I am so close, I can taste it. From the minute my teacher put the practice Deerhorn Knives in my hands (hers, which she then so generously gave to me), I knew that I wanted them in my life forever.
Side note: Hilariously, I don’t think I will ever have a longterm romantic relationship, but I am loyal to my weapons.
I have always walked the circle with the Deerhorn Knives, but I could only dream of actually doing a Deerhorn Knives Form. Now, that dream is so close to reality, and I could not be more thrilled. I have included the same video today that I put in yesterday’s post–it’s my teacher’s teacher doing the Deerhorn Knives Form after walking the circle with them.
I have three movements/postures left in the Swimming Dragon Form (Solo/Hands). Two of them are difficult, but the last is just the closing posture. Today, I learned one more posture that was easy-peasy. It’s such a pleasant surprise when a new posture is easier than I thought it was going to be. This one took me four or five times repeating it to get it down. We’ll see if I remember it tomorrow.
I also have to be careful that I don’t overdo it. I have been adding more to my weapons routine, and I can really feel it in my arms. I did the fourth row of the cane on both sides with the cane, and then I did the whole form, both sides, with my saber. I love my new saber, but it’s really heavy. It’s deceptively heavy, some might say. You would not know it to look at it, but it’s weighty.
This is why I’m thinking about dropping the weight set. Do I really need to do it since I’m doing so much weaponry? I probably don’t, but I’m not quite ready to give it up.
I feel transformed by my realization that I am good at the weapons. I’ve always known I’ve had an affinity for them, but I minimized how good I was at them. I don’t know why, really. I have no problem saying I’m a good writer or that I’m good at reading people. However, when it comes to weapons, I had the firm belief that I wasn’t that good at them.
Writing is not something I practice in the sense of repetition of the same thing over and over again to make it a bit better each time. I practice it, of course, but it’s more about being creative and letting loose. With Taiji weapons, it has been learning the forms.