about learning new weapons forms in Taiji… Continue Reading
I’m continuing to muse about Taiji and me for the sixth post. In the last post, I talked about how I learned to trust my Taiji teacher over time beacuse she was consistent, transparent, and steady in her response to my barrage of questions. It’s one of her best qualities in my eyes. I could… Continue Reading
I am AFAB and a part of two different cultures that put a heavy emphasis on performing femininity. That would be American and Taiwanese. It’s insidious in both cultures, though in differing ways. Taiwanese culture, at least through my parents, is regressive, stifling, and has rigid gender expectations. Every time I’ve been there, I have… Continue Reading
When I talk about Taiji, it’s really difficult to convey the feeling of flow that I get in when a weapon form is going well. I have said that holding a sword was like having an extension of my hand, but that’s a very clumsy way of phrasing it. And trite. I can talk about… Continue Reading
I had a private lesson today. Bagua, not Taiji. There is so much I want to leran; it’s hard to focus on just one thing. There are All. The. Weapons. But, for now, I have been captivated by the Swimming Dragon Form (Bagua), and I have asked my teacher to teach me. Before we got… Continue Reading