3.10

 Last week I was talking about how my school hadn't had a covid case in a few months. That changed very quickly, as we had two cases in one day. We're probably not far behind Calgary in shutting down all our schools again, especially we continue to get multiple cases a day. At least the people who have to quarantine now aren't missing much school, because the third quarter just finished and we are currently taking the final exams.  I would be surprised if schools don't get shut down within the next two weeks. I guess we'll see how many cases there are when classes start again on Thursday.

3.9

 The third lockdown is the first one to come at a decent time, as it is already fairly warm outside and any snowfall that we get will usually disappear within a day or two. This is good because I now have a place to work on my forms without worrying about furniture or staying 3 meters apart from someone. I am glad that this isn't a complete shutdown, because I find online school to be more difficult than in person. It also makes a bit of sense as to why schools, aren't shut down, because they seem to be some of the cleaner places, and my school hasn't had a covid case in over three months. But that could change at any time. For now I'll just continue to get the most I can out of in person learning, and the most I can get out of online Kung Fu classes.

3.8

Over the past week i have been thinking about mental and physical training and what each one means. Physical training is simple, it's doing forms, techniques, push-ups etc. Mental training is more complicated. It's more of the why and how instead of the actual doing of something. The mental part of a technique is just as important as the physical part because without any intent, nothing will be gained from the technique. Definitely something to keep thinking about, but that's what's been floating around inside my head since I've had no school. 

3.7

Because of the deadline for my Beta form was this past Thursday, I have the beginning chunk of my form already figured out. This is probably farther along than I would be without the deadline, so I'm glad it was there. That's why I like deadlines, because they tell me that something needs to be done before a certain date, while things without a deadline become a "get this done eventually" kind of thing. On the other hand, things can get out of hand when multiple things share a deadline, so when it comes to times like that I'll choose the most important thing to get done first and then go down the line from there. I find this to be the most effective and productive way to get work done, because the less important ones tend to be quicker to finish than the more important ones. I am going to using my spring break to go through some of the larger projects now that I have a lot of time. I'll be continuing on my sword form and I'll also be going back and working on more of the Zen questions that I still need to answer. 

3.6

 After the first two weeks of in person classes, I have found my training to have increased in quality. Tai Chi is much easier in person, and getting back on the mats that I've trained on for 12 years. I have found the extra space to also be beneficial, as I don't have to do any weird modifications to my movements in the kwoon during class. The extra space also helps me with my sword form, as I plan on making it larger than my nun-chuck form was last year. Now that the weather is getting warmer this will be even easier. The only difficult part is finding my flow and where it leads me in my form. Even though I'm not there yet, I am getting closer to the beta version of my form, which is a decent start.

3.5

 Since the beginning of the year, I have been looking for inspiration for my sword form. I've tried looking through the school form and different Tai Chi sword forms on YouTube, but none of them really connected with what I wanted my form to be. As almost a last resort, I looked through the 7 different forms of Lightsaber combat, and that's where I found what I was looking for. The Vaapad form of Lightsaber combat, which is one variation of Form 7, has almost everything I have been looking for. Now that I have a definitive source for my form, it will be a lot easier to create my own form. This should be fun!

3.4

Since tomorrow is the first day we go back to in person classes, I am excited to see what a low intensity class consists of. I am also excited to see how the I Ho Chuan class works, especially with all the weapons of different sizes. This upcoming week will be a test of sorts, to see if the new restrictions are good, or if they need to be reverted again. I hope that people have finally understood the fact that the pandemic is real, so we can keep moving forwards in this direction. I can't wait to see you all on the mats!